Mosaic: A story listening and sharing app for queer communities
Role: Interaction designer responsible for user research, wireframing, prototyping and visual design
Timeline: Sep – Dec 2023 (4 months)
Collaborators: 4 other designers and researchers
Tools: Figma, FigJam
We designed a mobile app to help queer people understand their identity and feel a sense of community. Mosaic is an interactive experience that lets users listen to stories by queer people for queer people in their local area.
So what’s the problem?
Young queer individuals face significant barriers to healthy sexual development due to inadequate or harmful sexual education in schools, often compounded by a lack of supportive queer role models. This leaves them feeling isolated and ill-equipped to navigate their identities and sexual experiences. The absence of inclusive educational resources and safe community spaces contributes to misinformation and negative stigmas, hindering their ability to form healthy relationships and access essential resources.
There's a critical need for a digital platform that provides accurate information, fosters community, and facilitates mentorship to empower young queer people.
The solution
Impact
The largest impact we hope that our design will have, and a scenario we explored in our personas, is that people without queer friends or role models in their daily life who may feel alone in their community will be able to hear and tangibly see the mark that other queer people have left around town. The physical memories that are shown in the AR view will let users literally see the queerness surrounding them. We also hope that users will be able to learn more about real queer experiences through short podcast-like audio bites that will provide more realistic representation, so young queer people won’t have to just rely on inadequate representation in media or school.
Learnings and reflections
The largest impact we hope that our design will have, and a scenario we explored in our personas, is that people without queer friends or role models in their daily life who may feel alone in their community will be able to hear and tangibly see the mark that other queer people have left around town. The physical memories that are shown in the AR view will let users literally see the queerness surrounding them. We also hope that users will be able to learn more about real queer experiences through short podcast-like audio bites that will provide more realistic representation, so young queer people won’t have to just rely on inadequate representation in media or school.