SodaPop AI

SodaPop AI is a user-centric storytelling app designed to empower older individuals to preserve their life stories effortlessly

Team

3 Person Design Team

Duration

3 week design sprint: Fall '23

My Contribution

UX Research, UI Design

Overview

Business Goal

To create a more affordable alternative for users who did not have the means to invest in a personal writer, but still want to capture their story.

The Idea behind Soda Pop is to offer older individuals a simple platform, aided by AI, to encapsulate their life journey, preserving wisdom and a meaningful legacy concisely. It makes storytelling accessible for those who prefer brevity, acknowledging the value of personal narratives.

Discover

Problem Statement

Our users value sharing detailed life stories to leave meaningful legacy but struggle with maintaining engagement, motivation, and consistency. They seek a user friendly platform that encourages memory recollection, supports diverse storytelling styles, and preserves their trust in Ai content generation.

Discover

Research Objective

The primary goal during the Discover phase was to uncover the motivations driving users to use a storytelling app and understand the challenges they face in recording their stories. The research methods included User Interviews and Competitive Analysis.

User Interviews

Discover

User Research

We conducted 10 User Interviews with two distinct user groups: the older generation (senior citizens) who would use the app and their adult children, who would purchase it. The key findings from these interviews included:

The older generation users were not tech-savvy, which posed a challenge for app adoption.
Users valued routine-based engagement and trusted AI content generation but were concerned about privacy.
Accessibility, text visibility, and simple interfaces were essential for the target user group.
There was a need to assess the comfort level of senior users with app-based storytelling.

Market Research

Competitive Analysis

We analyzed competitors in the storytelling app space, including Yester, Story Glory, Timeline, and Memlife. Key insights from this analysis included:

Competitors emphasized data protection and legacy preservation.
Features like photo and voice recording were popular for memory capture.
Minimal barriers to writing were crucial for user engagement.

Discover

We developed a user persona named Elenor, a senior in her 70s who cherished sharing stories with her family. Elenor's persona highlighted her challenges and needs:

Not tech-savvy and intimidated by complex apps.
Desires a platform with thought-provoking prompts and voice-to-text options.

Pain Points

Based on Elenor's persona and user insights, we identified pain points:

Difficulty with technology.
Lack of motivation and engagement.
Desire to leave a meaningful legacy.

User Persona

How Might We?...

Opportunity

To address these pain points, we formulated actionable questions:

How might we ensure user privacy and security?
How might we keep users motivated and engaged?
How might we provide support for crafting biographies?

Design Solutions

Vision

We focused on creating an accessible and aesthetically pleasing app. Our color palette, inspired by the nostalgic character Soda Popinski, conveyed a sense of nostalgia and fun.

Key Features

We prioritized three key features:

Simple Onboarding: To ease the daunting task of writing a biography.
Prompts & AI Conversation: To inspire users to share their life stories.
Gamification: To encourage users to return and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Usability Testing

Usability testing provided valuable insights:

Simplified the home screen to make it more intuitive.
Increased text and button sizes for better readability.
Replaced the "go" button with a "return" button.
Added a recording option and daily prompt feature.

Next Steps

In the Deliver phase, we presented our prototype, design inspirations, and future steps. We shared our gratitude for the opportunity to work on this app and expressed our commitment to continually improve the user experience.

Following the Design phase, we identified the following next steps:

Further gamify the app and expand features.
Enhance UI, including a tone/voice feature.
Enable progress sharing and photo/document uploads.
Conduct additional usability testing with older users.

Conclusion

SodaPop AI is a user-centric storytelling app designed to empower older individuals to preserve their life stories effortlessly. Through a thorough design process that involved user research, persona development, and iterative design, we've crafted an app that addresses the unique needs and challenges of our target users. Our commitment to user privacy, engagement, and support ensures that SodaPop AI is a valuable platform for seniors to share their legacies with their loved ones.