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A social platform for children coping with cancer

A social community web & mobile app for mental support.

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"Lobster" is a social community app, created to provide a platform for socializing and mental support for children with cancer by creating their own community.
The app provides social "feed" where you can share experiences, feelings and thoughts from everyday life in coping with cancer.
-The "Older brother" Program: A mentoring program among children who have recovered from cancer and children who are currently fighting cancer.

This project was created with "Max Impact Israel" for "Sunrise Israel" association.  

My role:  Research, Concept development, UX/UI

May 2021

Intro

The problem

Every year, about 500 new cases of children with cancer are diagnosed in Israel.

The life of children diagnosed with cancer changes dramatically. These children go through difficult and challenging mental struggles, they experience fear and uncertainty, and sometimes loneliness and lack of social belonging.

The children receive support from their family members, doctors and social workers, but often they will not have any contact with children their age who are in a similar situation.

Social connections between children who are in a similar situation can greatly benefit from a sense of belonging, a safe place to share what they are going through. These connections can also allow them to help each other.

The challenges

-Creating an interactive platform that will create an active and supportive community.

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-The product will serve as a social network and create interpersonal connections between users.

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Research

User research

From the children's point of view

In my user research I conducted interviews with children in different ages who have cancer and with professionals from the "Sunrise" Association who work closely with the children.

From the interviews:

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Reut, 19, Tel aviv, Israel.
Recovering from cancer.
Youth counselor at the association.

"I work with children in hospitals.

Because I recovered from cancer myself, I think children are able to connect with me more easily than other professionals..."

"Other kids in my class do not even know what I'm going through,
I don't share it with them because they are busy with other things... sometimes it sucks that I do not have a friend who has experienced something similar."

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Ido, 14. Haifa, Israel
Coping with cancer

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"I only know the kids who are in the hospital with me, and most of them are a few years younger than me... I would like to meet children my age who are also fighting cancer."

Alex 10. Haifa, Israel.
Coping with cancer.

"The association organizes summer camps twice a year and sometimes other activities, but there is no platform that allows children to stay in touch, there is nowhere to share information, photos and shared experiences, and we have no way to reach children in a way that suits their generation."

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Anat 41. Tel Aviv, Israel.
Project manger- Sunrise Association. 

Market research

What exists and what can be improved

In the market research I examined which are the leading applications in the market for cancer patients. What products does the target audience use, what can be learned from them and what should be improved.

The main apps in the field:

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Pain points

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Most of the products are not intended for children and teenagers. Therefore the content and design are not suitable for them.

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The products mainly provide a solution for medical, practical and bureaucratic information. They do not provide social and mental help to the target audience.

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The products do not encourage interpersonal communication and connections between users.

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The design of the products is not attractive and interactive enough for a young target audience.

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The products do not create a sense of belonging and community for the users.

Conclusions and insights:

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The product should create a sense of belonging and community for the users.
In order to create a place for them where they can receive mental and social support.

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The product should encourage interpersonal connections between users.
The real value lies with the users who will support each other.

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The product design should be tailored for a young target audience, be fun and interactive.
In order to make users enjoy and love the use of the product.

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The product should be used as a community platform that will suit as many different users as possible - by dividing into subgroups in the community.
In order to strengthen the sense of belonging to each user.

 The Solution

"Lobster"- Social network for children with cancer

A social networking platform for children with cancer.
The platform enables a social "feed", community groups, connection between users and a unique mentoring program.

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Target audience

Children with cancer, friends and family  Ages 8-19

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The value

Mental and social support for the children.

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The goal

 Creating an active and supportive community for all children with cancer in Israel.

Architecture

I designed the structure of the system according to the conclusions of the study.
The structure encourages active participation in the "feed" community, a simple transition between the central community and subgroups - in order to create a sense of belonging to as many users as possible. Switching between product functions is efficient and easy.

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Product screens:

Onboarding

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The registration process is linear.

The user creates a personal profile.

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The user is asked about his connection to cancer, whether he is fighting cancer/ recovering/ friend / family member. What type of cancer is he coping  with.
In addition, he will add details about interests and hobbies that will help community members get to know him.

Community page:

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The page has a social "feed" where users can upload posts, share experiences, feelings from everyday life through sharing texts and multimedia. They can respond to posts and support each other.
Using the groups menu the users can switch between the different subgroups.

 

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1 on 1:  

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Users can see other members of the community, find members who share common interests, same age and same type of cancer.  

Users can start chatting with each other.

"Older brother"- mentoring program:

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This program matches children who have recovered from cancer and children who are currently fighting cancer. A child who has recovered from cancer become a mentor who can listen, support and share his personal experience in coping with cancer.
 

On the page - the child can see the profiles of the available mentors, look for a mentor who suits him by filtering: age, gender, type of cancer, interests and common hobbies.

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After the child chooses a mentor he will enter the "Brothers chat" room. The mentor will be able to schedule appointments with the child at regular times or as needed.

Mobile version:

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The product
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