Family Ties: Reimagining How Families Stay Connected Through App Design

Role
Product Design from research to visualization

Key Contributions

Duration
  • October 2022 – February 2023
Methods & Tools
Desktop Research, Interview,
Diary Research, Iceberg Analysis, Sketch & Principle
Practices

User Research, UX & UI Design,
Prototyping

Family Ties is a 4-month student design project that explores how app design can strengthen communication between East Asian families living apart. Focused on bridging emotional distance, it translates cultural insights into simple and empathetic interactions that make everyday conversations feel warmer and more natural.

Context

East Asian Family Communication Problems

An ‘East Asian-style family’ is a unique family structure pattern within the cultural context of East Asia. Under patriarchal authority, children in traditional East Asian-style families are often restricted by the wishes of their elders.

However, within this imbalance, there are benevolent intentions: the love and expectations of the elders.

  • Different Communication Style

  • Directive Language

  • Generation Gap

  • High Expectations of Work & Career

 

Study Abroad Trends

In today’s globalized world, an increasing number of students are pursuing higher education in countries or cities far from home, leading to a growing need for effective communication tools to maintain strong family bonds.

Recognizing the significance of this trend and the unique challenges faced by families, particularly those with East Asian cultural backgrounds, the “Family Ties” project was born.

 

Process

User Research

The interaction issues between international students and their parents are widely prevalent. I extracted some common dialogues frequently observed during my observations.

User Interview

First, I utilized the method of user interviews. I selected several geographically separated families and conducted semi-structured interviews and surveys with them. Through this approach, I aimed to gain insights into the anticipated ideal relationships and pain points in their current interactions within different family dynamics. Without exception, they all expressed a desire for closer and more amicable relationships.

Based on the responses received, I come up with several insights.

  • The communication between international students and their parents primarily revolves around daily life sharing (food, drinks, leisure activities) and sharing of experiences (scenic photos, travel plans). These topics constitute their most shareable content.

  • Additionally, issues between both parties mainly arise from time zone differences and differences in communication habits.

Diary Research

Through a diary study, I selected 3 users for a one-month tracking period. These three users represent diverse family dynamics.
During this month, they were required to document their communication with their parents, including aspects such as whether calls were connected on the first attempt, the types of content shared with parents, and whether there were responses from their parents.

Main Problems

How Might We improve long-distance parent-child connection, even across different time-zones?
How to make the interaction between parents and children more natural and fun?

35
calls failed have to retry
32
parent-initiated phone calls are unreachable
59
sharing sent by parents without interaction

Icerberg Analysis

To reach a consensus and confirm our target user group and product features, we conducted a brainstorm session to decide some key points.

In order to improve communication between international students and their families, it is essential to gradually uncover the underlying user mental models that cause this conflict, moving beyond surface-level issues. Starting from these motivations, design future features to address these issues effectively.

Concept Developtment

KANO Model

In order to understand the importance and value of the features we brainstormed for the student group, we collected 20 responses, using KANO Model to prioritize the development sequence.

  • Automating task generation and offering personalized services based on habits are directions that can add value to the product for users.
  • Features such as setting time zones, locations, and providing feedback still require further discussion.

Design & Iteration

Design System

Paper Prototype

 Information Architecture

Family Ties has three main functions:

  1. On the homepage, users can share various content, including text, images, short videos external links, and initiate video or phone communication invitations.
  2. In the gallery section, users can select tasks (like school tours or room tours) or create custom badges to organize their shared content into albums.
  3. The invitation and response process for meetings takes into consideration the different time zones and individual schedules of both parties, allowing users to quickly find suitable mutual free slots within a specified time frame. This eliminates the need for multiple calls, preventing unexpected disruptions.

Low-Fi Design

Usage Scenarios