nOS

Through several literature reviews, I learned that loneliness is not just a complex socio-cultural issue, it was also declared an epidemic in early 2023 by the Surgeon General of the United States.  

Loneliness was acutely expressed in young adults aged 18-22 years, whose most basic medium of social connection also happens to be smartphones, which we identified to be one of the key barriers to meaningful social connection.

1.2 Diary Study + Interviews

We studied 7 young adults aged 18-22 years, specifically the nature of their interactions in close relationships. For this, we used 2 methods:

A light-weight text message based diary study with a simple prompt: ___ your social health with 3 emojis, 2 sentences and 1 image (rationale)

We followed up the week long diary study with a semi-structured interview that allowed us to dig deeper into some of the aspects they had touched upon.

2.1 Generative Research Analysis

I led the affinity mapping activity of our diary study and interviews, which aided the discovery of pain points encountered by majority of our participants.

We learned, among other things, that:

Young adults seek reciprocal effort in their relationships since they want to cultivate connections that are authentic, equitable, and enduring.

Since social media has become about mass consumption rather than personal connection, texting, calling, and video chatting often facilitate more meaningful relationships for young adults.

The last finding in particular overturned our assumption, that young adults use social media apps to stay connected.

These findings validated our approach to design an OS that intentionally drove social connection instead of unintentionally resisting it.

2.2 Sources of inspiration

Our research did not turn up any “competitors” for our idea; instead we ended up drawing inspiration from various existing products and concepts.

Mercury is a speculative reimagining of the operating system as a fluid experience driven by human intent.

The Light Phone experience is that of a phone away from your phone; it has only a few essential features like alarm clock and messaging.

How We Feel is a well-being journaling app that helps users learn about regulating their emotions by spotting trends and patterns.

How it inspired US

It's clutter-free and intent-driven design.
It's rejection of the desktop metaphor and app ecosystems

How it inspired US

It's Light Operating System, which is designed to be used as little as possible.

How it inspired US

It's approach to educating the user about themselves.
It's UI design. 

3.1 Ideation Suite Candidates

We performed an ideation sprint – each team member came up with 20 ideas, ranging from visual/UI and feature ideas to reimagining information design on a mobile OS and new metaphors to consider. The result of the discussion and affinity mapping activity that ensued was team consensus on our design direction.

By removing apps and solely focusing on relationships we wanted to use limitations as a method of creating a unique value proposition for smartphone users.

3.2 Design Principles

3.3 Social Health Framework

Social health is unique to each individual. This framework uses the two key aspects that drive human-human connection - talking and doing stuff together.

It aims to help users customize these 2 aspects and live in alignment with them.

3.4 Information Architecture

After several iterations, I arrived at this simple IA. An AI driven natural language command-line became central to the home screen. Swiping up and down would take the user to the social health and people portals respectively.

3.4 User Flows

1. Onboarding

2. Planning a Meetup

3. Social Health