Numerous data are created with digital devices by us every day, while few people consider them meaningful or make plans for them in terms of end-of-life preparation.
Introducing DIGITALE.: a smart personal curation platform that makes digital legacy planning an inspiring, intelligent and immersive experience.
🗂 Project type
Individual project
UX design
✏️ Responsibility
Research
Data analysis
Ideation & Testing
UI design
Video production
🎓 Role
UX designer
🗓 Duration
4-month studio
2022
Overview
⚠️ Problem
Numerous data are created with digital devices by us every day, while few people consider them meaningful or make plans for them in terms of end-of-life preparation.
🎯 Focus
Individuals who are:
-
constant users of the internet and smart devices
-
relatively far from mortality
-
taking little action to plan for their digital legacies
👁 Key insights
from research
01. "blindspot data"
❶ Compared to the past, digital data can be new carriers of spiritual value.
❷ Many data are created by users unconsciously, but may still be valuable to themselves or others.
02. natural process
People get lost in the massive data as they usually don’t think about it until bad things happen. But in fact, sorting out the memorable life pieces doesn’t need to be a last-minute decision, it can come naturally across daily life.
“Definitely, interesting idea…but I just don’t know where to start. There seems to be a lot of work!”
—— Participant a2, 28-year-old
03. liveliness & resonance
People do not see legacies as lifeless objects, but rather as opportunities to connect and empathise with their loved ones through living memories.
“I documented every bit and piece of my daughter’s growth. Hope this can also be a wonderful memory for her in the future.” —— Participant a4, 33-year-old
“I will probably be a great friend with the younger version of my mom.” —— Participant a5, 24-year-old
🚩 UX vision
There is an opportunity to design
a product or service for…
who want to…
but...
users of digital devices
create long-lasting connections with their loved ones through life pieces they left in the digital world
are too overwhelmed or insensitive to recognise valuable pieces hidden inside their devices and feel clueless about how to keep them as legacies
📖 Design principles
"blindspot data"
→
inspiring
inspire users to discover meanings and values in trivial data
natural process
→
intelligent
provide users with hassle-free planning guidance progressively through daily life
liveliness & resonance
→
immersive
create immersive environment for users to relive the moment
💡 Design solution
DIGITALE. is a smart personal curation platform that turns users’ digital footprints into interactive memory pieces, helping people better plan for their legacies and preserve spiritual bonds with those they love.
Process
Discover & Synthesis
➊ Pilot study
The whole journey begins with a flash of a question:
“What will happen to my social media account after I die?”
To find out if this question can be connected to a larger, meaningful topic and whether this topic has research potential, a quick hashtag research was conducted and then transferred into a giga map.
💥 Ethic concern when choosing target users
This topic could prove difficult to clear the ethical hurdle as death-relating issues are very likely to involve vulnerable participants (elderlies, invalids etc.). Due to the time limit and the university’s requirement for risk assessment, I turned to adults below 40, who tend to spend more time on digital devices as their growing-up stage overlaps with Internet development.
🔭 Design for the future
The application scenario of the project was then set to the upcoming future with assumptions of future society and advanced technologies, more like a perspective of speculative design which tries to imagine what it would be like to design without the current limitations.
🌈 Progress
Hunt statement
“I am going to research the awareness, attitudes and behaviours of young adults who are constant users of digital services, so that I can develop proper approaches that will help them manage their online properties and better leave legacies in the digital world."
➋ User research
Secondary research
CONTEXT
Goal
to gain comprehensive understanding of digital legacy
Methodology
-
brief literature review
-
crowdsourcing
-
online survey
Design ethnography
START POINT
Goal
to generate guideline for upcoming interview
Process
take myself as an example and examine my own data in mobile phone, computer, iPad, kindle and camera
"Phone tour"
BEHAVIOURS
Goal
to understand what kinds of digital data are users creating now and to dig out the unspoken behaviours of the users
Process
It is like a room tour video, but in this case I asked the participants to show me around their phones instead of their rooms
*with privacy concerns in advance
Sample
6 participants
3 female, 3 male
age 22-34
Interview & storytelling
THOUGHTS
Goal
to identify the wishes and pain points of the users around the data
Process
-
projective storytelling: ask participants to tell a story under imaginary scenarios
-
direct interview: reveal the theme and ask about direct thoughts on this topic
Sample
8 participants
5 female, 3 male
age 22-34
🔦 Key insights
Memory
Compared to the past, digital data can be new carriers of spiritual value.
Blindspot
Many data are created by users unconsciously, but may still be valuable and meaningful to themselves/others.
Natural process
The process of sorting out the memorable life pieces doesn’t need to be a last-minute decision, it can come naturally across daily life.
Liveliness & Resonance
People do not see legacies as lifeless objects, but rather as opportunities to connect and empathise with their loved ones through living memories.
🌈 Progress
HMW statement
“How might we make people’s digital footprints tangible for themselves to manage while preserving resonance with others after death?"
Ideation
➊ Concept generation
I explored directions and variations in the concept generation phase with different tools and methodologies, in order to learn from existing solutions and consolidate the potential into feasible directions.
Competitive
analysis
Goal
to find unique area of solution within market and product space
Insight
niche product position of utilizing trivial data to help digital legacy planning
Technology and
UX design trends
Goal
to combine technological and social trends to brainstorm idea that match with latest topics
“What if…?”
scenario cards
Goal
to catalyst for smarter, more unique ideation session
Crazy 8s
Goal
fast sketching in co-design sessions to sketch eight distinct ideas in short time
🌈 Progress
Initial concepts
“digital me”
A service platform that analyzes the data and creates virtual versions of users, allowing others to have a conversation within spaces like Metaverse
“personal museum”
A social media extension that builds an interactive museum with data that is extracted from the application
“AI translator”
A smart AI assistant that auto translates the data into memorable pieces for users to share
➋ Concept evaluation
I evaluated the 3 directions with 7 participants in both online and offline co-design sessions, to see if the concepts are reasonable and meaningful enough to proceed. This includes creating storyboards to showcase how users could interact with the design, and discussing the pros and cons of each concept by thinking out loud.
👥 Co-design session
Goal
① to test if the ideas are reasonable and meaningful enough to carry on
② gather participants’ feedback and refine the concept
Process
① storyboarding
② mapping out the imaginary scenario of the ideal concept
③ evaluate the pros and cons of each idea
Sampling
7 participants
3 off-line, 4 online
🔦 Key insights
🛸 Preference for advanced technology
People prefer more cutting-edge and innovative ideas which involve advanced technologies, while still wanting more direct empathy with a lifelike person, rather than objects.
🫥 Concern for moral and ethical issues
Some argued that blurring the lines between life and death doesn't seem like the healthiest way to deal with loss, and some believed that it would bring inauthenticity to death, which should be a really serious matter, so this appears to them more like contempt or disrespect for death.
🌈 Progress
Concept iteration
After consideration, I decided to go with the last concept while retaining the pros of the first two, by adding features of virtual avatar and personal curation.
Test & Refine
➊ Low-fi prototype
I created wireframes and paper prototype to roughly test if the logic of the application makes sense, and to quickly identify if the existing functionality meets user’s need.
Process
➊ show wireframe and paper-based prototype
➋ observe the process of participants interacting with the prototype
➌ ask about the overall experience and feedback
Sampling
4 participants
all from previous research
🔧 Iteration 1: Home screen
from AI-led editing to user-led editing
Before
-
mainly contains auto-generated timeline
-
2 tabs: check my own story & check others’ story
After
-
contains checking function and editing function
-
3 tabs: add story, check my own story, check others’ stories
🔧 Iteration 2: Auto-match
besides from manually authorizing access, adding a function of auto-matching with relevant users
Before
-
user chooses whom to share with from the contact list
After
-
step 1: the system detects if there are other users relating to the same experience
-
step 2: user chooses whom to share with from the contact list
➋ Mid-fi prototype
Then, using Figma, I created a mid-fidelity prototype to check the layout detail and see whether it would cause confusion. It had some impacts on the presenting style, turning it into a more lively, non-rigid overall layout.
Process
➊ show mid-fidelity prototype on Figma
➋ observe the process of participants interacting with the prototype
➌ ask about the overall experience and feedback
Sampling
2 participants
all from previous research
🔧 Iteration 3: Presenting style
add dynamic to the overall layout
Before
-
timeline that shows the whole life story in clear order
After
-
2 presenting mode
-
adding a free style presenting layout as the inspirational feature
Final outcome
Evaluation
⚖️ Benefits & Wider Impact
Personal wellbeing
-
improve personal mental and emotional well-being
-
create longer-lasting bonds and connections between people
UN Sustainable Development Goals No.3
ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of all at all ages is essential to sustainable development
Internet habits
establish more responsible and compassionate internet habits
Reflections
🚀 Project development
Future plan
-
a wider range of content
-
advanced technologies
-
link and cooperation with other platforms
Potential risks
-
respect for death
-
data security
-
dilemma in technology
🧗♀️ Personal development
Productivity and design process
Looking back at my journey, I learned tremendously as a designer in how to lead the process and innovate on methods for really ambiguous tasks, as well as how to build trust with people and engage them in sensitive topics.
Mindset changing
Interestingly enough, the biggest challenge I found in the process came from the weakness of my nature, which is kind of mild and tender, and naturally tends to avoid conflicts. I do regret that in order to avoid controversy, I sacrificed some valuable discussion space, and my project could have been a much bolder and more radical design. Given more time and another chance, I would be very interested in having a more experimental discussion on this topic.
