Front Porch Product Design
Roles: UX Designer
Methods: Competitive analysis, Personas, Storyboarding, User flow diagrams, Paper prototypes
Tools: Figma
Duration: September 2021 - December 2021
Team members: Ashley Thompson, John Roselli, Jordan Briney, Max Rosenzweig
Summary
Front Porch is a mobile application made to encourage meaningful communication and expressions of gratitude between family members of multiple generations. Our app combines the best aspects of social media, photo albums, and messaging apps and implements them in an intimate, familial context. I designed this app with my team members to compete in the CHI 2022 Student Design Competition.
CHI 2022 Design Brief: This year, the design brief was Gratitude. "Use human-centered design approaches to develop a new way to express, share, or deliver our gratitude, affection, kindness, or appreciation to the broader communities at this critical time. Gratitude empowers us, stimulates positivity in our thoughts, and enhances both our physical and mental well-being. Could technology play any role in reminding us to be grateful, or help us communicate, express, or share our gratitude in any way?"
Problem Space
With the physical constraints caused by COVID-19 and the vastly different communication habits of teens and older adults, cross-generational communication is failing to consist of meaningful conversations and expressions of gratitude. Family members of
vastly different generations need a tool that will facilitate meaningful communication and encourage connection with an easy to use interface for all ages.
View our competitive analysis here.
Personas
Solution
To solve the problems associated with cross-generational family communication, we designed a mobile application where families can communicate with one another, share memories, and invite one another to events - call it a beefed up group chat.
The main features of our app include group messaging, sharing media (photos, videos, and voice memos), and creating events.
Dream features:
-Daily/Weekly/Monthly prompts to encourage communication
-Audio and video channels for easy real-time communication
-Custom montage maker with media shared by family members to celebrate
special occasions
The MVP:
-Group messaging for anyone registered in a family unit
-Shared media library to celebrate memories, events, etc. with all family members, no matter location
-Pre-made media montages from events
created in the app
-Shared events calendar for special occasions like birthdays, graduations, family gatherings, etc.
Storyboard
User Flow Diagram
