Overview
Our team is focused on building a product which helps to maintain and strengthen connections between young adults and their family members. In particular, we are focused on long distance relationships maintained when the young adult does not live with the family member they are trying to stay in contact with. In our initial interviews and diary studies, we looked at young adults who wish to have a closer relationship with a specific family member, but for some reason struggle to actually follow through with their actions in the relationship. A prime example of this is that many young adults wish to stay in contact with a grandparent figure in their life, but struggle to remember to regularly contact them.
Comparative Research Overview
For our comparative research, we focused on a wide variety of existing market solutions to create, maintain and strengthen family interactions, both physical and virtual. Although some of these solutions were focused on family, others focused simply on relationship building / maintenance, but we still found the insights useful for us, as we found in our diary studies that the boundary between family and “family like” is not always rigid, and there is no reason to restrict such a product unnecessarily to family members. Products also varied between 2-way and 1-way products: specifically, some products would only work if all members of a relationship owned / used the product, while others were focused on a single side of the relationship.
Comparative Research Deep Dive
Facebook Portal
Product Description
- Portal is a portable camera designed for one’s home to meet video calling needs.
- Meta describes it as: video chat “with friends and family in more meaningful ways with Smart Camera and helpful built-in tools. Take advantage of voice controls and trusted apps, like Zoom. And share the magic of Story Time, AR effects and more”.
Target Users
- Older Adults (65+) who are more isolated connecting with family.
- Families with young children (focus is on parent/other family member being a part of that child’s life)
- Adults connecting with friends who live away
- Coworkers (use portal as dedicated work calling device)
Strengths
- Smart camera and sound. The camera will follow you as you move and make adjustments such as zooming and focusing. Also, your voice will be enhanced and background noise minimized.
- Unique features such as ‘Story Time’ to augment what is seen on the screen and make it more engaging.
Weaknesses
- How to get users to switch from the medium they are used to and currently use (laptop, computer, smart phone) to the portal.
- Privacy concerns from users, since camera is always in their physical space
Apple Watch Family
Product Description
- The Family Setup feature brings communication, health, fitness, and safety features of the Apple Watch to children and older family members who don’t own an iPhone.
Target Audience
- Children and older adults (65+) who don’t have an iphone
Strengths
- Niche target audience, features apply directly
- Strong focus on health and safety of children. Allows parents’ to give their kids a tool for health, safety, and communication without needing to give them a smartphone if they don’t feel they are ready (giving independence).
- SOS button when a fall is detected for older adults
Weaknesses
- Small screen space (for older adults)
- Kids may feel ‘controlled’ or wonder why they can’t have a phone yet
- Restricted to apps that can be downloaded from the watch app store.
Parihug
Product Description:
- Parihug allows you to hug family members from anywhere in the world. You hug an Internet-connected teddy bear, and your family member’s matching teddy bear hugs them. If you both hug at the same time, you can feel the other person’s heartbeat through your teddy bear. It also connects to a family management app, that lets you hug and connect/disconnect teddy bears with the click of a button.
Target Audience:
- Family members separated by distance
Strengths:
- Creative approach which focuses on mimicking physical contact
Weaknesses:
- Privacy concerns (product never made it to market because of this)
- Limited types of contact
- Requires simultaneous holding of device without any clear notification system for when other user is hugging their device
Gustbowl
Product Description:
- Not a real commercial product but a design prototype that came up in our literature review.
- It is a physical bowl that can function basically as a station for keys or coins, but more fundamentally, a nonobstructive object that reminds family members that live apart that each other’s home. When someone from one end throws an item into the bowl, it takes a fisheye-view picture and displays it on the other person’s bowl as it wobbles.
Target Audience:
- Parents who have children who moved out & the children who moved out
Strengths:
- Unique problem space: Parents miss that ‘gust’ of interaction with their child when they come home and say “I’m home”, which is unique from simply calling/texting via digital platforms.
- Informal, non-obstructive tool that keeps the users reminded of each other in a quick, routinely manner with the sense of physical presence
- Doesn’t require simultaneous interaction
Weaknesses:
- Privacy concerns
- Limited information exchange
Google Calendar and Reminders
Description:
- User can schedule themselves reminders in their Google Calendar to contact a particular family member
Target Audience:
- People comfortable enough using a Google Calendar
- People with relatively consistent schedules
Strengths:
- Combines elements of behavior design (nudges, triggers, etc.) with a preexisting habit (Google Calendar if that person uses it for their schedule).
- Very easy to do
Weaknesses:
- Requires family member to have a relatively flexible schedule, or to know family member schedule
- Easy to ignore reminder from calendar
Garden
Description:
- Mobile app for personal relationship management, where you can set reminders to reach out to someone by putting in their contact and how frequently you want to be reminded. Users can save notes and keep their lists of friends, family, and network.
Target Audience:
- iOS users
Strengths:
- Gentle reminders every set period of time, initiated by the user. They can add a contact and save notes under each person, which can help prevent forgetting conversations / important info.
Weaknesses:
- Can only be reminded based on time frequency, which is relatively rigid restriction and may not always be appropriate
When2meet
Description:
- Users could use the scheduling app when2meet to find a time in their schedule when their family member is also free, and commit to talking at that time
Target Audience:
- People with family members who are comfortable using a website like when2meet
- People and family members who have consistent and predictable schedules
Strengths:
- Reduces the probability of a missed call or someone setting aside time to contact a family member only to discover they are busy
- Low effort, and based on person’s preference for when they want to meet
Weaknesses:
- Requires advanced scheduling
- Doesn’t solve trigger problem of people forgetting to contact family members
To Do List
Description:
- Users could use a To Do List to remind themself to contact the family member
Target Audience:
- People who keep a To Do List
Strengths:
- Can put prompts in visual locations and be regularly reminded
Weaknesses:
- Makes contact with relative into a task that needs to be done
- Requires remembering to add to To Do List
- Doesn’t allow for spaced out repetition
Analysis
When looking at these products, we could essentially divide them two ways: the level of intrusiveness, from intrusive to passive, and the one way vs two way relationship maintenance, based on the number of users required. There was a clear relationship in the products we viewed between a product being more intrusive into someone’s life and also being a multiple directional relationship. This is also influenced because most of the more intrusive products were physical products, which automatically increases the intrusiveness of a solution, but also seems to work best when both sides of a relationship have the physical product. For our product, we would like to focus on one way relationships for the ease of access, but also be more intrusive than passive. This is because from our diary studies and interviews, we know that it tends not to be motivation nor ability that is the largest barrier to maintaining these relationships, but rather lack of sufficient triggers. Thus, something passive such as a To Do List may not be effective enough at triggering the desired behavior, whereas a more intrusive product may be able to sufficiently prompt someone to develop their desired level of connection.
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