We created a survey via Google Forms and put it out over various forms of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit). We were particularly shocked by the age range being so young, as we were expecting the age range to be mostly middle age ro seniors.

Interviews

Interview Transcripts

Allison, a newly widowed middle aged professional is seeking a reliable and safe way to connect to others also experiencing loss because communicating with others who understand can greatly assist in the grief and healing journey

A competitor analysis was completed by researching Good Grief, Empathy-Loss Support, Grief Refuge and Grief Share. This helped us nail down the best way to go about our own app. For example, we wanted to make sure that it had security capabilities to narrow the amount of scammers and those with ill intentions. We also wanted to make sure our potential app remained free to users and was non-religious to attract a larger user base.

Many features we chose for “now” were very important to us and potential users, such as the ability for a group chat, as well as resources that are grief based. We also wanted to be able to implement a questionnaire feature to vet potential users.

Jalisa’s Sketches

After creating our user flow, my teammates and I each created paper wireframes. From there, we were able to combine our individual wireframes into a user flow and sketch pattern that we all agreed on and believed would be the best for the app.

After deciding on which paper wireframes to use, we then created digital low fidelity wireframes using Figma. We really focused on the onboarding process to ensure that there were safety and security measures included to protect those who are using the app. We also included the resource feature as well as the ability to group chat so users are able to connect with those who are also grieving.

Users were successful in completing task 1 (signing up for an account), task 2 (create a basic profile) and task 5 (join the “Young Widows” community. Users had a bit of a trouble with task 3 (viewing bereavement resources) and task 4 (completing the chat questionnaire.

• Added Home icon and labels to feature icons in bottom navigations

• Moved back button to top of screen

• Improved questionnaire functionality

We added questions to to the community questionnaire (onboarding for group chat) and fixed the issue with viewing bereavement groups.

• This project quickly became a passion project for all three of us involved as death and grieving is a universal experience to every human. It was a special and fulfilling project to undertake that we all felt deeply.

• Constructing the competitor analysis earlier in the process had a positive impact in the overall app ideation.

• Add the ability to create a group chat

• Include spaces of pet loss or other types of non traditional loss

• Expand available resources to access

• Decrease amount of white space

Based off of our survey, interviews, and teammate, Karen, we were able to create a user persona - Allison. Allison lost her spouse in middle age and is looking for a way to connect with others who are grieving a significant loss in their life.

For our low fidelity mockup, we created a very simple user flow consisting of being able to log in or sign up, view resources, and access the group chat function.