Meg McLaughlin

Mark is about ready to head home from his happy hour, but since there aren’t any cars close by, he sets a radar.

Meg is heading out soon and reserves a car. She enters her destination to get a fare estimate & chooses to start a Relay to save a few bucks and not have to search for parking.

Mark gets a notification that a Relay is on the way to his location, ETA: 15 minutes. He accepts.

Meg gets a ping about their Relay Point, about 2 blocks from where she’s headed.

Meg drives to the Relay Point while Mark wraps up and heads outside.

When Meg pulls up and sees Mark, she presses “End trip” on her phone to pass the baton to Mark, and walks over to meet her friends.

Mark hits “Start Trip” and takes off to the next Relay Point.

I used both an artifact and physical model of the sportsbook to understand how visitors gathered information and placed bets. The legend following applies to both models.

I used both an artifact and physical model of the sportsbook to understand how visitors gathered information and placed bets. The legend following applies to both models.

The real impact in this model is with the Passerby. These are average social media users who are being engaged with by active Bubblr users who are commenting, following, or liking what they’re saying. Just having that interaction will cause people to look at their new followers profiles, and maybe think about what they have to say.

I broke down the readings into three themes:

"If you try to hold onto your own power,"

"If you try to empower others,"

and "If you give into the demands of those in power."

I wrote messages I took away from each reading according to those themes.

I looked at archetypes of people I see as having an incentive to use social media actively and why. Then, I created a diagram to represent how they would disseminate information differently with Bubblr. For example, an activist might use Bubblr to strengthen her narrative and find allies who might just have been turned off by the language of her message before. A marketer might use Bubblr to find new markets. While “marketing” can have a predatory connotation, people can really benefit from products and services. If a marketer is listening back to what people are saying, they may be able to make a impact on people’s lives in a  more direct and meaningful way.

The first thing users do when they open the app is take a short 7 question quiz based on the Five Love Languages. We built this as an easy, friendly introduction that can instantly provide value. The results from this quiz influence the suggestions each partner recieves.

Our second quiz is based on personality type. It puts a mirror up to your internal motivation. Users can get helpful tips on understanding their partner. The real benefit of this section is that it influences how Openly "talks" to each individual user, to better motivate them.

Users get notifications as desired to remind them to do something nice for their partner. 

Most days, this is the section that users will head to. Here they see their daily suggestions. 

Clicking on a suggestions lets them customize reminders. The system will also track what users are clicking on to learn their habits, and give them better suggestions over time.

This section is where users can enter their custom suggestions. 

"Plan a weekend getaway for us" can go straight to Brian and be understood, if direct. We have to learn about how to translate more difficult phrases from first to second person. If she swipes left from this screen, she can edit her suggestions.

Custom settings live here as well as the quiz results. Users can compare their results, or retake the quizzes. The quizzes are really the brains of the app, that influence how we interact with each of the users. Read more about our quizzes here.

 I looked into MBTI, The Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and Rubin's Four Tendencies to develop a quick 6 question quiz to teach couples about their personality differences. Behind the scenes, there are 9 questions. Everyone takes the first three, and their answers determine which path they take next to receive one of four profiles:

Analyst- Wants to make the best decision. We'll tell them why we're giving them the suggestions they get.

Ally- Wants to have the most impact. We'll tell them how they can help, and keep them accountable with reminders.

Advocate- Wants to make the right decision. We'll tell them how x y or z will help their relationship.

Independent- Wants to decide for themselves. We'll give them choice.

I used what I learned to create a 7 question quiz (with possible tie breaker). This image gives you an idea of what the quiz looks and feels like. Users are asked to pick one of three responses to each question. Whatever sounds best to them. You may notice that the original quiz had 30 questions, where this one has 7. We wanted the lowest barrier to entry, with 7 questions and 5 Love Languages, the user will have picked one Love Language at least twice. We believe that as long as the user has an interest in the things represented by the Love Language, they'll be happy with the extra attention and care from their partner. 

Storyboarding the problem made it come to life. Here is a scene from a storyboard I made about Gabe trying to hold in his anger with his sister disrespecting his apartment until he just couldn't take it anymore, and using Elephant in the Room to reach out and start repairing their relationship.

After articulating how they felt, the user was asked to think about how the person on the other side of this conflict might feel. We found this section worked for most problems, but it seemed much harder for users to separate themselves from topics they were really emotional. 

Sophie is filling in Elephant's response to what our user tester, Katie, filled in. We were developing Elephant to rephrase what the user entered and repeat it back to them. We found in user testing that even repeating exactly what the user said was always a real "ah-ha" moment. Our users felt validated every time.

We were interested in learning about the influence of family and cultural dynamics in the lives of young adults whose parents immigrated to the US. On average, we spent about 2.5 hours in the home of each participant. Photo by Sophie Kwok.

We cooked with second generation Asian Americans in their homes, here we are making steamed bao with Kim's family. Cooking allowed us to place ourselves in the role of an apprentice while asking meaningful questions. Photo by Sophie Kwok.

The phone calls were my favorite part of our time with each participant. We had a worksheet with a few questions for each person to ask of their parent(s). Gabe’s mom talked about her escape from the Khmer Rouge as a teenager, life separated from her family at a refugee camp, her first job at Burger King, and working her way through college with two kids. 

We learned about people's lives by the things they have on display. This shrine with photo of Lili's grandfather is the first thing you see when you enter their family home.

Hannah's family has recently returned to the Philippines. Her few physical connections have special places in her home. She keeps this well-worn cookbook her grandmother brought from the Philippines hidden in a cupboard.

Arthur lost his parents. The communities that he has built himself hold tremendous importance in his life, whether he's doing improv, working, or playing board games. Here, he's showing me some of his favorites. Photo by Sarah Lum.

Illustrations I made of ColdTowne as a more open improv partner, telling visitors where to go, who to talk to, and what other opportunities were available.

Philip hanging signage in the lobby.

Interns graciously helping up test our badges.