Stay in Touch

Manage and facilitate healthy long-distance relationships with friends and family

Type

MFA  Individual Thesis

Duration

Jan. 2021 - Nov. 2021

Committee

Adam Smith

Mike Strobert

OVERVIEW

Problem

Quarantine during COVID-19 restricts in-person social that make managing long-distance relationships challenging. People feel uncomfortable and less confident to maintain healthy relationships in a virtual world.


Solution

My thesis explores interaction methods to encourage people to stay in touch in long-distance relationships through establishing and maintaining communication contracts.

1

View Connections & Quick Reach Out

  • Connections classification: Friends and Family
  • Three levels of relationships
  • Quick action card

Reply to A Whisper

  • Receive whispers on your watch
  • Reply with an emoji
2-
3-

Call to Catch Up

  • Automatically capture interest
  • Mark interest
  • Identify friends with common interests

Relationship Health Report

  • Relationship health analysis
  • Activities record
4

RESEARCH

Summary

Why Important

The global pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness in America. The cost of loneliness is high. Loneliness is linked to early mortality and a wide array of serious physical and emotional problems, including depression, anxiety, heart disease.

2-pies

Having strong connections with friends and family make people feel less lonely. Friends and family provide us emotional support even they are at distance. That is vital to wellbeing. That is why managing and facilitating healthy long-distance relationships important

Less Lonely

Emotional Support

Vital to Wellbeing

User Needs

interview

DESIGN

Information Architecture

IA

Workflow

overall-flow

Iteration

634
635
636
637-1
638

Visualization

639

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the pandemic has made maintaining long-distance relationships challenging. My thesis project “Stay in Touch” aims to help people manage and facilitate healthy long-distance relationships with friends and family through establishing and maintaining communication contracts. On the one hand, the design provides quick actions for users to catch up with their important ones. On the other hand, users can have a comprehensive understanding of how healthy their long-distance relationships are and adjust their catch-up plan based on the healthy report. The innovative interaction includes an APP and a watch OS. Overall, “Stay in Touch” solves long-distance social problems easily and interestingly.

Reference

Akachi, Prince. “Photo by Prince Akachi on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, July 9, 2018. https://unsplash.com/photos/J1OScm_uHUQ.

Angel, Leilani. “Photo by Leilani Angel on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, August 22, 2019. https://unsplash.com/photos/K84vnnzxmTQ.

Bingül, Aykut. “Photo by Aykut Bingül on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, December 26, 2020. https://unsplash.com/photos/kBonaevi3yA.

Cashin, Ali. “Loneliness in America: How the Pandemic Has Deepened an Epidemic of Loneliness and What We Can Do about It.” Making Caring Common. Making Caring Common, May 13, 2021. https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/reports/loneliness-in-america.

Dooley, Ian. “Photo by Ian Dooley on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, October 15, 2018. https://unsplash.com/photos/d1UPkiFd04A.

Ferrer, Joshua. “Photo by Joshua Ferrer on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, November 8, 2021. https://unsplash.com/photos/9oFzgd8fT3o.

Goldman, Alison. “Long Distance Friends: Why It's Important to Maintain Them.” Time. Time, March 14, 2016. https://time.com/4214797/long-distance-friendship-advice/.

Gonzalez, Joseph. “Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, October 3, 2017. https://unsplash.com/photos/iFgRcqHznqg.

Houlis, Anna Marie. “5 Ways to Save a Sinking Long-Distance Friendship.” Jobs, Company Reviews, Career Advice and Community, 2021. https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/long-distance-friendship#.

Kakaroto, Jonas. “Photo by Jonas Kakaroto on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, March 22, 2021. https://unsplash.com/photos/Fs8ZFfVh-cg.

Mécses, Arnold. “Photo by Arnold Mécses on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, April 24, 2021. https://unsplash.com/photos/IYXE5W6GvlE.

Pennell, Julie. “How the Pandemic Has Changed Friendship ... for the Better.” TODAY.com, August 12, 2021. https://www.today.com/tmrw/how-pandemic-has-changed-friendship-better-t227748.

Wegner, Brock. “Photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, November 10, 2021. https://unsplash.com/photos/sEL3y784pZE.

Thanks for scrolling!