Closer
A product for long-distance couples or friends, which allows to check how your loved one is feeling. Emotions are displayed on a Smart Watch, and summarized within a mobile app.
Duration 5 weeks
Role Research, Product Design
Course Creative Technology
Brief Technology for humanity
Design Challenge
Long-distance relationships often end due to lack of emotional connection. Constantly expressing your emotions and daily experiences to the other person requires a lot of effort.
The solution
A product that collects physical indicators using a smart watch and translates it to emotional data. The user can tap his watch to view the other person's emotional state, or use the app for a daily summary.
Design PROCESS
research
After deciding the product would be for long-distance relationships, I conducted an industry research to view existing products and think where I could innovate. I learned about the ability to translate physical indicators into emotions, and decided to leverage it into my design solution.
Existing long-distance solutions
concept
For conceptualization, I did some rough sketches of the two interfaces: the watch and the app. I wanted to represent the emotions using colors, and create a visual summary in the app which maps how was the other person's day.
Moodboard
I took inspiration from orbs, ink stains, water simulations and gradient animations - these capture a magical yet intimate feeling when the user checks on his loved one.
Smart Watch
design
The watch serves one simple task - a quick check-up on your loved one with a tap. The main focus here was to emphasize the interaction with visual design - the colors have a delicate movement, and the scan is accompanied by a pulsing motion.
Mobile app
design
The app design introduces a daily visual timeline of emotions, accessible only for the other person or combined to create a "shared day". I added user feedback and micro-interactions to enhance the user's experience.
Landing page
design
The website is meant to convey the experience of using the product, without feeling like an ad. It uses interactive scrolling, hovering and animation to encapsulate the different emotions.
Reflection
This project was a great opportunity for me to experiment with a less conventional app design and enhance my image-making and motion design skills. If I had more time, I would have enriched my research and expanded the product features to cover further user pain points and needs.
