Escape

no-code parallel to Quarantine track

Background and context

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly uprooted our lifestyles. Currently, quarantine and social distancing become the major efforts around preventing this rapid spread. According to our literature reviews, we noticed that many people start feeling isolated due to the absence of social interactions and physical contiguity, and this can increase the risk of mental and physical health problems. Therefore, to keep physical and mental well-being, people will need an opportunity to connect with one another and form meaningful relationships.

Problem Statement

“How can we help people maintain a healthy routine during the time of social distancing by establishing a digital platform that allows them to connect and interact with others in a meaningful and fun way”

Design Process - Research

Interview insights

1. Users would like a chatting room that provides a comfortable vibe that can help them relax.
2. Users would like to meet new people who share the same passion with them.
3. Users would like to have more support for non-verbal communication, such as emojis & stories.
4. Users usually share their joyful moments with others or spend time together to strengthen their social bondings.

Literature review insights

1. Frequent active involvement during the chatting can strengthen the bond among people
2. Doing volunteering work together to benefit the community can strengthen the bond among people

Design Process - Task Analysis & Design Opportunities

After synthesizing all the research results, we derive the following design opportunities and the major tasks we want to include in our solution.

Task #1

Team up with existing friends to participate in challenges to strengthen their bonds.

• After completing the challenges, the app will donate certain money to a specific charity. Doing this not only will benefit the underrepresented community but also help strengthen the bonds among the participants as they do the volunteering work together.

Task #2

Create and join rooms to meet new people who share a similar passion

• People found it troublesome to meet new people during social distancing and quarantine.
• People like to make friends with the ones who share the same interests.

Task #3

Allow users to share their joyful moments and see the special moments between you and your friends

• Sharing joyful moments frequently can significantly lower one's stress level
• Displaying unique moments between two people can invoke their memories and further strengthen their bonding

What's next for Escape

1. Provide more interactive design, such as sending emojis and shaking phones together, to increase user’s active engagement
2. Add a recommendation system to pair up users according to their area of interest
3. Allow individuals to join a non-friend challenge team.
4. Provide accurate error messages to help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.

Built With

• xd