YEAR
2025/06
Role
UX Designer
Category
Service design
DESIGN AT
UX Design
TEAM
Jiali shao / Xinyi fang Keiji Ichiji
This project explores China’s emerging “meal mate” culture — a new form of low-barrier socializing among young urban migrants. It investigates how people can rebuild social confidence and enhance their ability to form genuine emotional connections in transient urban life.
Through user research and service design methods, we found that online socializing often fails to foster real understanding, while “meal mate” relationships lack natural guidance mechanisms when shifting offline — leading to awkward or mismatched interactions that hinder relationship development.
Focusing on the critical transition from online matching to offline connection, the project explores how food, space, and social mechanisms can act as catalysts for authentic relationships in new cities.
Through multi-layered research and prototyping, we developed a meal-based social service experience that balances commercial viability with emotional depth, aiming to build a community that fosters trust, empathy, and long-term companionship.
My role
Led overall project planning and direction in collaboration with Keiji Ichijo and Xinyi Fang, under the supervision of Richard Atkinson.
Co-conducted desk and primary research across social and behavioral dimensions.
Guided the design process from insight discovery to on-site testing.
Collaborated closely with users, communities, and F&B partners to ground the service in real contexts.e
Challenge
Research shows that by 2030, the number of young adults (aged 20–39) living alone in China may rise from 18 million in 2010 to between 40 and 70 million, nearly doubling or tripling. Although loneliness has not yet been systematically addressed as a public health issue in China, the emotional companionship market already exceeded RMB 37.2 billion in 2024, reflecting a growing demand for meaningful social connections. Among this population, urban migrants and freelancers experience high mobility and digital fatigue, often living in a state of “undefined loneliness.”
While “meal-mate” culture has emerged as a low-barrier method of socializing, most current practices rely heavily on online matching, leaving little support for transitioning relationships offline. As a result, many meetups remain superficial — lacking the catalysts to move from incidental contact to meaningful connection.