Overview
Nodify is a communication solution for empty nesters and their adult children, offering parents reassurance about their child’s well-being through brief, meaningful interactions.
Duration
Aug 2023 - April 2024
8 months
My Role: Lead UX Designer
I led the UX design strategy including copy, design system, and interaction patterns of the mobile app prototype. I also developed and facilitated co-design sessions.
Technology & Tools
Figma, FigJam, Qualtrics, Tableau
THIS PROJECT WAS AWARDED IN MAY 2024
Nodify was selected among 30+ projects and 55 graduate students as a most outstanding group project, recognized at the Georgia Institute of Technology's MS-HCI commencement event.
🏆 2024 MS-HCI Outstanding Master's Thesis Project
Process
Defining the Problem
Background
The transition to an empty nest often brings challenges for parents who want to maintain meaningful connections with their adult children while respecting their independence. As children move out and communication patterns shift, parents seek reassurance about their child’s well-being, but struggle with balancing frequent updates and personal boundaries.
This problem space highlights the need for a solution that facilitates quick, flexible interactions to keep families connected without intruding on their daily lives.
Target Users
Primary User
Empty-Nester (Parent)
Parents whose children have grown up and moved out of the family home, leaving them with an "empty nest"
Secondary User
Adult Child
Grown, adult children who have moved out of the family home, often described as becoming independent
Primary Research
Initial Research Questions
In what ways does an empty nester adjust their life after their child leaves?
What strategies do empty nesters currently employ, if any, to cope with the transitional period?
What prevents the adoption of existing technological solutions by empty-nesters?
Semi-Structured User Interviews
We met with several parents to hear their first-hand accounts of the transition to an empty nest, focusing on potential differences in their lives before and after their child left home.
Seven, 60-minute interviews were conducted with a loose script to guide the conversation.
SAMPLE QUESTION
Describe your communication frequency and modes with your child when they lived at home. How is this different now?
User Interview Findings
👉 MAIN TAKEAWAY
Parents continue to prioritize their child's well-being but also strive to respect their independence, creating a tension where they communicate less frequently than they’d prefer in order to avoid overstepping boundaries.
Excerpt from Affinity Model
“[Their] health, whether it's mental or physical, that trump's everything”
“I didn't ever want to be that [parent] that was bothering him. So that's why I didn't just pick up and call...”
Qualtrics Survey
To reinforce the user interview findings, we set out to gather a large amount of quantitative data by sending out a survey to each of parent and adult child participants.
The surveys each had 23 questions surrounding communication:
-
Frequency
-
Methods (direct and indirect)
-
Topics of importance
-
Technology use
-
Expectations vs. reality
149 Parent Responses
73 Child Responses
Key Survey Findings
Communication Expectations
Participants wish to talk to their parent/child at least once a week, in most cases more frequently. Time or effort was identified as a major blocker to this desire.
Communication Methods
Parents are shown to defer to their child's preferred communication mode, texting. This is in spite of their desired mode being phone calls.
Information Sharing
Parents report using "indirect" ways to check in on their child's wellbeing when direct communication (text, call) is not possible.
Ideation
Research Insights
1
💡 VARIED COMMUNICATION DEPTH
Parents want to discuss a range of topics, while children share varying levels of detail depending on the time and effort involved
2
💡 MISSING CONTEXT
Parents rely on direct and indirect (“checking-in”) means of communication, indicating a need for more contextual indicators of their child's wellbeing
3
💡 FINDING A BALANCE
Parents hope to maintain regular communication, but sacrifice this preferences out of respect for their adult child’s privacy and independence
Design Requirements
🛠️ PRIORITZE IMPORTANT TOPICS
Solution should be flexible to allow users to emphasize or prioritize subjects of importance
📅 SIMPLE INTEGRATION INTO DAILY LIFE
Solution should be quick and easy to integrate into day to day life
❤️ REASSURE PARENTS W/ CONTEXT
Solution should allow parents to feel reassured of their child’s wellbeing without relying on direct, detailed information
💬 ESTABLISH ROUTINE COMMUNICATION
Solution should establish a routine in the frequency of communication
🔎 FOSTER PRIVACY & INDEPENDENCE
Solution should allow users to vary granularity of shared information to foster independence and control
How might we create a solution emphasizing quick, flexible interactions, that meets shared communication goals and facilitates independence, to inspire parental confidence in an adult child’s wellbeing?
Co-Design Brainstorming
To tackle this guiding question, we involved our target users and ran 2 co-design workshops with 5 parent & adult child pairs (10 participants total).
Minimal Information Sharing
The first goal of the co-design sessions was to explore the amount and type of information that agrees with both parents and adult children when it comes to staying connected.
PARENT POV
Hearing no response is frustrating:“Something is better than nothing”
vs
ADULT CHILD POV
Interactions that don’t require much time and effort are crucial
Generate Ideas
A second focus of the co-design sessions was to encourage our participants to think of as many creative ideas as they could based on 4 brainstorm prompts which stemmed from our design requirements.
Many co-design ideas had the notion of a shared family information hub with high-level or “roundup” information gathered through consistent reminders.
Initial Concept Sketches
Inspired by the ideas generated from the co-design sessions, I sketched out several technology solutions.
Contextual Timeline
Daily Draw
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Micro Messaging
Photo Album
Shared Journal
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Enhanced Text App
The chosen concept enhanced and combined elements of different sketches to create a solution that best encompassed our design requirements
Final Concept
Sharing daily moments with micro messaging
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Design
Wireframes
Moving forward with the final concept, I created wireframes to outline the user flow and major features of the solution. Key frames are described below.
Daily Prompt
Automated daily question from one of 3 response types where users can share responses with family
Photo Response
Icon Response
Color Response
Diverse question topics
Visual information sharing
Simple, “2-tap” process
Home Feed
Daily question responses live on a feed where users can react to or comment on any posts. They can also send a manually triggered prompt to the family group.
Choose an app provided question or write one
Flexible reaction and commenting options
History & "Recap"
Browse individual responses to past prompts and receive a monthly “recap” of family activity
Calendar view of individual historical data
Monthly summary based on responses to daily prompts
Incentive & Flexibility
A combination of common methods aimed to encourage response participation and consistency
Hidden group responses unlocked by answering daily prompt
“Streak” count of consecutive days daily prompt is answered
Skip daily prompt; affects streak and hidden response
Wireframe User Feedback
The wireframes were evaluated based on user understanding of purpose, expectations of interactions, and to verify if design requirements were met.
There were 10 participants in total, 5 were parents and 5 were adult children.
User Feedback Key Insights
Micro-interactions and contextual info greatly bridge communication gap, but parents wish for more detailed information
Discrepancy of user expectations when it comes to certain app concepts
Discrepancy of user expectations when it comes to certain app interactions
Users may choose to skip emotion questions, as color can be too abstract to be representative of mood
Design System
Hi-Fidelity Iteration
Daily Prompt
Reduced response types to photo or icon
Confirmation screen after a response selection is made
💡New Feature
Optional text description and check-in with location or mood “tagging”
Home Feed
Clearer indication of required action to react to a post
Allow for more robust commenting interactions
Send New Prompt
Separate manually sent prompts to its own tab
Create flows for predefined and custom prompts
Monthly Recap
Removed calendar view and individual response history to prevent misconception
Reframe as a family oriented “recap” of monthly app activity
Incentive & Flexibility
Verbiage for blurred responses is made more descriptive of the result of user action
Streak icon is interactable with added description
Hi-Fidelity User Feedback
Conducting another round of user feedback gave us an opportunity to assess the user experience in a more realistic context and evaluate users' responses to specific visual design aspects.
There were 5 participants in total, 2 were parents and 3 were adult children.
Main Takeaways
👨👩👧
Enhance group visibility and management
Better address functionality for belonging to multiple family groups
Show more group member details and enhance available interactions
🫳🕹️
Create clearer indicators of available user interactions
Clarify the two different actions that can be taken for sending a new prompt
Provide confirmation of the selected prompt before sending to the group
🧐
Improve visual distinction between mandatory and optional elements
Provide better visual distinction for optional “check-in” feature
Alternative flow to further test users' understanding of the check-in feature
Heuristic Evaluation
Focused on assessing the usability of the prototype, we gathered feedback from 5 UX expert evaluators. They conducted a task walkthrough and documented any violations to Neilson's Heuristics, finally providing recommendations to address those.
Key Updates
Increase user freedom & control
Increase visibility of system status
Help with error prevention
Final Prototype Demo
DAILY PROMPT
Stay connected effortlessly with automated daily questions designed to spark meaningful interactions and keep family communication frequent and fun
CHECK-IN
The check-in feature adds an extra layer of reassurance by providing parents with valuable contextual information
HOME FEED
Stay engaged with family through a live feed of daily question responses. React or comment to keep conversations flowing!
SEND NEW PROMPT
Choose from a set of curated questions or create your own to spark deeper engagement! Prioritize topics that matter most, and go beyond the daily question to keep your family interactions meaningful
MONTHLY RECAP
Get a snapshot of your family's activity! Celebrate engagement with fun accolades, making it easy to stay connected and acknowledge active members
INCENTIVE & FLEXIBILITY
Encourage routine participation with streaks and hidden responses while offering flexibility to skip prompts, balancing engagement with personal control
Love for Nodify
All quotes are from actual participants, captured throughout project development
“It’s quick and easy and fun ... I’m ready to use it!”
“I like getting a prompt a day because sometimes I don’t know what to say, but it gives me an easy question to answer”
“This is something that combines the highlights of different platforms and makes it a thing that is special and specific to your family”
“We do have the family text with my sisters and by mom, but I think this would be better”
UX Designer (Intern)