Orbit

I conducted early user research with 50+ Cornell students to validate assumptions around social media fatigue and location-based discovery. Through cycles of interviews and prototype revisions, we identified three core needs that shaped Orbit's feature set: seeing what's happening nearby, low-friction posting, and authentic local content tied to specific campus locations.

Building from user insights, we focused the MVP on three interview-driven features: location-anchored posts tied to named buildings, audience scoping by proximity, and a streamlined posting flow. Each feature was refined weekly through user testing sessions and collaborative reviews with my co-founder, ensuring we stayed aligned with student needs while maintaining technical feasibility.

I built the iOS frontend using SwiftUI, translating Figma prototypes into production code. The implementation focused on the three core features validated through research, with particular attention to making location selection intuitive and the posting flow feel effortless. Weekly user tests informed iterative refinements to the interface and interactions.

Collaborating closely with the backend lead, we integrated authentication, database models, and geospatial queries using FastAPI, Postgres, and Docker. This architecture enables posts to be anchored to named building locations across Ithaca, NY, supporting the core location-based discovery experience that differentiates Orbit from traditional campus social platforms.