metastar
MetaStar is a social networking application for young teenage immigrants facing difficult transitions into a new life in the United States.
It was designed at Carnegie Mellon University for a project co-sponsored by Motorola and Microsoft.
Team: Kim Dowd, Gretchen Mendoza, Suri Park
A sample screen from MetaStar.
We were asked to explore the theme of "service meets social." With such a broad prompt, we were allowed a lot of freedom for the direction of the project. After some exploration of market trends, our team decided to design around issues of identity for young immigrants.
Our initial research revealed difficult obstacles for people moving to the United States from overseas. They face language barriers, culture shock, and separation from loved ones. These challenges can be especially hard on teenage immigrants, who have moved to the US for school and are likely facing academic pressures as well.
A group of participants from our generative research create collages.
We conducted surveys and interviews to gather information about our potential users. We also ran generative research sessions, in which we asked young immigrants to create collages and other graphics that described their cultural identities and experiences as immigrants. The goal was to elicit stories from the participants that might inform our design.
We categorized and synthesized our findings from user research. This led into our concept generation phase.
Our final design, MetaStar, is an online application built for a community of young immigrants. Using the app, they can track and explore their identities through a playful visual diary. They can also connect with other members who are facing similar challenges.
We used the metaphor of stars in the universe to represent the community of users. We produced a video sketch to explain our concept and made a final presentation to our sponsors at Motorola.