Young Hearts

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  A mockup of first screen

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  A mockup of the selection process for potential service and elderly matches

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  A mockup of the potential matches profile

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  A screenshot of our literature research

Inspiration

Our literature research unveiled the elderly loneliness epidemic causing serious public health risks affecting a significant number of people and putting them at risk for dementia and other serious medical conditions. Social isolation was associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia and other serious medical conditions. Humans are social by nature, and high-quality relationships can help them live longer healthier lives. One of the biggest gaps of understanding in any community is between the elderly and youth populations. With little reason to come together, we sought a solution to bring together these disconnected groups to combat ageism and help grow and foster mutual understanding through service.

What it does

Young Hearts is a mobile app where elders and youth can match with each other to bond over shared interests. Young volunteers can gain volunteer hours by helping the elderly with household chores that the elderly may be unable to carry out themselves. Through spending time together and giving back to each other through household chores or words of wisdom, Young Hearts gives both the young and elderly generations a bonding opportunity that broadens the perspectives of both parties, strengthening the community.

How we built it

We used Figjam to ideate and record user research. From there, we used Figma to create a mood board, establish a brand style and user flow, as well as design the low and high-fidelity wireframes. Prototyping was also done in Figma.

Challenges we ran into

We had trouble coming up with a user flow that would be intuitive for an audience unfamiliar with tech. To address this, we referenced accessibility guidelines when it came to font sizing and color contrasts and created interactive features with animations to keep our audience actively engaged.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Utilizing user research to create an accessible user interface and purposeful solution for our target audiences. Establishing a brand style that is accessible to audiences who are hard of vision and/or colorblind. Incorporating animated features to keep our audience actively engaged.

What we learned

Our team learned about various activities that people could potentially bond over and how to incentivize widely different groups to interact with each other. Our research taught us that there are multiple activities both generations enjoy during intergenerational service learning, which builds meaningful relationships between the two, providing the opportunity to understand each other better and grow together.

What's next for Young Hearts

Implementation of a messaging system to promote communication within the app. Addition of a feature to save potential matches for users to reference multiple potential matches at a time.

Built With

• figjam
• figma