Here’s how I fully owned the end-to-end process from research to UI design system for Akin, an app I invented that reconnects American Immigrants to learn about their culture & feel a sense of belonging.
As a daughter of two immigrants; Dad from Trinidad and Mom from Peru, I struggled balancing multiple cultures. I longed to reconnect with my Peruvian culture because I was born and raised in NY with mostly Trini relatives. This yearning is common amongst immigrant descendants. How can US immigrants ages 18-26, reconnect with their culture of origin for a greater sense of belonging and identity? This was an untapped opportunity.
Defining the problem
& market niche.
This was a passion project of my own choosing. Through a survey, I found other US immigrant descendants, besides me, who also wanted to reconnect with their cultural origins. 1st and 2nd Generations are two main types of Immigrants. My survey proved that 21 out of 30 American Immigrants want to reconnect with their cultures of origin. This lead to research goals and criteria recruitment.
Research Goals
• Why & How Reconnect?
• What are their Painpoints & Goals?
• Are 2nd Gen Experiences Different?
• What Solutions Exist?
I had the privilege to interview these 16 USA Immigrants in 45-60 minute long sessions where they each shared their immigration & assimilation stories, cultural familiarity level, cultural values, and reconnection motives/expectations.
Finding our users and pivoting initial concepts.
I found 2nd Generation USA Immigrant participants that reflected exactly who Akin helps: Immigrants who experience the most barriers to reconnecting with their cultural origins. This led to pivoting from a Trivia Game Concept, to focusing on building cultural relationships, not only cultural knowledge.
“It would be great to have someone who could connect with me and be like yeah, I feel like crap that I don’t know my Tibetan culture as much too—and crap as in the guilt and urge to want to learn more but we just never had the opportunity or found the resources and support.”
— 2nd Gen Tibetan American, 2 immigrant parents
Requirement 01:
Unite the Excluded
2nd Gen. Immigrants feel excluded from their own cultural community for not being as connected. Reconnection isn’t only about learning cultural knowledge, it is feeling accepted in their community.
“I think the big thing for me is understanding modern Chinese culture because all the bits and pieces I learn about it are like my mom telling me were traditions, going back to Old China...”
— 2nd Gen Chinese American, 2 immigrant parents
Requirement 02:
Enable Individuality
2nd Gen. Immigrants want to embrace their cultural origin in their own way, separate from their 1st Gen. parents. Cultural identity can be both individually personal and collective.
“This one time when I went into a Korean restaurant, the Korean server did not believe I was Korean. He started asking questions about Korean politics, like who the president was and then called me out in front of my friends for not knowing.”
— 2nd Gen S. Korean American, 1 immigrant parent
Requirement 03:
Teach Should Knows
2nd Gen. Immigrants are shamed for not knowing parts of their own cultural origin but they rarely found resources to learn it because they culturally assimilated to the USA where they were born.
One of three Empathy Maps of key participants that helped uncover goals and pain points
Results from a Collaborative Synthesis Session that helped uncover Requirement 01: Unite the Excluded
Comparing potential features to the most popular cultural literacy apps led to more product requirements:
Requirement 04: Current & Credible
Not all competitors cited their authors or taught culture as it is today, not just from history
Requirement 05: Show Resources
All competitors included resources for users to feel immersed in their culture such as museum locations
Testing the information architecture, then testing the main user flows.
Since the target audience primarily used mobile platforms, I conducted five hybrid Card Sorts with interview participants to develop the Site Map/IA. Narrowing three task flows for the Akin app MVP, I did rapid paper prototyping for Usability Testing and A/B Testing. This allowed me to quickly iterate before creating a hi-fi prototype in Figma.
Key Features/Flows
Learn a Topic & Ask Author a Question
(Requirements 2,3,4)Connect by Attending an Event with a Group
(Requirements 1, 5)Join a Community Chat
(Requirements 1, 4)
Product Requirements
Unite the Excluded
Enable Individuality
Teach Should Knows
Current & Credible
Show Resources
One of the Five Hybrid Card Sorts
Learn Screen Testing
Added Search Microcopy
Users did not know what to searchChanged Save Icon
Users interpreted ‘Heart’ as favoriting not as saving an article/mediaChanged Learn Icon
The ‘Home’ Icon did not match what users thought of the Learn Screen
How the name Akin inspired the brand identity and UI design system.
Akin means of similar character, related by blood or sharing similar origins. Cultural reconnection is not only about learning the cultural knowledge. It’s about restoring your relationships with your cultural community.
Final Outcome
MVP App Use Cases
Learn your Modern Culture
Explore cultural topics that interest you: Events, Traditions, Arts, Foods and more
Trust credible home feed content made by cultural natives who live there or abroad
Directly ask cultural questions to authors without fear of judgement
Connect to Cultural Experiences
Akin users can post Hangouts to meet people of their same culture at public areas
Easily find in-person Events of your culture that are nearby you. They are curated by organizations in the US
Enjoy a social app without vanity metrics; no likes or follows. All content is for you to enjoy, save, or share, without comparing your cultural reconnection journey.
Chat to Build Cultural Relationships
Attend an Event alone, or post an Invite for Akin users of your culture to join you at that Event. Groups of five only.
After joining or posting an Event invite, a Group Chat forms so you can break the ice with those Akin users you’ll meet in-person
For virtual global topic-conversations with an unlimited amount of Akin users, join a Community Chat of your choice
Reflection & Results
Test early & often.
Research can be a rabbit hole but your users can guide you. 16 Interviews 5 Card Sorts 10 Usability Tests.
Requirements, then features.
Linking Requirements and Features to User Needs is empathy in action.
Professor Christa Verem of Montclair University said:
“Cultural identity isn't necessarily defined by where you come from. It also isn't defined by where you are. Cultural identity is what you define yourself as."