Mobile product design | 2019
Bizdenkimvar: Connecting the Turkish diaspora
Bizdenkimvar ("Who do we have from us") is a Turkish professional networking platform connecting Turkish people living abroad helping them find companions, colleagues, and community in cities around the world. The platform operates across web and mobile.
I was the sole designer on this project, responsible for everything from initial research and personas through to UI design and working directly with the developer to ship the product.
Bizdenkimvar ("Who do we have from us") is a Turkish professional networking platform connecting Turkish people living abroad helping them find companions, colleagues, and community in cities around the world. The platform operates across web and mobile.
I was the sole designer on this project, responsible for everything from initial research and personas through to UI design and working directly with the developer to ship the product.
Product design
Mobile
User Research
Challenge
Language barriers create real difficulties for Turkish people living abroad in business, in daily life, and in building community. Despite platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, there was no dedicated space for Turkish professionals and students to find each other in a foreign city. With over 330,000 people emigrating from Turkey in 2019 alone, the need was significant and underserved.
Language barriers create real difficulties for Turkish people living abroad in business, in daily life, and in building community. Despite platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, there was no dedicated space for Turkish professionals and students to find each other in a foreign city. With over 330,000 people emigrating from Turkey in 2019 alone, the need was significant and underserved.
Research & Discovery
I grounded the project in real data using Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) migration figures to understand the scale of the diaspora, and competitor analysis of LinkedIn and Google to understand what existing platforms did well and where they fell short for this specific audience.
The core insight: existing platforms were too broad. Turkish users needed something culturally specific a place where language and shared background were the foundation, not an afterthought.
I grounded the project in real data using Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) migration figures to understand the scale of the diaspora, and competitor analysis of LinkedIn and Google to understand what existing platforms did well and where they fell short for this specific audience.
The core insight: existing platforms were too broad. Turkish users needed something culturally specific a place where language and shared background were the foundation, not an afterthought.
Defining the users
I created two personas based on the research:
Dr Ozlem As a Turkish-German bilingual aerospace research assistant at the Berlin Institute of Technology, aged 24-32. She'd been in Berlin since 2015, knew the city well, but had no Turkish friends currently settled there. She wanted to reconnect with her culture and find people who understood her background.
Selin Ozturk a final-year science student doing her Erasmus year in Berlin, aged 18-24. New to the city, experiencing culture shock, missing home. She wanted to make friends ideally someone from Turkey and get involved in social events while keeping up her fitness routine.
Two very different users, united by the same underlying need: connection and belonging in an unfamiliar place.
I created two personas based on the research:
Dr Ozlem As a Turkish-German bilingual aerospace research assistant at the Berlin Institute of Technology, aged 24-32. She'd been in Berlin since 2015, knew the city well, but had no Turkish friends currently settled there. She wanted to reconnect with her culture and find people who understood her background.
Selin Ozturk a final-year science student doing her Erasmus year in Berlin, aged 18-24. New to the city, experiencing culture shock, missing home. She wanted to make friends ideally someone from Turkey and get involved in social events while keeping up her fitness routine.
Two very different users, united by the same underlying need: connection and belonging in an unfamiliar place.
UX Goals
From the research and personas, I defined four clear design goals: connect users with people in the same area or with similar jobs, give users control over their personal detail sharing, simplify settings to keep them relevant, and make communication safe and easy through in-app messaging.
From the research and personas, I defined four clear design goals: connect users with people in the same area or with similar jobs, give users control over their personal detail sharing, simplify settings to keep them relevant, and make communication safe and easy through in-app messaging.
Design
I designed the full mobile experience search and discovery, people search with city and profession filters, user profiles, connecting and messaging flows, and profile settings. The UI is clean and direct, with the bold red brand colour used purposefully to draw attention to the primary action ("Bizden Kim Var?" - Who do we have from us?).
The profile settings screen is particularly considered giving users granular control over what they share (city, profession, description) without overwhelming them. Safety and trust were central to the design given the nature of the platform.
What made this different
Being Turkish myself gave me genuine empathy for this problem. I understood the feeling of being in a foreign city and looking for familiar ground. That cultural context informed every decision from the tone of the copy to the way profiles were structured to feel personal rather than transactional.
As the only designer and working directly with the developer, I had to make pragmatic decisions about what to build first and where to focus. That constraint taught me a lot about prioritisation and shipping making something real rather than perfect.
Being Turkish myself gave me genuine empathy for this problem. I understood the feeling of being in a foreign city and looking for familiar ground. That cultural context informed every decision from the tone of the copy to the way profiles were structured to feel personal rather than transactional.
As the only designer and working directly with the developer, I had to make pragmatic decisions about what to build first and where to focus. That constraint taught me a lot about prioritisation and shipping making something real rather than perfect.
