Built on the idea that time and effort should be put into maintaining personal relationships, Monaru is a virtual assistant that aims to help users build deeper connections with the people they care about and develop positive qualities like thoughtfulness.
We prototyped a mobile application for Monaru as we found their purpose meaningful and impactful in promoting
healthy relationships.
PROCESS
RESEARCH
As college students, we are always swamped with classes, homework, and extracurriculars and often finding time for our loved ones is really tough. In this process, many millennials lose genuine connections and get distant from their families and friends. This is especially true for international students who leave everything behind, and start a new chapter. It’s important to remember one’s roots and the people who shaped our upbringing. Keeping that in mind, we believe a systematic calendar and reminders app, curated solely for people who matter to each user, is a solution to solving these lost connections because of distance, time and busy schedules.
Monaru’s virtual assistant provides recommendations and reminders by understanding your relations.
IDEATION
We begin by sketching 4 major screens in the app—profile set-up page, home page, add reminder page, calendar page—and developing 3 different versions for each screen. These screens enable users to perform the main function of the app: to add a reminder about an upcoming social event with their loved ones. Below are the sketches:
PROTOTYPING
The user flow, hi-fidelity prototyping and on-boarding of some screens can be seen below.
