ROLE
Lead UX Designer
TIMELINE
TEAM
1 Product Manager
2 Engineers
1 UX Researcher
TOOL
Figma
OVERVIEW
As part of Carnegie Mellon University's Persuasive Design course, my team explored how to help Gen X build meaningful relationships during pivotal life transitions, and designed Phonebooth, a voice-based social connection app. As the design lead, I crafted the app's brand identity and designed the main features. I also managed design consistency across the app by integrating the work of other designers with my own, ensuring a cohesive and unified user experience.
SOLUTION
I designed the app's signature visual: a dynamic sound wave ripple that animates during the splash screen and recording. This element provides real-time feedback while reinforcing the app’s voice-first identity.
To cater to Gen X, I designed a simple registration flow: phone number verification, basic profile details, and a short voice introduction. Each profile is presented through a customizable iPod-inspired interface—a nostalgic touch that allows users to express themselves with color rather than photos.
Each login presents a reflective prompt for users to share memories, goals, and life experiences. These prompts act as natural conversation starters and help users build connections through shared experiences.
Users explore connections by swiping through iPod-style profiles featuring voice recordings. They can record voice replies to the ones they resonate with. This reply-to-connect mechanism turns browsing into meaningful conversation.
Each voice recording comes with text transcripts, ensuring inclusivity for users with hearing difficulty and providing flexibility in noisy environments.
To promote deeper communication, I designed a messaging experience that prioritizes voice interactions over text. While users can access a transcript, they must tap to reveal it—an intentional friction that encourages more emotionally rich voice interactions.
PROBLEM
What was driving this behavior? We saw an opportunity to explore this phenomenon and develop an intervention to prevent potentially addictive relationships with these platforms.
Source: Nielsen
RESEARCH
To uncover the root causes behind Gen X's behavior, we conducted three focus groups and five interviews, which revealed that what appeared as social media addiction was actually something deeper.
Our focus groups with Gen X participants challenged our initial assumption and revealed that:
Quotes from participants
These midlife transitions lead many to experience a profound loss of purpose, loneliness, and suddenly abundant free time.
Having shifted our focus from social media use to connection-building challenges, we conducted interviews with five Gen X individuals using directed storytelling to explore the underlying emotions and motivations.
Through affinity clustering, several key themes were identified from the interviews:
Many were seeking romantic connections after divorce, late singledom, or widowhood.
Limited social circles made it difficult to meet potential friends or partners.
Traditional dating apps felt superficial and designed for younger generations.
Despite longing for connection, many felt vulnerable about putting themselves out there.
REFRAMING
Our research journey transformed our understanding: Gen X's increased social media use wasn't the problem—it was their attempt to solve a deeper emotional need during significant life transitions.
IDEATION
As the design lead, I planned and led the end-to-end design process, from feature ideation to prototyping and the final handover to developers. The process unfolded in four phases:
I facilitated a workshop where team members recorded self-introductions as if they were Gen X users. This not only helped us build empathy but surfaced crucial UX considerations around making voice interactions feel natural and comfortable. I then led a Crazy 8's exercise to brainstorm specific features with the team.
Working alongside developers, I prioritized features using the MoSCoW matrix to identify our MVP essentials. This ensured we could deliver on our promise of voice-first connection while maintaining technical feasibility.
Design decisions I made in the early iteration
EVALUATION
To evaluate our solution, we conducted user testing with six Gen X participants. Overall, we received very positive feedback. Participants particularly valued how the app allowed them to express their personality naturally and judge others on substance rather than appearance.
DEVELOPMENT & SHOWCASE
After finalizing the design, I created detailed documentation for design handoff. I also conducted UX/UI reviews with the developers to ensure design fidelity.
They particularly praised Phonebooth's innovative approach to dating apps and thoughtful consideration of Gen X users' emotional needs.
We designed stickers for visitors :D
TAKEAWAYS
Leading this project taught me that the most impactful solutions often emerge from challenging our initial assumptions. By staying open to new insights, we shifted from addressing the surface behavior to solving the root cause.
While our research participants talked about social media usage, their stories revealed deeper emotional needs that were not explicitly stated. This reinforced the importance of reading between the lines during user research and focusing on emotional undertones rather than just surface-level behaviors.
By choosing voice as our primary medium, we realized how breaking conventional boundaries can spark innovations. Sometimes the best solutions emerge not from obvious approaches, but from addressing user needs in unexpected ways.
