MOBILE UI/UX
FIGMA
TEAM PROJECT
APR 2025
OVERVIEW
We feared graduation for the friends we'd lose
When graduation grew months away for our team, we began reflecting on how our daily lives and friendships would change after college. Through the UC Davis Design Interactive Club's Spring Fellowship 2025, we explored a way to intentionally capture what the moment meant to us by designing a digital time capsule that helps loved ones reconnect in the future.
OBJECTIVES
Allow groups to collaboratively build a shared digital time capsule.
Encourage users to reflect on their relationships through guided prompts.
Create a future reunion experience when the capsule is opened together.
TEAM & TIMELINE
A friend group trio racing to beat the clock
Our team of three close college friends had a strict deadline of four weeks to complete the club's fellowship design sprint. However, we also aimed to complete the fellowship as a final parting project before graduation, and as a testimony to our friendship as three designers.
USER RESEARCH
People lose touch over time due to life commitments
Before starting, our team needed to identify the current behaviors, tools, and gaps surrounding shared memory experiences. Our goal was to understand how relationships and memories were maintained after major life transitions.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Competitive analysis
Through our research, we discovered there are currently no existing group digital time capsules. We decided to focus on three main related categories: intimacy-focused experiences, self digital time capsules, and shared memory platforms. Each of these included features we wanted to explore for Someday.
KEY INSIGHTS
Maintaining connection can lack depth over time
Life can easily intrude on maintaining consistent connection. Rather than creating a platform for daily conversation (i.e social media), we aimed to create a reflective medium that groups returned to over time. This frees users from the pressure of constant communication, but incentivizes returning to past reflections.
Implications: Prioritize flexible participation, encourage deeper connection through prompts.
ITERATION TWO FEEDBACK:
Judge/Jury still felt very passive and distracted.
Jury felt like observers and not active players.
Attorneys forget about the Crime and go on tangents.
Good prompting so far, heavily reliant on player performance. Should utilize real debate structures.
KEY INSIGHTS
Maintaining connection can lack depth over time
Life can easily intrude on maintaining consistent connection. Rather than creating a platform for daily conversation (i.e social media), we aimed to create a reflective medium that groups returned to over time. This frees users from the pressure of constant communication, but incentivizes returning to past reflections.
Implications: Prioritize flexible participation, encourage deeper connection through prompts.
IDEATION & SKETCHES
Our design should be flexible, inviting, and simple to use
After culminating our findings, we began laying out the foundation of the user flow and information architecture. Various tasks and potential features were explored until we grasped a viable MVP for the design sprint. From there, we brought our concepts to life in sketches and wireframes.
BRAND IDENTITY
Colorful mascots represent user's individuality and group dynamics
Our design system heavily focused on self-expression and personality. To develop a sense of individualism within capsules, we wanted to showcase how a variety of colorful characters could all come together to capture one beautiful moment in time. This is reflected in the main logo as a polaroid.
HI-FI DESIGNS
Developing an intuitive onboarding and capsule creation process
We moved onto the branding and core user interface systems. While our brand designer continued developing the mascot characters and main logo suite, I began developing the overall layout and app visual identity, focusing on a colorful, bold, and distinct style that matched with the branding.
FINAL DESIGN & PROTOTYPE
A digital time capsule brought to life
The final design and Figma prototype includes the onboarding process to create a new capsule and the ability to submit a daily prompt. During our Design Interactive Club presentation, we were awarded the "Best Visual Design."
