BEYOUTIFUL

BEYOUTIFUL Mobile Application UIUX Design Layout
Prototype for BEYOUTIFUL

Inspiration

Since 1969 (the first pride parade) and probably earlier, LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer) have been facing many problems such as discrimination, inequality and lack of freedom, especially in an open country such as US. Research has shown that LGBTQ community has a higher risk of committing suicide due to generalized anxiety disorder, as compared to heterosexual group. Due to the significant risks involved upon coming out, the first step is usually the slowest. The Trevor Project had revealed that 63% of LGBTQ youth committed suicide in 2020 as their spaces are not LGBTQ-affirming. The Trevor Project also claim that majority of the LGBTQ group, failing to pass the first step and self-harm themselves is the youths, compared to other age groups.

As we know social media plays an important part of the life of youths, such that it became like our necessities, we decided to create a mobile platform called BEYOUTIFUL. This application aims to provide LGBTQ-affirming spaces by allowing them to freely share their experiences with each other. Our main target group is the LGBTQ youths in US who are still questioning their sexuality.

Unlike the dating applications that we seen in our online stores, BEYOUTIFUL aids the individuals in their mental and emotional struggle to fight against their 'true self' and become aware of the external help available.

As time progresses, we hope that LGBTQ community in US will have a place they can call 'safe house' and more individuals in this marginalized group will become more confident in their own 'true self'.

What it does

A place and voice for LGBTQ community to post and share their story and experiences either to everyone or they can choose to share to their own friend/or own group of user (eg. lesbian to lesbian group). Giving the option to share and post to a specific group is to prevent conflicts from arising with other groups.
Users able to goLive stream to their specific group (Gay group) or to everyone.
Meet similar peers of the same gender identity to understand that they are not alone.
An articles and event page in US to educate and guide users who are still trying to identify their sexuality and to not miss out their favorite event.
Users are also able to private message to private chat with their friend, senior or advisor if they are not comfortable in speaking out in public chat or comment section yet. In the chat function user able to voice message, attach document, send gif and reacting to the message.
A login and sign up page to verify with users and provide and showcase their own form of ‘identity’ (as username can be nickname and email can be hidden).

How we built it

We have used Swiftic app to create our mobile application, beside that we also uses icons that symbolize related contents and also logo that better represent our target audience.

Challenges we ran into

Only one student (Vivien) from the technical background but its doesn't stop us from learning from the beginning, so (Eunice) also step in and to assist on the building application with (Vivien). And along the way (Jayden) also provided us some feedback where we should be improve on our application. Our schedules tend to clash with the schedule of Ideathon, resulting we missed out some events and have difficulty meeting up. We started the idea late and all of us were quite fresh on coding, especially Eunice, so we did not have enough time to do the prototype. Initially, we had targeted Singapore. However, we had difficulty in our research. In addition to our second discussion with our mentor, we realized that Singapore is still not fast and flexible enough to accept LGBTQ. As such, we decided change to US, which is more open-minded.

Hence. we decided to use some functionality only and also we decided to use Swiftic app as we are familiar with it.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Within one day before the submission day, we started doing our application after getting our UIUX design layout feedback. We were also able to achieve positive feedbacks from our mentor during mentoring session and he shows interest in our idea. We were able to work together as a team and help one another. Even after the submission deadline has ended, we did not give up and still manage to submit with our own prototype in our press for time.

What we learned

While doing BEYOUTIFUL application, we have learn a lot about LGBTQ Community better and as well as technology such as firebase and flutter, where we can develop an interest application. Lastly, we also learned to manage our time better.

To conclude, our most important lessons is responsibility and prioritization. "Stay humble and start early." We first thought is what we will always say to ourselves from now on. One way to achieve this is to get all the members to tell their schedule at the start of the project and immediately inform any changes to the schedule.

What's next for BEYOUTIFUL

In the future, we plan to use android studio and flutter for more advanced tools and achieve a neater and cleaner interface. We hope to collaborate with the other organizations and provide their emergency hotlines in our application while creating events together. We also plan to work with a moderator and create a report system whereby users can report any abusive and sexual contents (such as posting fully naked photo). As the number of users grow, we would eventually like to provide access to users to block other users. At the same time, we will continue to upgrade our features and improve the layout and design of the applications, and hope to attract more LGBTQ youths searching for answers regarding their gender identity.