Overview
Topic: Community Building and Collaboration
Type: UI/UX Design, User Research, Prototyping, Branding
Team: Thesis Project, MFA Products of Design at School of Visual Arts
Project Summary
Kala Collective is an online platform that connects South Indian artists and filmmakers in the United States to support each other, share professional opportunities, and find various collaborative projects. Through Kala Collective, we want to help people appreciate the contributions and importance of South Indian film creators, as well as build a community for them, so that they feel seen and acknowledged.
Problem and Research
The underrepresentation of South Indian culture and community in the United States isn’t just an issue of lack of knowledge and information, as seen in the system map. There is limited engagement and participation in the film world by South Indian filmmakers, due to the conspicuous lack of resources and platforms for South Indian artists to engage with. Ashique Shahir, a South Indian film student at Syracuse University, spoke about how film festivals are the only way he can think of to share his work with professionals from the film industry.
“I think film festivals are the only way I can think of when it comes to sharing my work and films. Otherwise, you have to get the contact information through your friends because they will never come looking for you because there are so many people out there who are doing the same thing as you are.”
- Ashique Shahir, South Indian film student at Syracuse University
User testing
Since the purpose of the digital product is to empower South Indian filmmakers by helping them find more work opportunities, it was critical to carry out various iterations of user testing along the way. I carried out three user testing interviews with three aspiring filmmakers who are at different stages in their creative and professional journeys, as well as one subject matter expertise interview.
User testing round 1 and 2
User testing round 3
Final Concept
Kala Collective addresses the glaring absence of dedicated spaces for South Indian creatives, facilitating collaboration and professional growth. A platform like this is necessary because the absence of such a dedicated platform for South Indian filmmakers in the United States has led to fragmented experiences, limited opportunities, and limited engagement.
The app has two main features, Collaboration and Networking. The collaboration feature resembles a dating app; you choose the creator or artist you want to work with. You can filter these artists based on fields like location, work expertise, and age, and you can skip until you find someone you wish to collaborate with. You connect with them and message them through the app, and your account page shows details of your ongoing collaborations.
Swipe until you find the right collaboration partner for your project. You can filter your partner based on location, age etc.
Once you find a collaborator, you can connect with them and message them through the Kala Collective app. All the collaborations & events are updated on the accounts page of the app.
The networking feature focuses on events. The app provides a list of events, which appears on your network page, providing a list of details about each event, including time, location, and other information. You choose the event you like, and when you click to register the app takes you to the corresponding Eventbrite page to purchase tickets. The app tracks the events you have registered for, and the list also appears on your network page.
You can scroll through all the events in your area and choose the one that you are interested in to learn more details. You register for the event through Eventbrite.
