The Problem

30% of millennials surveyed by YouGov.com stated they always or often feel lonely, lack companionship, or feel left out or isolated. Trends in self-care, healthy living, and a current overall distrust of the medical community cause people to seek out health alternatives, which leaves many millennials feeling helpless in addressing loneliness, and increases the chance a business solution here could be successful.

Research & Synthesis

We scoured the web for research into millennials and loneliness and the psychology of loneliness more generally. We dove into reddit threads and discussions on loneliness, since much of our target demographic spends time on that platform. We then created a survey to gather more targeted data based on what we'd found in our secondary research.

For synthesis, we coded our survey data to pull out higher level themes that we could develop actionable insights around.

Prototyping

The thematic categories of our ideas were centered around increasing the ease of connection, assessing mismatched interest levels between two people (i.e. extent of connection desired), recognizing personal vulnerability, and matching people based on commonalities. We created and tested 3 different prototypes.

For prototypes 1 and 2, we created a user profile wire-frame to simulate completing a profile for the service we imagined. Prototype 1 was a text service that could match users attending a social event with other people attending the event on their own. Prototype 2 swapped the text service for a wearable LED for social events. The light’s activation and specific color visually indicated your matched friend for the event.

Testing

With the first test, we found that both participants ignored the discussion prompts, preferring to ask questions about each other instead. Their discussion centered around personal life and values. With that in mind, we doubled the group size for the next test and aimed to pair them based on values.

For the second prototype, the participants indicated that the profiles they filled out felt very similar to a dating app profile. Additionally, the wearable made them feel uneasy and act unnaturally, with one participant even making up a persona for herself and sharing fake information with her partner for fear she was being recorded.

With those problems in mind, as well as a lack of certainty around the channels to sell this service, or whether our users would actually purchase it, we took a step back and a more holistic look at our research.

The Outcome

Prototype 3, our proposed solution, was the Bloom Deck featuring the D.E.W. System. D.E.W. corresponds to three categories of activities that could help reduce frequent feelings of loneliness: Deepen, Expand, and Within. The intention is for the user to draw a random card from the deck periodically that will encourage them to deepen their existing connections, expand their network, and practice introspection -- all forms of self-care that address themes we saw in our research. “Deepen” aims to counter loneliness from geographic and/or emotional distance to family and friends. “Expand” aims to initiate new connections to the place or people where someone lives. “Within” encourages introspection and vulnerability to build stronger emotional stability overall.

We further tested and refined this 3rd prototype before presenting it and our final deck to our Cultural Relevance & Awarness class.

Questions to Ask Me in Person

How did you go from an events-based wearable to a card deck for your final business idea?

What sort of analysis was done for a go-to market strategy?
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