Design that connects people while social distancing
Penpals is a platform designed to help people get in touch with others who have similar interests or problems by sending and receiving anonymous digital postcards.
The challenges that led us to create Penpals
In a society where a pandemic has unleashed uncertainty in so many fields, there has never been a better time for a product which would been people closer together.
COVID-19 has placed limits on the emotional stability of the general population, forcing them to face problems in isolation. Penpals introduces a more humane way of using technology to connect people.
How Penpals was born
- Brainstorming on data that had been gathered and expert opinions launched the concept for Penpals.
- Development and definition of the product and MVP for validation.
- User experience design and validation with early adopters.
- Laid the foundations for the aesthetics, strategy, and visual design of the product.
THE CONTEXT. The prior social investigation
It is crucial to know the context in which the product is going to be used. The first step was to analyse the problems arising from COVID-19 to identify the factors which would allow us to improve the well being our society. To achieve this we researched articles and scientific publications, as well as interviews with Mental Health experts.
THE BIG IDEA
Workshops
We undertook the first internal workshop to lay down the concepts we had acquired during the research phase. We defined the user we were targetting and agreed on the specific areas of mental health where we wanted to focus our efforts on. We now had a foundation which would help us generate ideas and come up with a great product.
In the second workshop we used Design Thinking techniques with experts in mental health and possible product users. The aim was to explore as many ideas as possible, and analyse them to see which would be the most viable and have the gratest social impact.
HOW THE IDEA BECAME REAL
From paper to digital. Coming up with a solution is the most difficult part of the process, and the key to success properly defining the problem you are trying to solve.
Let’s test the idea!
In order to check out how valid the idea was we prepared a minimun viable product to test our main function: writing, sending and receiving postcards. We developed a validation process to measure the conversion of users of our webpage and survey, whereby the user would write an initial postcard and then receive one in reply. After receiving the reply the user would evaluate the experience and, most importantly, how did he/she felt during the process.
The foundations and needs for Penpals
For the initial development of this new digital product we outlined 2 basic needs we had to fulfill. In the first place, the user should be able to diferentiate between the exchange of postcards initiated by an anonymous user, and those initiated by itself. In second place, we had to define how we would connect the users.
We built a structure for the postcards that could be visualised, as well as defining the nomenclature for the two types of exchanges: Anonymous Postcards and Postcards written by me.
To connect the users we had to extract data from them which we obtained from questions before writing and answering postcards, contibuting to improve empathy with their own and others’ feelings.
BUILDING THE PRODUCT. Navigation, Wireframes and Prototype
To complete the development of the product we created a navigation tree with different segments that make up the menu, and the flows followed by the user to develop functions within the App. To create the wireframes we defined user stories and tasks that the user should be able to complete to make the experience a success.
The final part of the process concluded with a serie of tests on various early adopters to obtain information on the strengths and weaknesses of our product.
The information obtained from the surveys and interviews of the test product was applied directly in the UI phase, upgrading the comprehension of the interface.
CREATING A BRAND
Moodboard and Brand archetypes
Finding a style that can adapt to a product you have in mind can be a complicated process. To define the brand we use different techniques such as moodboards and archetype analysis. The up side was that the problem we were adressing was already defining the archetype of the brand: a humane and close approach in a digital environment.
Design System and design bases
Figma was our ally in this last part of the process when we defined the components that would embody our app. We also designed the style of this product which had to be eminently tolerant and non-judgemental.
Furthermore we cannot ignore a solid base on which to build our app, seeking a easy to use and understand platform for our users, and that’s why we choose the Material Design documentation.
Peer support is necessary to overcome social problems. Penpals helps you to reach out to other people avoiding judgements on the problems which occupy your thoughts.
What breathes life into Penpals: The opinion of those who have tried it
I enjoyed receiving an answer. And the fact that it isn’t immediate and that I had almost forgotten sending it has made receiving an answer more special, like when you receive a letter, which is something I hadn’t had in a long time…great!
This project was made by Elena Reboul Pardo, Laura Vendrell Aparisi and Salvador Serrano as mentor.
