UI/UX Designer | Graphic Designer
Soar
A friendship and dating app for individuals with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
Role: UI/UX Designer & Researcher
Date: Feb. 2024 - Apr. 2024
Tools: MAXQDA, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Maze
Teammates: Sofia Alfonso, Karis Dunnam, Yurong Huang, Erica Yu
PROJECT CONTEXT
This project began after a discussion with a friend, who shared insights into the challenges that autistic individuals - including themself - often encounter when forming friendships and romantic relationships.
"An app that helps people connect with individuals who have similar hyperfixations, triggers, and/or experiences."
PROBLEM
Many individuals with autism often face difficulties in social settings due to differences in communication, sensory sensitivities, stigma, and limited access to inclusive spaces. Many have expressed feeling a loss of hope when it comes to trying to build relationships with others.
Create an app that helps autistic individuals form long-lasting connections
CHALLENGE:
SOLUTIONS
We created Soar — a friendship and dating app designed for individuals with autism.
Key Features:
Safety & Privacy
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ID verification, mobile phone verification, and preventative messaging.
Message Prompts
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Pre-written texts to help users initiate conversations with others.
Event Booklet
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Events page which gives users a chance to connect with others based on their shared interests, rather than physical appearances.
RESEARCH
"We must work with people who have autism to figure out solutions to their problems."
"Autistic adults often have difficulty initiating conversations."
ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHY
Gathered insights from the autistic community, regarding their struggles and experiences with building and maintaining relationships, from the following platforms:
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AutismForums
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Reddit Forums
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Facebook Groups
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YouTube Comments
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Netflix Series (Love on the Spectrum)
Videos Viewed:
5
Websites Reached:
27
Posts Reviewed:
100+
MAXQDA RESULTS:
We used MAXQDA to conduct open and axial coding on the data we gathered from our online ethnographic study. This helped us understand the wants and needs of our target users.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
Struggles
Success Story
- Social Anxiety
- Reading social cues
- Late Diagnosis
- Overwhelmed
- Discrimination
- Accommodations/Triggers
- Support
- Advice
- Comfort
- Being independent
Fear
- Isolation
- Burden
- Loss of hope/giving up
Masking
- Conforming
- Frustration
- Comparing/analyzing others
"For me, it's like trying to drink out of a fire hose. The stream of information -faces, voices, words, ideas-threaten to overwhelm me. I feel shaky and inadequate to process it all."
"A huge tool I started using is self comforting. Talking to my self as if I was still the little boy that I feel like in my head, it really helps me feel safe and not like a failure when I cant take the trash out."
"All my life I've never been able to maintain a relationship."
"It’s like a complex math problem at all times. Carry the one, divide by the square root of “So, how’s work, school, family, hobby?” Raised to the power of “acceptable facial reactions” times “nod and smile” of the slope of “resisting info dump urge” on the “this music, sound, smell, light is annoying”"
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Competitor
Pros
Cons
Hinge
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Video and text prompts encourage genuine conversations
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Detailed profiles and preferences enhance compatibility for finding partners
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Reporting features ensure safety, preventing harassment
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Gamification may encourage addiction over finding potential matches
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Optional selfie verification doesn't always filter out fake profiles
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Messaging is limited to matched users, consequently excluding others
Hiki
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The app’s commitment to inclusivity and safety promotes a culture of empathy and support, crucial for individuals who might feel marginalized in other social contexts
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Hiki offers a platform for users to find not just romantic partners but also friendships and a sense of belonging within a larger community
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Small user base could limit the number of potential connections
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Profiles tend to reappear due to the small user base
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Neurotypical individuals sometimes flood the app and use it to antagonize the ND community
Bumble
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Bumble has many safety features like photo verification, which helps prevent fake profiles, and a 24-hour time limit for initiating conversations, promoting more active and genuine interactions
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Allows users to make video and voice calls directly within the app, providing a safer way to connect before meeting in person and enhancing the overall user experience
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Because the app gives women the control when it comes to initiating conversation, some men don’t like having to wait for women to make the first move
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Bumble's matching system may limit the ability to search for specific criteria, which could be a disadvantage for users who prefer more control over their match selection
FOCUS GROUP
We conducted 2 separate focus-groups with 8 different autistic individuals.
Key feedback given after presenting our prototype to our focus group participants:
Reinforce security measures
Include video calling functionalities
Emphasize shared interests
Allow profiles to show more detailed information
PERSONA
Zoey | 21 years old | Female
Biography:
Zoey is an autistic college student studying computer science. She is having trouble making friends at her university.
Goals:
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Find roommates with similar interests to spend the last few years of college with
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Wants to eventually live independently
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Improve her social skills and engage in small talk more comfortably
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Wants to advance her career in CS by taking on more challenging projects
Frustrations:
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Difficulty with social cues
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Struggles with small talk
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Navigating romantic relationships and making friends who have similar interests
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Not feeling accepted by others
IDEATION
We conducted a card-sorting activity to help us create a sitemap and narrow down our app's wire flow. We also created sketches to brainstorm our app's UI design.
Card-sorting activity
Initial sketches
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
Feeling overwhelmed
Advice
Being Independent
Frustration
Isolation
Burden
Masking
List of common coping mechanisms other autistic individuals found helpful when overwhelmed
A place where members can input their own personal coping mechanisms so they can look back on them/be reminded during the process
Feature that allows users to add their triggers to their profile, and allows them to see if their needs are compatible with others
Optional feature that allows them to add their level of autism/ND to their profile
A place where members can input their own personal coping mechanisms so they can look back on them/be reminded during the process
List of locations that are sensory friendly or sensory issues to be expected at restaurants/coffee shops/other places for dates
Community/support section where people can ask questions and talk to others with similar issues
Categories of areas of help (ex: laundry, socializing, safety, goal tracking) and community posts that match each category
Implement a system where users can provide feedback on the app's features, suggesting improvements or reporting issues.
Navigating getting disability? I know this wont apply to everyone but could be important?
Support group, section in app that encourages in person support group
Make a checklist of ones daily routine, and maybe compile it into a Pts/rewards system.
Organize support posts/common questions into a FAQ section either by cooking/clean/misc so users can search that before asking others for help
App with scenarios that simulate real life scenarios (Ex: paying bills and what to look out for)
Remind users to book any health appointments/get familiar with their medical history?
Make sure users know that being independent does not mean they should never rely on someone else, but prioritize learning to rely on themself
Support group, have a relationship tab that include a wide range of preferences, including asexuality and such
Journaling feature, encourages users to describe their frustrations
AI chat feature? Allows them to rant to an AI
Include settings to customize the app's sensory input, such as adjusting colors, fonts, and sound notifications to accommodate sensory sensitivities.
Come up with a community section of the app, to help and keep an active, open community.
Pen pal type of feature where they can get paired with another autistic person and create connections/new friends this way
Organize virtual or in-person events focused on shared interests, providing a structured environment for users to meet and interact.
For users who might find initiating or maintaining conversations challenging, provide conversation starters, prompts, and guides based on their interests and preferences.
Have the app be for finding a romantic partner AND for finding friends (feature allows them to specify this)
Matched to suggested virtual or in person groups based on interests, background (ex: age), location, other preferences (ex: call vs text)
Adding an empowering messages and affirmations feature on the app
Offer resources and tips on building healthy relationships, understanding social cues, and maintaining boundaries.
Finding or sorting through success stories based on inputs or concerns listed by the user
For tasks users are physically unable to do but want to be more independent, (ex, driving going shopping, etc.) create list of resources or tips on how they can find alt ways to complete said tasks
Discussion groups for learning to embrace their neurodiversity
Create forums or group chats based on shared interests or topics. These spaces can offer a sense of belonging and an opportunity for users to engage in discussions without the pressure masking or confirming
Local events tab for stuff either that applies to listed interest or are marked as inclusionary/for those with autism
A list of common conversation starters/questions if they can't think of anything to say or don't know how to navigate a social situtation
Raise awareness of autism among neurotypical
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
Community Building & Engagement Sector
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Offer resources and tips on building healthy relationships, understanding social cues, and maintaining boundaries
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Provide conversation starters, prompts, and guides based on user interests and preferences
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Organize virtual or in-person events focused on shared interests, providing a structured environment for users to meet and interact
Sensory Sensitivity Settings & Customization
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Include settings to customize the app's sensory input, such as adjusting colors, fonts, haptic feedback, and sound notifications to accommodate sensory sensitivities
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Journaling feature, encourages users to describe their frustrations
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User input their personal coping mechanisms so they can look back on them/be reminded during the process
Wide ranges of customization
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Separate relationship and friendship
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Customization including very specific details, such as triggers, dislikes, hyper fixations, interests, sexuality, level of autism etc.
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Location radius feature
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Users can provide feedback on the app's features, suggesting improvements or reporting issues
Facilitate encouragement and guidance
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Include notifications from the app that send messages of encouragement/affirmations to the user
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Include a tips page to help guide individuals
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Special interest categories that encourage conversation, through guided conversation (generated question prompts)
WIREFRAMES
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FINAL PROTOTYPES
1. Sign Up Privacy & Security
When discussing with our focus group participants, we learned that safety was a big concern of theirs. From this feedback, we ended up incorporating an ID verification feature. The ID verification page requires users to upload an image of their ID to ensure that they are who they say they are. In addition to this, we added a mobile phone verification feature to further verify the legitimacy of the user who is signing up.
2. Message Prompts & Safety
Many autistic individuals struggle with social anxiety, which can often be a difficult obstacle to overcome, especially when they want to meet new people. In order to help encourage individuals, we implemented a message prompt feature, which provides users with hundreds of pre-written conversation starters that they can use to initiate interactions with others in direct messages. We also added a preventative messaging feature to ensure the safety and privacy of our users. When a user types possibly sensitive information, our app detects this and then sends a cautionary pop-up message that allows the user to verify if they truly wish to share the information with someone else.
3. Event Booklet
The majority of our focus group participants stated that they cared much more about other people's interests rather than their appearances. So instead of using the common swipe interface that most dating apps on the market currently have, we created an alternative feature called the event booklet. In the event booklet, a user can view local events, mark if they are interested in going, and mark if they will be attending. In addition, users can connect with others by viewing the others tab, which shows them which users marked interest in attending an event or marked that they were going.
4. Advanced Profile Customization
For the profile page, we wanted to give users the ability to customize their profiles in detail to encapsulate as much of their personality as possible. We included hundreds of interests to choose from, as well as the ability to add one's pronouns, sexuality, and gender. We also designed an about me section that lets users add their hyper fixations and triggers to their profile. On a user's profile, one will be able to see the events they attended in the past, their interests, and their profile picture.
USER TESTING
In order to test our app's usability and effectiveness, we created a Maze survey in which we tasked our users with testing out five main features of our prototype.
User Tasks
Task 1:
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Sign up, ID verification, and mobile phone verification
Task 2:
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Viewing, creating, and reporting an event
Task 3:
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Viewing a message, sending a message prompt, activating the video chat
Task 4:
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Navigating the event booklet
Task 5:
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Navigating the profile page, editing profile
Tools & Processes
We are currently still waiting on the results of our Maze survey, as it is still being tested.
REFLECTION
Final Takeaways:
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Autistic individuals are searching for an app that provides security, comfort, and engagement
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Our app provides these three aspects through various designs including our event booklet feature and the AI chat prompts
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We hope that our app design provides a safe space for autistic individuals to experience success in building long-lasting relationships with others
