DISCOVERY
From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to design an app regarding a social issue that women face. We had many different ideas for platforms that focused on topics from safety to self care. However, we finally landed on creating a platform for women's stories to be shared and seen.
Hero is inspired by Ms. Magazine, a publication that was one of the leading voices during the second wave of the feminist movement in the 1970's. Notable names, such as Gloria Steinem and Billie Jean King, famously shared that they had received abortions before such procedures were federally legalized through Roe v. Wade in the first issue of Ms. Today, Roe v. Wade has once again been the topic of many news outlets and abortion laws across the U.S. are uncertain, about 50 years after its initial passing in legislation.* With woman's rights being at the forefront of current events ,we were inspired to create a safe space for women's stories on a variety of topics.
*Research Guides: MS. Magazine Special Collections Resources: About MS.” About Ms. - Ms. Magazine Special Collections Resources - Research Guides at Smith College Libraries, 14 Dec. 2022, libguides.smith.edu/c.php?g=1227509&p=8981579.
Initial research
For our interview process, each team member was tasked with interviewing 2-3 people in order to gather information on how young women are feeling in today’s society. During the process, we began noticing patterns within our interviewees. With this gathered information, our team began assembling similar responses categorically in order to generate possible ideas for our app.
interview questions
- How do you perceive women are treated in society?
- How do you empower yourself and women around you?
- Do you believe gender equality is an issue?
- In what ways can men become allies?
- How can governments promote the economic empowerment of women?
AFFINITY MAPPING PARTICPANT RESPONSES
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
We compared the features of Hero to mainstream news apps with features we believed to be important to a woman centered news platform.
OPPORTUNITY
In recent days, many young women feel as though their voices are going unheard. Often times, these women feel as though their contributions are often overlooked or unrecognized by those around them. With social media playing such a large part in our daily lives, it’s hard to focus on many of these contributions. Hero is the new go-to news app that focuses strictly on women and their contributions in today’s society.
WIRE FRAMING & PROTOTYPING
Our goal while sketching wireframes for Hero was to take current trends from other news apps and to keep things simple. The intention of the design was to make finding news stories with ease and for the interface to not distract from the content.
LOW-FIDELITY SKETCHES
MEDIUM-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
