In our modern culture, there are many reasons as to why families separate. From the recent high school graduate attending a university across the country to a soldier stationed across the world, it becomes a normal part of life for loved ones to be distant.
Technology has played a significant role in counteracting the separation by helping people connect. However, the value comes in when people not only connect, but also feel close. Regardless, there are still barriers that create inconveniences that affect the experience.
Homey is a mobile application that helps people feel close to their loved ones daily. It's designed to help counteract the forces in our modern culture that pull families apart such as differing time zones and misaligned schedules
User Research & Requirements Gathering, Qualitative Field Research & Contextual Inquiry, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Test, UI Design
Although the market is filled with apps that help people connect, the apps that help people feel close are few and far between. Which then begs the question:
How might we allow users to feel close to their loved ones regardless of distance and time?
If a mobile app provided a space where private groups can share and communicate via daily video and voice recordings, users will feel close to their loved ones due to the convenience, personalization, and presentness of the recordings.
Many families and close friends are separated due to the forces in our contemporary culture. The long distances makes it difficult to remain close due to differing time zones or misaligned schedules.
Before diving into user interviews, I needed to validate that there is a potential market for this app. I set out to understand the main 'why's' of relocation and also the quantitative magnitude of migration of Americans specifically.
After the market research, two things became clear:
(1) Young adults (ages 18 - 40) are who I need to interview, since they're the ones most likely to relocate
(2) Moving closer to their families is a top reason for relocation within the young adult age range
(3) Job Relocation is a top reason for relocation of all age groups
After doing hours of market research, I boiled down my focus to one main question. I found that though technology helps people to connect, there are only a handful of apps that actually allow users to feel close.
So moving forward, I stepped out to find the best way to allow users to not only connect with their close family and friends, but to feel close to them despite distance and time.
After solidifying the focus of this project, I started to interview young adults who are away from their families.
The goals of this interview were
(1) To understand their reasons for relocation
(2) The frustrations that comes with being seperated
(3) The methods of communication within the family
(4) What makes them feel close to their family physically and digitally.
The conversations shed a lot of insight. In addition, I did additional research to validate patterns between the interviewers. Here are the most common findings.
Through market research and user interviews, I was able to create a list of features and goals the solution needed to do. I then created a competitive analysis to confirm if any of the currently most popular apps have done it already. It turns out none of them do allowing me to fill the gap within the market.
As I approached the end of the research phase, I created a hypothesis that allowed me approach the problem in a research-backed way. This approach drove this project through the remaining of the phases.
Before jumping into any design work, I created a user persona that I can center my design around. The user persona I created is someone who would benefit tremendously from this app. It was important that I included Jesse's motivations and family dynamic here because it shows many of the 'whys' users should have this app.
After solidifying the solution, I established that the main task in focus is Jesse scheduling a video call with her family who are in different parts of the country.
As I analyzed the journey, I found moments where Jesse's feelings were low and took time to find out the reasons behind it. From there, I was able to find the gaps that the application can help fill.
After finding the opportunities of where I can improve the journey, I created high-level task flows mapping out the best way to complete the two main tasks of the mobile app.
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Before jumping into Figma, I wanted to sketch out all of my ideas to see which layouts work the best. After many sheets of paper, I was able to decide on my favorite ones that aligned with the flow that I had conceptualized for this app previously.
I then turned my sketches into lo-fidelity wireframes, essentially creating the skeleton of the mobile app.
After finalizing my high-fidelity wireframes and creating a working prototype, I ran a few usability tests to receive feedback on my designs and also to validate my assumptions. Below are the main changes.
After hours and hours of research, ideation, design, and iteration, Homey was finalized. Interact with the slider to see the finalized designs of the social mobile app.
Made to counteract the forces in contemporary culture that pull families apart, Homey helps people feel close to their loved ones daily.
All the participants navigated through the app with minimal to no help, deeming the usability of the app successful.
They voiced that the app will help them feel closer to their loved ones because:
(1) it emphasizes daily activity
(2) voice and video recordings give them the ability to hear and see their family in a convenient way
(3) the response feature recreates a conversation between loved ones
(4) the memories feature allows them to have an endless streamline of content from loved ones.
Participants also mentioned that at all features worked cohesively well together, rating the app high on the user-friendly scale.
I will continue to design the on-boarding experience and other miscellaneous features which will be then undergo more usability tests.
