Selfina
Selfina is a research-backed online community that empowers women to feel great about their bodies.
Play with the Interactive Prototype
BACKGROUND: Selfina is a startup from Carolyn Straughan (Stanford Graduate School of Business ‘20). After reading her advertisement for a UX designer to help shape this mental health community for women, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. This project was done virtually (a.k.a. a lot of Zoom, emails, and Google Drive).
THE CHALLENGE: 1) Identify and characterize the Selfina user and 2) create a low fidelity prototype of the Selfina digital app experience. The findings and prototype will inform the MVP, which will be built out by an engineer.
TIME FRAME: 2 months
THE TEAM: Solo, with assistance from Carolyn, the founder.
Interview quotes grouped by theme
User Research
After briefly interviewing and researching different demographics of women, Carolyn and I concluded that based on existing competitor companies, effectiveness of an online community, and financial capability, our target audience was millennial women who acknowledge their body image issues and want to improve.
I interviewed 10 women (ages early 20’s-mid 30’s) in depth. We talked about early harmful and helpful influences in their lives, their current programs and subscriptions, what they wish they could have had during their darkest moments, and more. I was extremely touched by the openness and vulnerability of these women, who immediately happily volunteered to share themselves when they heard that this app would work to help other women with their body image. As I collected more quotes, themes began to arise.
Group Brainstorm
I also ran a virtual group brainstorm with six women in our target demographic. First, I asked the participants to create a mind map of possible features for Selfina on a private piece of paper. After collecting everyone’s ideas on a Zoom whiteboard, I had each person sort the ideas using icons (heart, checkmark, arrow, star, etc.) to indicate ideas they thought were the most meaningful, the easiest to implement, the longest shot, having the potential to reach the most people, the most delightful, and the most questionable/possibly harmful.
Group brainstorm findings
Design Principles + Features
After analyzing the interview quotes, I found design principles for the Selfina app to follow. With these in mind, I cross-referenced them with the standout features from our brainstorm to decide which features should go into the app prototype.
