Product Case Study

Paralign

Aligning Minds

Overview

In 2015, my co-founder and I set out to build a platform that could connect those who are in need of communication, compassion, and support to a community of individuals that could prove as a reminder to each other that they are not alone while providing the safety and comfort found in anonymity.

The result was a mobile product that integrated thought and mood-tracking AIs that would identify recurring patterns and connect users to others experiencing similar things.

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Mock-up of product app on android device

Challenge

Design

The design challenge was creating an interface that was a combination of a private journal and social community. Users would need to be able to post and view thoughts and moods while also having the ability to connect with other users in private and group chat rooms based around shared ideas.

Development

On the development side, the challenge was quickly iterating on a live product supporting thousands of users and tens of thousands of daily posts.

Process

Design

My process in designing and maintaining our product involved sketching user flows, building lo-fi and hi-fi prototypes using both analog and digital mediums like paper, Sketch, and Invision, and mocking up pixel perfect screens that would be broken down into UI components during development iterations.

Development

Once new UI elements and features were tested in our design phase, I would translate those details into the front-end development of our iOS and Android app using a custom build process leveraging Ionic and integrating it into our backend framework.

Results

The result was a product that took direct input from our community and accelerated development of key feature requests. Our lean startup methodology increased our DoD and MoM growth, retention, and engagement leading to a community of thousands of users, and hundreds of thousands of posts.