Personal[Space]
Personal[Space] provides a tool for busy people that helps them carve out time and find resources for personal development. This project is at the ideation stage.
The Goal
The goal for this app is to include a progress calendar, search features for ideas or instructions, location features for classes or events of interest, a place to post pictures or videos to your community of choice, and a way to journal the process on our own site. Inspiration for this app comes from sipping cocktails crafted by a friend and wondering where I could learn those skills in my community.
Three Personas
I developed these three composite personas to give Personal[Space] a multi-generational scope. Each persona benefits from multiple aspects of Personal[Space] and our focus is the emotions those benefits unleash.
Benefits developed here include connectivity, peer support, and self exploration. The emotions associated are creative release, accomplishment, and the joy of discovery.
Name: Sam
Age: 16
Location: Vancouver BC, Canada
Who is Sam?
Sam is an eleventh grade non-transitioning transgender high school student. They recently moved to a new school and they’re struggling without the close friendships they had in Edmonton. Sam has not been transgender for long and is still learning to self-identify. Sam is a creative person, but lacks guidance or encouragement from their business-minded parents. Sam is also in advanced classes and doesn’t have time in their schedule for any art electives. Without the creative outlet, Sam struggles to sleep.
How can Personal[Space] help?
Sam needs a way to work through any remaining identity issues and to try new activities in a safe, non-judgmental space. Personal[Space] will help Sam connect with classes and events appropriate for student artists, direct Sam towards how-to articles and videos, and encourage Sam to schedule some time in the evening, after studying, to draw or use pastels. Journaling will be important for Sam as they start connecting with other people in their community.
Name: Callie
Age: 29
Location: Kansas City, Nebraska
Who is Callie?
Callie is an IT professional working out of her home. She is college educated and financially stable. Callie is restless and is looking for things to do outside her house in the evenings and weekends, both with her friends and alone. She is interested in learning how to make custom cocktails and loves caring for plants. She might also be interested in a cooking class or painting class. Callie struggles to finish projects she started herself. She has a closet full of yarn, water colors, paper crafts and pipe cleaners and unlimited ideas without a community to help her follow through.
How can Personal[Space] help?
Personal[Space] is the perfect platform for Callie to connect with her community. We can connect Callie to online classes on how to make the perfect cocktail and give her a space for bragging rights. Callie also needs an opportunity to get out of the house. We’ll connect her with other cocktail and plant lovers for special events, talks, and botanical groups. Callie will also have access to a community that will cheer her on in finishing that scarf and a journal to dig into the feeling of completion.
Name: Chris
Age: 50
Location: Lake Fork, Texas
Who is Chris?
Chris is the married father of three teenage girls. He’s always been good natured about taking them to practices and events and helping around the house, but he’s found as the kids need him less and have started to pick up after themselves, that there’s a void in his days that isn’t easily filled. He casually mountain bikes, but recently he’s been picking up his old guitar and wishes he had someone his skill level to jam with. His wife noticed that he was playing more often and convinced him to download this app. Chris is an accountant and stares at a computer all day, but isn’t exactly tech savvy. What he really wants to do is just sit back with some other people, play guitar, and enjoy a beer. He did buy a go-pro recently and is eager to use it for both biking and music.
How can Personal[Space] help?
Personal[Space] will help Chris with scheduling and connections. He’ll have the opportunity to find other, likeminded musicians who are ready to play in a group or community. He’ll have access to any open mics when they’re ready for an audience and he’ll be able to attend any workshops or concerts that interest him. He’ll also have a platform for downloading and sharing videos of his band and mountain bike adventures.
Interactive Visual Style Guide
In the creative spirit of our app, I chose to give a visual depiction of the style guide I wrote for Personal[Space]. Each thread can be enlarged or capsized depending on the writer or designer’s needs. Users can comment on the chart, leaving suggestions to be considered for incorporation into the guide, making this a living document.
![Personal[Space] Visual Style Guide was created using Whimsical. Each thread can expand or compress depending on the need of the user. Click on the image to explore.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c562f7ee8ba44b3f7008048/1566355757821-92JK77MCLWSP4INJ999F/Screen+Shot+2019-08-20+at+4.41.18+PM.png)
Personal[Space] Visual Style Guide was created using Whimsical. Each thread can expand or compress depending on the need of the user. Click on the image to explore.
Onboarding Email
When creating the onboarding email, I wanted to provide a strong sense of branding while taking care of any issues a user may have when using a new application. Each bolded green text is a link that leads to the specific help sections within our app but also reflects the logo. I also worked to preserve white space by only offering what was needed and nothing more.
In Conclusion
This project was a wonderful opportunity to think beyond the norm. Perhaps the creative nature of the app itself was inspirational, but in both the personas and style guide I found opportunities for both creative problem solving and discovering new layers of user experience. I found myself thinking critically about who would be using the guides I was in the process of creating, not just who uses the app. For example: the users of the style guide could be other writers and designers, researchers, and project managers…the subject is the app user.