Winter 2024
Remembrance 0-1
Bringing a beautiful concept to life for the first time.
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Winter 2024
Bringing a beautiful concept to life for the first time.
Remembrance gives its users a way to cope with the passing of a pet by combining grief counseling with augmented reality. Users are able to select an ARĀ memorial, customize it, place it in a specific location, and share it with others. This gives users a curated, therapeutic process to work through as well as a lasting memorial to honor their loved one.
Take Remembrance from a lo-fi beta only available on desktop to a hi-fi mobile prototype ready to be handed off to developers. Multiple rounds of user research and usability testing would ensure the final designs brought the desired value to users in a way that was approachable and empathetic.
Product Designer
User Researcher
This was a huge project and required significant collaboration with Remembrance's CEOĀ to craft an appropriate design vision and execute on it. We wanted to ensure that this foundational design was scalable and would provide ample room for the product to grow.
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Additionally as this product deals with loss, IĀ had to ensure the level of empathy felt by the users was on point. IĀ tested the prototype with two grief counselors that specialized in pet loss and they were able to give specific feedback around language and "feel" to ensure the end product was well received and valued by users at such a trying time.
I start every project in more or less the same way. A deep dive into the core problem and what's already been done. IĀ accomplish this through a workshop with the client where we dig into the following questions:
By asking these questions IĀ was able to understand that Remembrance was designed to fill a much needed gapāwhile plenty of tradition and processes exist around the passing of a human, there is little when it comes to the passing of a pet, often leaving devastated pet owners with no clear path to process their emotions and honor their deceased family.
Remembrance would offer a totally unique to the market solution that would enable users to create fully customized, augmented reality memorials for their pets that could be viewed, interacted with, and updated. Ultimately Remembrance would expand into memorials for people as well, but the business would make its start with pets.
The ARĀ technology has already been developed and there was a bare bones desktop product that the CEOĀ used to validate the business and the users. Where IĀ came in was to take this desktop product and turn it into a mobile experience that provided the foundation for the ARĀ experience.
What IĀ learned in the workshop informed what research IĀ would need to make the mobile product a reality. Now that IĀ knew how it was supposed to work, IĀ took a look at the existing beta product and mapped out the user flow to see how the existing product was actually working. As it stood then, the main flow dead-ended and didn't reflect the CEO's intended functionality and ease of use.
Existing User Flow
New user flow
As IĀ crafted the new flow to reflect the desired end product, I had to consider the mental and emotional state of the target audience. Previous research discovered that most of the users would be interacting with the app one week to four months after the death of their pet. This means that users would be in compromised emotional states and would need ample handholding to guide them through the process.
Preliminary design testing
With the user flow solidified, IĀ quickly designed and prototyped a low fidelity MVP to test. This round of testing was specifically looking for feedback on the new flow and if the product as a whole felt straightforward and useful to its target audience. Since Remembrance didn't have any actual users yet, IĀ recruited 5 individuals who fit the ideal customer profile.
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With the user flow validated by the prospective customers and a wealth of additional feedback to work with, I began designing in earnest. As I was the sole designer working on Remembrance, IĀ was responsible for all UX, UI, and copywriting.
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Functionality included in the final designs:
Now that the fidelity was raised to a production level, I once again prototyped the designs and brought it back to the same five users IĀ talked to in the first round. Normally don't conduct research and validation with the same participants, but here IĀ felt it was important here to make sure that the initial concerns they raised were answered in the design. Ā
Additionally, IĀ talked to two grief psychologists and had them run through the design with me. IĀ didn't test them in the same way as the other participants, as IĀ was tapping them specifically to ensure the design and copy was delicate enough to deal with the nuances of grief and loss.
Across the board the participants felt that their initial concerns were answered. However, this round of testing brought new insights as they were able to hone in on more specific feedback that was instrumental in fine tuning the product. Some examples of this include:
1. Opening "Add-Ons" directly after their purchase instead of landing back on the memorial home page
2. Concern over the term "grief gifts"Ā as it didn't feel appropriate in the setting
3. Desire for more copy highlighting that the process didn't need to be completed start to finish
4. Not needing to call out payment in the memorial walkthrough, "I know IĀ have to pay."
Over the course of eight weeks I delivered the following to Remembrance:
This was an incredible project and IĀ learned so much from having complete ownership of the design. If time had allowed, IĀ would have loved to continue testing the product to hone the experience even more.
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Next case study:
Upgrade Boutique