MOBILE APP
A mobile app personalizing and encouraging slower connection, storing memories + kindness in the digital age.
sector
role
team
tools
Community
UX Researcher
Product Designer
1 Software Engineer
1 Business
2 Designers
Figma
OVERVIEW
What Happened
For XHacks, a three-day designathon, I took part in each step of the design process, conducting desk and market research, ideating, sketching, prototyping, and designing the wireframes from 0 → 1 at a rapid pace, presenting to industry experts.
My team and I knew how it felt to lose valuable friendships due to distance.
CHALLENGE
In an era shaped by digital interactions, remote work, and evolving social norms, how can design bring people closer together?
SOLUTioN
A mobile app that redefines how people maintain connection:
rather than prioritizing quantity, Sincerely encourages intentional communication that strengthens relationships through anticipation, shared memories, and thoughtful interactions.
INTRODUCING
A mobile app + time capsule
A platform that redefines how people maintain deep, meaningful connections across distances in a distracted digital world. Rather than prioritizing constant messaging or superficial swiping, Sincerely encourages slow, intentional communication that strengthens relationships through anticipation, shared memories, and thoughtful interactions.
FOR NEW MEMORIES
Memory Capsules Send What No Physical or Digital App Can—Through Content and Time
Collect and curate audiovisual keepsakes (photos, songs, voice clips, small gifts, even movies) to create emotional artifacts that can be sent in specific dates into the future, as little as one day and as far as ∞.
These audiovisual keepsakes also act as collectible tokens for users to share with friends.
Anticipatory Notifications Build Excitement
Schedule capsules to be sent in the future. The timing creates value,
encouraging a gradual buildup of anticipation, without a need for high volume to be exchanged over quality.
FOR OLD MEMORIES
Shared Journeys allow pairs to contribute media to events,
turning faint memories into multi-dimensional artifacts
By selecting a date, users can create an event. Events can carry a compilation of photos, videos, songs, stickers, and so on.
Friends can cement unique experiences together to look back upon.
RESEARCH APPROACH
Dissect goal and constraints
Simplify question to core goals
Analyze current digital stressors
Identify solution gaps through desk and market research
Investigate human intimacy
Gather human insight on what people find valuable in different relationships
Ideate potential product formats
Condense research insights, reframe, and ideate product formats (app, website forum, plugin, etc)
RESEARCH
Analyzing 60 survey responses where concerns vary widely
Investigated through anonymous polling a research study with resopnses from women, focused on their everyday concerns, building a foundation rooted in real-world experiences. I then conducted a systematic thematic analysis, distilling responses into 8 central categories.
ISSUE
Various concerns exist, without any central concept. Initially, I wasn't sure of how to aid the area of most need.
REFRAMED
I reoriented the focus of the product away from one specific theme, refining the project instead to focus on product formats that would facilitate the communication of all major themes, highlighting and validating the lives of those around me.
Market Comparison of product formats in spaces for highlighting awareness
I conducted market research across apps, websites, and chatbots to identify a product format that would be suitable for synthesizing and displaying personal narratives, in the pursuit of highlighting and validating women’s responses.
ISSUE
Overly educational spaces result in less genuine learning
REFRAMED
Based on market research, games offer a unique, enjoyable way to assert specific themes. Blending a typical game with aspects of open discussion forums allows one to introduce empathy to audiences without force, resulting in organic discovery and discussion that amplifies a more genuine awareness for women’s thoughts and concerns.
PROTOTYPING + VISUAL STYLE
Open world exploration and design
Explored materials through sketches and 3D programs, and greyboxed (low-fidelity prototyping) while navigating the balance between creating an intriguing space and one that initiates discussion.
USER TESTING + INSIGHTS
How Did Users Respond?
I interviewed and had 3 users playtest to iterate on the initial prototype and its concepts. Users expressed 2 main concerns, synthesized below.
Visuals were too abstract, resulting in a world that did not convey enough familiarity for ease of exploration
The message's context was unclear
Iterating on the World's Emotional Tone
I shifted the design of the world towards more familiar rather than abstract motifs, while maintaining an aspect of mystery and viscerality through intestines.
I observed that users would become curious about landmarks like these and travel along them, providing an intuitive pseudo-path for exploration.
I crafted an introduction written ironically rather than as a typical instruction manual. With this, I solved the previous issue of a lack of context, and found that users were more likely to fully read and understand the game.
REFLECTION
Adapting to a new workflow in two weeks
Unity’s UI is complex, but it was an exciting challenge to learn to navigate the game engine over the course of two weeks.
I was initially unsure about user testing in a 3D game setting, as it differs from apps in that a sense of space is introduced in a nonlinear way, resulting in a new dimension of potential issues for users to encounter.
However, I realized the principles are inherently similar, and I arranged the bounty of issues hierarchically to analyze which ones were most pressing to solve within the time constraints.
With more time for this, I would like to ideate methods to bridge thought with action, by 1) attaching other positive social resources platforms for users who observe a social issue and wish to donate or learn more, and 2) preserving honesty while preventing negative spaces from overly triggering users, perhaps by connecting the game with mental health hotlines.
