Fika is a service that aims to enable informal connectivity in a digital space. Our initial design challenge was "How might we enable more human connectivity and engagement, while being socially distanced?" We started by looking into the different problems people face with online socializing and received several significant responses, which we categorized into different clusters.

We then summarized these responses into 7 significant insights and needs that reflected the problems people were facing with trying to develop and maintain remote connections.

From these insights and needs, we decided to focus on the problem of structured, mechanical socializing that most of our interviewees seemed to face. So, we reframed our initial problem to "How might we enable informal connectivity by helping people have organic, imperfect interactions in a digital space?" After a few rounds of ideation, we came up with our final solution: Fika.

We call this the Fika Frame, a service that helps people connect over long distances. The purpose of the frame is to make sure people know they're not alone, and are remembered by their loved ones. It would be connected to an app that allows you to exchange photos with other people and auto-upload them to your frame. When you touch an image displayed on your frame, you will be prompted to select your current mood. Once selected, the frames belonging to the people in that image will light up in the color corresponding to your selected mood. The app then asks you if you’d like to connect with these people through a short message or video call, which enables more organic connectivity. 

To better express how Fika works, we developed narratives that explore the service journey, along with prototypes of the app and frame.

The frame on the left shows how Mia and Amir would connect their frames to the Fika app, as well as how the frame displays the images and allows them to select a mood. The frame on the right shows how Alia's and Hasan's frames would light up in response in the colour of the mood that the Mia and Amir selected.

The app would allow users to sync their contacts, upload photos to their frame, scroll through the images, and send messages to other users.

As a brand, Fika aims to be compassionate, sincere, and empathetic. Based on our brand values, we created a friendly, casual, organic, and imperfect branding for Fika, to represent the needs we aim to fulfill. Similarly, the colors are vibrant and fun, to give the brand a welcoming and warm vibe.