Overview
Objective: Come up with a solution that aids couples in long-distance relationships to spend Valentine’s day virtually together
Role: UX and Visual design (Completed low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes), Research (Conducted 1 interview), UX strategy
Context: Design project created for a hackathon called Protothon 2021 hosted by DubsTech of UW
Team Members: Olivia Cheng, Sally Kung, Dalena Tran
Duration: 24 Hours
Tools: Sketch book, Figma, LUMA methods
The Problem
Couples who are long distance want to have a way to connect and spend time with one another on Valentine's day.
The Solution
Design an app the allows long-distance couples interact and connect by building a world filled with personal and relationship artifacts.
Discovery
We collected information in various methods to gain a holistic view of the user and their pain points.
Sources of Data
‣ 4 User research interviews
‣ Academic research
‣ Secondary research in online forums like Reddit (r/longdistance)
Synthesis & Brainstorming
Methods Used
‣ Affinity Mapping
‣ Importance/Difficulty Matrix
‣ "How might we" Statements
Key Findings
Couples do a lot of app switching
‣ To plan events virtually and in-person, couples need to coordinate between different apps
Time is limited
‣ Couples have to plan more trips
‣ Communication gets strained when they don't have as much time to connect daily
Shared activities are important
‣ All couples engaged in various activities together, many of them mentioning just mundane, everyday things that they wanted to experience together
‣ Hearing the other's voice or seeing them helped the connection deepen when spending virtual time together
Ideating
Storyboarding
I drew a scenario in which the end user would be able to use our app to experience connecting with their distant loved one.
The story goes from left to right in the first row, where the person is missing their partner. Then they get a virtual message from their partner to play in the world-building AR part of the app.
Low-fidelity Wireframes
We quickly brainstormed some of the features we determined made sense for our app and answered the prompt.
From left to right: Media screen, Building menu screen, E-card screen
From left to right: Thumb kiss (1st and 2nd screen), Calendar screen
Site Mapping
We did a few iterations of our site map and discussed how we thought the features would be organized. Due to the time constraints, we were not able to validate this with any research data.
Final Designs
Sally, the visual designer created the styles for most UI elements in a style guide and made them cohesive with the branding we determined together.
The colors were meant to be bright and fun, representing the fun-filled app that we designed for couples.
I created initial UI elements as we needed to take breaks throughout the hackathon.
E-Cards
Messages
Anniversary Counter & Calendar
Results
We completed high-fidelity wireframes and a presentation to submit for the Hackathon. We received positive feedback from judges on our virtual letter design and for providing creative options for long-distance couples to connect.
Reflections & Learnings
‣ Solution was very creative and involved many moving parts
‣ Could have been more focused and concise
‣ Design principles to help guide us in the process
‣ Getting more feedback during the process and being comfortable with pivoting
