Upstream App

Upstream App

Upstream App

Building an audio story app for a low tech and low literacy user group

Revitalizing B2B medical communications agency website to attract & engage
new users

UX/UI/UXR

Usability Testing

0 to 1

Project Overview

Context & Background

User Research

Design Solutions

Outcomes

—>

Project overview

Duration
& Outcome

Duration
& Outcome

2 years 3 mos
Built and shipped >>

Team

1 PM
3 Designers
3 Media Specialists
2 Researchers
4 Developers

My Role

UI Designer

Toolkit

Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Asana
Slack

Location

Tokyo, Japan
Remote

Problem

Lorem Ipsum

Outcomes

1000+ downloads

5 star reviews on app store

Learn about how I achieved these results

Learn about how I achieved these results

Context & Background

Designing and launching an app to host audio stories for a low tech user group with varying languages and literacy levels. Given the unique conditions of the user group, there was a lot of user research to conduct to ensure we understood and met user needs.

All the stories were ready, but there was no structure for the application and little understanding of the user group's familiarity with technology.

❓

Potential users aren't familiar with many icons and 'typical' user flows we take for granted.

💡

Necessity of an intuitive user flow that's clear and not intimidating to use.

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

🎨

Absence of a design system for developers to build consistently from.

Absence of a design system for developers to build consistently from.

⚠️ Challenge

How might we intuitively lead low tech users through a series order of audio media?

How might we inform users, connect with them, and motivate them to download and share content with their communities?

How might we inform users, connect with them, and motivate them to download and share content with their communities?

User research

Methods

Conducted multiple remote video interviews with people who were currently helping in the refugee camps to better understand the context of the user group.

User insights

Constantly under high stress and use smartphones for stress-relief

Constantly under high stress and use smartphones for stress-relief

Unfamiliar with symbols and signage and has no unified written language

Unfamiliar with symbols and signage and has no unified written language

Need simplified user pathways

Need simplified user pathways

Stakeholder insights

Want to make the app easily shareable from within the application

Wanted non-commercialized, professional, and tonally
respectful content

Wanted non-commercialized, professional, and tonally
respectful content

Prioritizing for android

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Aim to appeal to both users looking
for empathetic storytelling and
factual statistics

Giving language options for users, since there's not one unified language they all are used to

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Aim to appeal to both users looking
for empathetic storytelling and
factual statistics

Design solutions

User flow

Main functions:

• Contact page
• Share page
• Language settings
• Display stories in order
• Simple, readable navigation

Home Page - iterations

Since we weren't sure if the user group was familiar with traditional user flows, we came up with several different iterations for the landing screen. We considered horizontal swiping since users were most familiar with scrolling through photo apps. After testing, we determined swiping vertically would still be the most intuitive for users.

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping vertically
— two column tiles

swiping vertically — single column

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

differentiating stories by shape

highlighting played stories

categorizing stories by shape and highlighting played stories

Navigation Bar - iterations

Iterated on most intuitive placement of navigational icons. We decided against using language with the icons to minimize complexity especially since the user group doesn't have a unified written language.

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

nav bar with icons upper right

nav bar with icons across the bottom — conflicted with android native navigation

nav bar with icons equally spaced across the top bar

Audio Page - iterations

For the audio page we iterated on whether a back button or a button to indicate the main page would be more intuitive. We also decided to add speed controls that were easily navigable so users could test and correct themselves with minimal friction.

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

swiping horizonatally

button to return to main page

bottom left back button

top right back button and additional speed controls

Upcoming Features

Adding dark mode to reduced eye strain for users

Adjusting the user flows as users become more tech literate

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Building the application for iOs

Results

✅

Users were able to easily navigate the app and explore the controls freely

✅

User research informed decisions provided solid foundation for later redesigns

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

Potential users found other resources about Japan’s Christian history and prayer needs to be fragmented, outdated, and unreliable.

✅

Numerous iterations and tests allowed for validating and explaining design decisions to stakeholders and development teams

Numerous iterations and tests allowed for validating and explaining design decisions to stakeholders and development teams

outcomes

The app launched and resulted in 1000+ downloads, and underwent a redesign to adjust for the user group as they became more and more tech literate.

Final reflections

This was my first time working on an Android application, my first time developing and executing a user research plan, and analyzing and synthesizing information to make research-backed design decisions. I loved learning from experienced mentors on the team on how to lead interviews, conduct research, and share it to align with development teams on design vision and direction. It was such a meaningful and exciting project and I'm so grateful to have been a part of it!

next steps

👩🏻‍💻

Collecting and analyzing feedback from users to identify points for improvement

🪄

Planning and designing future features using existing design components

📱

Adjusting the user flows as users become more tech literate

Sharon Kim 2025