ISHITA JAIN

ABOUT

RESUME

Roots Reconnected

A community-based app experience to reconnect with your culture

Skills & Tools

Design Research

User Flow Diagramming

Wireframing

Prototyping

Usability Testing

Figma

FigJam

Framer

Timeline

12 weeks

(Feb-April 2023)

Team

I worked in a team of 4 designers.

My Role

In this project, my role as a UX Designer encompassed active participation in every phase of the design lifecycle, from ideation and research to prototyping, testing, and final implementation. I also set up a website to showcase the individual milestones for our project

Background

As part of the course UX Prototyping in my second semester, we had to create a prototype of a digital artifact to satisfy some need of one of the two people in this painting by Njideka Akunyili Crosby.

Still You Bloom in This Land of No Gardens, 2020. Njideka Akunyili Crosby

The Big Problem

"Growing up as a first or second-generation immigrant in the United States, far from our native countries, is difficult"


Living far from one’s friends and family in a drastically different culture can be quite isolating sometimes. Festivals, customs and other parts of one’s daily life are quickly replaced with the humdrum of the country they reside in, making it difficult to navigate this mixed identity.

Our Solution

We envisioned a social-media-esque platform that would help parents reconnect with their roots and cultural milieu and introduce their children to the same, in a fun, interactive manner.

Reconnect with your culture


  • Engage in weekly cultural activities with family, fostering a sense of heritage and tradition.

  • Discover and attend nearby events celebrating your cultural festivals and traditions

  • Engage with like-minded individuals and become an active participant in your cultural community

Sharing and Learning


  • Share your cultural journey and document your progress as you complete activities, then post them on the global feed.

  • Exchange stories, learn about others' traditions and rituals, all within a vibrant and welcoming global feed.

Never miss your festivals


  • Whether it's lunar, solar, or another unique calendar system, the app ensures you never miss celebrating the traditions and festivals that matter most.

  • Personalize it by adding your own events, ensuring you never overlook special occasions.

UX Roadmap

  1. Ideation

  • Empathizing

  • Feature prioritization

  • Lo-fi wireframes

  1. Research & Validation

  • Primary & Secondary User research

  • Persona mapping

  • Story mapping

  1. High fidelity designs

  • Design System

  • Hi-fi mockups

  • Micro-interactions

  1. Testing & Improvements

  • Usability testing

  • Incorporating improvements

  1. Ideation

1.1 Empathize

While discussing the interpretations for the painting, a recurring theme was of growing up as a first or second-generation immigrant in a western setting, far from our native countries and cultures.


All the members of our team come from different countries, and that only helped us in having a productive discussion as we were able to bring our own unique experiences to the table. This discussion formed the core of our design and we kept coming back to it to guide our final design decisions.


While bouncing off a few other similar ideas, we went back to talking about the subjects in the picture. We discussed how difficult it must be for first-generation immigrants to raise children in a different country, while also trying to inculcate and preserve the children’s understanding of their native cultures. And that gave way to our main idea.

1.2 Lo-fi Wireframes

After settling on the idea and the main features, we set off to create low fidelity wireframes.

Onboarding- In designing the onboarding flow, our primary goal was to provide users with comprehensive insights into the app's features before prompting them to create an account. Users can self-identify their ethnicity and select their areas of interest. Additionally, they can specify whether they intended to use the app individually or with their family, with the latter option customizing the displayed activities to ensure a family-friendly experience

Homepage & Activities

Profile & Settings - The profile and settings screens adhered to conventional design standards, offering familiar and standard options.

  1. Research & Validation

2.1 How do we validate our ideas and build up on them?

Since we were working within a tight timeline, it was difficult to conduct a thorough primary research. We managed to interview two of our target users (a first-gen and a second-gen immigrant student) and then relied on our own experiences to validate or reject any of the proposed design features. We also referenced some existing literature as part of our secondary research.

What does the literature say

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center about the Asian-American experience was the starting point. It helped us validate many of our hypotheses and modify certain features of our app.

Talking to the people

We used a version of the Critical Incident Technique as it gave us a good framework of questions to ask the interviewees. Following are some of the questions we asked -

01

Not knowing the context

One interviewee remarked that how despite following the rituals and customs, she was unaware of the context behind them.

02

Interacting in one's own community helps

People find it easier to socialize with others belonging to their ethnicity. Sharing personal stories and challenges allows them to feel a sense of security.

03

Not doing enough

Research suggested that a lot of second-gen immigrants are confused and disappointed at not doing enough. Not conforming to the so-called stereotypes of their culture makes them feel disconnected and brings in a lot of guilt and frustrations.

04

Specific Ethinicity vs a Broader Label

People often report dissatisfaction at being put into broad categories instead of being able to identify with their unique and diverse ethinicities. For example, the word Asian-American often conjures up images of people from East Asian countries alone, such as China, Japan and Korea; and ignores people with many different identities such as Burmese, Indian etc.

2.2 What would our ideal user base would look like?

  • Rhea, 25

    Student

    Austin

    Background

    Rhea is a grad student at UT Austin who just moved to the US. Growing up in a traditional Indian family, Priya has found it challenging to connect with her Indian roots and feel a sense of belonging in a foreign land. She misses the food, music, festivals, and other cultural aspects of India, and often turns to social media and other online resources to stay connected with her culture.

    Goals

    • Reconnect with her Indian culture.

    • Integrate her Indian heritage into her daily life in the US.

    • Find like-minded people who share her interests and experiences.

    Frustrations

    • Clueless about what to do to stay in touch with her home culture

    • Not finding enough time to celebrate festivals etc.

    • Feels overwhelmed by all that she could do but is unable to.

    • Has trouble fitting in with American culture and socializing

    Quotes

    "It's so difficult to stay in touch with your cultural roots. Like I really wanna make the food my mom makes, but the assignments and the work just make it so difficult and I don't have time"

  • Wei, 21

    Student

    Austin

    Background

    Wei is a second-generation Chinese student born and raised in the US. Growing up, he was exposed to some aspects of Chinese culture through his family and community, but never fully immersed himself in it. He feels disconnected from his cultural roots and is concerned that he knows very little about Chinese history, traditions, and values.

    Goals

    • Build confidence in his ability to navigate and appreciate his Chinese culture.

    • Explore and learn more about the food, music, festivals, and other cultural aspects of China.

    Frustrations

    • Wants to reconnect with his roots but doesn't know where to start.

    • Feeling like he missed out on a crucial part of his heritage by not fully immersing himself in his Chinese culture growing up.

    • Struggling to navigate his cultural identity.

    • Lack of guidance or resources for learning about his Chinese heritage.

    Quote

    "Living by myself and trying to reconnect with my roots is a challenge. At least I had my family and community earlier to help me with it. But now I don't even know what I don't know"

  • Alika, 50

    Professional

    Austin

    Background

    Alika is a 50-year-old Nigerian immigrant who moved to the US 15 years ago. She is proud of her Nigerian heritage, but worries that her children, who were born and raised in the US, are not fully connected with their cultural roots. She is determined to find ways to help her children better understand and appreciate their Nigerian heritage.

    Goals

    • Wants her children to be interested in knowing more about their culture.

    • Create opportunities for her children to learn about Nigerian culture, including its history, traditions, and language.

    Frustrations

    • Limited resources for learning about Nigerian culture in the US.

    • Frustration that her children may not fully appreciate or understand the significance of their cultural heritage.

    • Dealing with the challenges of reconciling the two worlds.

    Quote

    "I want my children to be proud of their Nigerian heritage. But it's not always easy to find ways to connect with our culture in a foreign land. I worry that they will lose touch with their roots and forget where they come from."

2.3 Story Mapping

In this phase, we crafted a narrative thread that weaved together the experiences and cultural journeys of our users. Story mapping allowed us to refine our app features, ensuring that every interaction and feature of the app resonated with the user's needs and background. We split the app features into tasks and listed out the following for each task -

  1. Steps

  2. Details

  3. Future Scope


The full Figma file can be found here. Here's a sample storymap for the task "Find an activity you're interested in"

  1. Prototyping

Before diving into the actual screens, we created a design system. This design language had to evoke feelings of warmth, home and community. And we ensured that this is reflected in the typography, color choices as well as illustrations.

3.1 Mini Design System

We wanted the app's color scheme to capture the richness of varied cultures and the warmth of home while also being simple and minimal.

3.2 Micro-interactions

  1. Testing

We conducted a total of 7 unmoderated tests on UserTesting.com as well as 4 in-person tests. We tested 4 flows and the overall test duration was 15 minutes on an average. Our target audience was first and second-generation immigrants residing in the United States.

Notable Quotes from participants

“"

Is there a Continue as Guest option? Because typically I wouldn't create an account rightaway

“"

I like the whole concept of the app, as an immigrant myself I can relate to the idea very well. But I feel the tasks are very limiting

“"

I like the whole concept of the app, as an immigrant myself I can relate to the idea very well. But I feel the tasks are very limiting

2 Major Improvements

Inclusivity


  • Making illustrations more inclusive to highlight the —-

  • Guest login allows users to browse the app without needing to create an account

Tracking Progress


  • Instead of capturing one photo at the end, the option to capture and document each step and create an album of the activity

  • Allows user to track progress without the pressure of completion

  1. The Final Product

  1. Reflection

  1. Intuitive Micro-Interactions: Micro-interactions should feel intuitive to users, meaning they should respond in a way that aligns with user expectations. These subtle animations and feedback mechanisms enhance the user experience by providing clear and logical cues, ultimately contributing to usability and engagement.


  2. Maintaining Focus on the Main Idea/Theme: Throughout the design process, it's crucial to stay true to the app's central theme. This consistency ensures that all features and design elements reinforce the core concept, creating a cohesive and purposeful user experience that resonates with users and fulfills the app's primary goal of cultural reconnection.

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