BEELONG

Bee-Long is a digital platform that was sparked by the awareness of Loneliness mainly among College and post-college students. Bee-long utilizes artificial intelligence to connect freshmen with supportive and helpful mentors to help them progress academically. The app will also provide gentle guidance and advice on how to best go about the mentorship process. Also, these students and mentors can find articles of intrigue to share and spark thoughtful conversations.

Timeline

10 Weeks

My Role

Interactive Design Lead

Softwares Used

Figma, Miro

Team

4 Man Team

Goals

Create a Digital Product to reduce the onset and effects of Loneliness.

Skills Involved

UX Research, Design Strategy, Interpersonal Communication, Analytical thinking, User Interviews, Problem Solving

Topic of Interest: Loneliness

What is Loneliness?

Loneliness is the feeling that one may have when one feels as though their social needs are not being met. While this is often assumed to be the byproduct of isolation, this is not always the case. In fact, people can feel lonely even when around people such as friends and loved ones.

Statistics on Loneliness:

1 in 3 people in the US suffers from loneliness and 1 in 12 people from the US suffers from chronic loneliness.
Loneliness actually has the same effect on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which makes it even more dangerous than obesity, says Cigna.

Where does Loneliness come from?

Originates from the absence of a broader group of contacts or an engaging social network.
Originates from the absence of an intimate figure or a close emotional attachment.
Originates from mortality-related fears including the fear of disappearing from the earth and the fear of being forgotten.

Effects of Loneliness :(

Loneliness is linked to depression

Loneliness functions as both a symptom of depression and a predictor of depression, suggesting that addressing loneliness as soon as possible after it has developed could be helpful in mitigating the onset of depressive symptoms.

Loneliness affects healthcare

Loneliness causes people to become self-centered, depressed, and suffer from physical or mental health dysfunction.

Loneliness hurts companies

Loneliness among workers reduces productivity, motivation, and job retention.

Loneliness hurts mental health

“Lonely youngsters, who are depressed, experience suicidal thoughts. As a result, they get stuck in a negative spiral that becomes increasingly difficult to get out of.”

Interview Guide

Goals:

To narrow down a target audience
Come up with a UX problem to solve
find out ways people currently cope with loneliness
How can we raise awareness about our solution
Understand how different age groups cope with loneliness
Causes and effects that loneliness brings
To find a problem statement that current solutions cannot solve
Opportunity area within current products out there
To understand the intensity and frequency of the causes and effects of loneliness

We strengthen our research through surveys and Interviews.

User Personas

Through our research findings, we found that the age group most likely to suffer from the effects of Loneliness was students between the ages of 18 - 25.

Students who fall in this category are normally college students, who are in need of a trusted source of mentorship as it may be their first exposure being outside their closer circle of friends should these college students be away from home.

Schools benefit from a product that improves the academic performance and holistic growth of their students.

How Might We..

1) Encourage constructive attainable behaviors in an individual's daily life?

2) Help individuals be more vulnerable and create new in-depth relationships with others?

3) Make students feel a sense of belonging in the transitive phase of their life?

4) Make students feel guided and supported through their college journey?

5) Create an opportunity for people to build a support system and expand their community?

Goals for making our product

To create in-depth relationships.

To foster relationship across multi-diverse backgrounds or cultural differences

Creating healthy communication habits for students which can benefit them in their college and future careers

Providing a sense of belonging for students within the community

Minimizing the feeling of loneliness in students when they are not in a familiar environment.

Our Solution

Beelong

Beelong Mentorship Tool

Beelong Mentorship Tool:

A platform that provides students with the opportunities and resources to connect with supportive and helpful mentors that will help them progress along their academic and professional journey.

‍Product Objectives:

Connecting mentees with mentors through the app
Having mentees grow and maintain their relationship with mentors
Having potential opportunities for relationship building between the mentor and mentee
Offering existing networking opportunities through secondary connections

‍How do we want all students to feel every day?

A sense of belonging
Supported and guided
Inspired

App Onboarding sketches

Over the course of developing the App, a few changes were made including the color scheme and Information Architecture.

User Testing (Digital Product)

Our group conducted two rounds of usability testing with six different people who were students and mentors in school. Some of the tests were done through online communication platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet while the rest were conducted in person.