Stella
Your pocket coach to meaningful conversations
Quantitative Research
Affinity Map
Branding
High Fidelity Prototype
Design Systems
Where
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Role
Product Designer, Team Lead
What
Responsive Web App
Team
Three Designers
Project Type
Client Project
Duration
Four Weeks
The more you are close to someone, the harder it gets to be fully open.
What is Stella?
Meaningful Conversations
Stella, the smart pocket coach, helps initiate deep conversations with loved ones, especially when starting can be difficult due to the intimate nature of such discussions.
Science-Based Assistance
It provides science-based questions, guides on conversation tone, and meaningful follow-up queries, ensuring a more profound and engaging dialogue.
Speech to Memories
Conversation capture with speech-to-text technology through a single button click, creating editable text documents that transform into cherished memory books.
Affinity Map
Behaviours
Feeling more connected after deep talks
Seeking connection and relevant discussions
Importance of time and frequency
Motivations
Deepening friendships and connection
Building trust and creating a safe space
Pain points
Sensitivity or discomfort with certain topics
Challenges of distance or lack of context
Quantitative Research Results
Desire for a Judgement Free Environment
Users value a setting where they can express themselves openly without fear of judgment or negative reactions.
Break the Barriers for Deep Conversations
Users mention experiencing barriers when initiating deep conversations, especially with certain individuals or in specific contexts.
Time Constraints and Busy Lifestyles
Users mention the challenges of finding time for deep conversations with their loved ones to deepen their connections.
Keepsake of the Memories
Users make emphasis on preserving and revisiting those hard-to-start and valuable conversations as long lasting memories.
Project Persona
Sensitive Sarah
The Emotional Mom
45
Female
The Netherlands
Caring
Emotional
Thoughtful
Fragile
Family-Oriented
Shy
I have more deep conversations with my husband, but it's very difficult with young children. Also, I would like to have more conversations with my parents when it is too late.
Bio
Sarah is a caring and family-oriented individual who prioritizes her loved ones' well-being and happiness. She faces challenges in connecting with her teenage child but receives strong support from her husband in working on effective communication strategies.
Additionally, she is dedicated to cherishing moments with her aging father while promoting open and heartfelt conversations in their time together.
Needs
A safe and comfortable environment where one can express themselves without judgment to build trust
A sense of connection with others, especially through deep and meaningful conversations while Strengthening bonds and finding common ground
To break through barriers and engage in deeper conversations with family members, friends, or partners.
Fear of judgement or negative reaction
Challenges of lack of context
Trouble with starting the conversation
Lack of time or opportunity for deeper talks
Sensitivity or discomfort with certain topics
The want to have a meaningful conversation is often felt too late when the person gets sick or old
Lack of intimacy or vulnerability
Sensitive Sarah
Sarah, a dedicated mother and wife, starts her day by preparing breakfast for her family and engaging in light conversation. She helps her teenage child get ready for school, occasionally dealing with disagreements. She values the time they have together and aims to understand her child's perspective.
Throughout the day, Sarah maintains contact with her family, checking in with her husband's work progress and ensuring her father's comfort. When the evening comes, she takes a moment to reflect on her desire for more meaningful interactions with her teenage child and how she can better connect with them. Sarah acknowledges the importance of open and heartfelt conversations in fostering stronger bonds with her loved ones.
Step 1
Awareness
Sarah realizes that meaningful conversations with her teenage child and father are becoming increasingly difficult due to conflicts arising from the gap between the generations and causing misunderstandings.
She and her husband explore various resources, such as books, articles, and online forums, to gain insights into navigating teenage behaviors and older family members and fostering a deeper connection.
Step 3
Decision
Feeling discouraged, Sarah realizes that they require a safe and specialized platform to guide them in opening and continuing meaningful conversations with their teenager and also father in daily life basis.
Step 4
Anxiety
Although many platforms provide written guidance or video content, she can not find a convenient one that they can use as a family. This causes frustrations in all of them and effects their time spent together.
Step 5
Frustration
Sarah gives up hopes on engaging with two different family members and decides to focus on one of them. But she is not feeling comfortable about it because she knows she is missing a lot on the other side day-by-day.
HMW Statements
Based on our research results and journey mapping we identified the main problems for our target audience. That identification helped us to define the problem in a structured way.
Main Problems
Communication Barries
Sarah and her family are experiencing difficulties in engaging in meaningful conversations with their teenage child and aging father, primarily due to generational differences and misunderstandings.
Lack of Guidence
Existing resources like articles, and online forums are insufficient in providing the guidance and support needed to bridge the communication gap and foster deeper connections within the family.
Problem Statement
Users who desire a safe and judgment-free environment, along with meaningful connections. They need to find a way to engage in deep conversations that accommodate their busy lifestyles with depth because they face time constraints, hesitations in initiation, and a desire to preserve and reflect on these discussions.
Mobile Device Main Flow
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Mid-Fidelity Iterations
As we iterated our designs during our journey to high fidelity screens and did brainstorming together as a team to explain the importance of the onboarding screens to the stakeholders and agreed on keeping them.
Stakeholder Feedback and Validation
Concerns about feminine style and missing the possible users because of mis-interface concept.
Questions about the onboarding screens and maybe removing them from the flow.
Suggestions about making the interface more focused on dark theme to reduce the distractions during usage.
Color Palette
Quicksand stood out as the optimal choice among many typefaces (such as Montserrat, Comfortaa, Catamaran, and Gill Sans) due to its combination of clarity and readability in addition to the tone and the style of the typeface.
Typography Decision
Clarity and Readability
Quicksand is known for its legible design, sans-serif letterforms, and balanced spacing that ensures users can easily absorb information.
Friendly Tone
Quicksand is characterized by rounded letterforms and an open design. This visual style imparts a warm feel to the typeface.
Approachable Style
The typeface avoids overly complex or formal elements and promotes inclusivity and a sense of openness in the user experience.
Typography Board
Stella generates questions based on the flow of the conversation. Interactive UI cards made it easy to ask relevant questions that are suggested by Stella.
Design Systems and Documentation
Ceren worked as a UX/UI designer for my startup. I would wholeheartedly recommend Ceren. She is smart, a natural leader, self-possessed and organised, and a great communicator. She not only delivered great work, she went above and beyond her tasks and made the effort to hand work over so well. And most importantly, very fun to work with!
Founder of Stella
What Went Well?
The successful investment tour is a huge success for both us and our stakeholder. It indicated that the project's value proposition and potential were well-received, setting a positive tone for future funding and growth.
What Did Not Go Well?
Dealing with a volunteer team that had disparate schedules posed a notable challenge, making it hard to maintain project momentum and adhere to the planned schedule.
Please reach out to me for the prototype link!
