What I aim to achieve with this project:

  • The surface statement still stands: I want to help people who are grieving to have a healthy outlet with which to deal with the “waves of grief” in a healthy manner.

  • That also means pushing for a sense of warmth, or belonging in the user experience. This can be facilitated through things like inviting colors, smooth transitions, and focusing on an experience that is actually intuitive for the user.

  • The code does not necessarily have to be “done”, but I would like to be at a place where I can begin the transition into code by the end of the term.

What excites me:

  • Helping regular people avoid some of the negative emotions, and experiences that I encountered while I was grieving through my own instances of personal loss.

  • Going through the process of fully realizing an idea that only existed in a byline within the time constraints given.

  • Seeing what effects a tool like this can have on individuals given the nature of sounds, and how we emotionally respond to them more actively.

  • Learning just how receptive my various contacts in the DAI(Digital Afterlife Industry) were at having a fresh pair of eyes on issues like removing stigma from the discourse of death.

What terrifies me:

  • Failing to refine this concept to an acceptable state of completeness.

  • Not being able to get it out of the design phase due to a litany of functional constraints (Financial, Programmatic, Ect…).

  • Creating a sub-par end result…

How I feel about presenting my work:

I had the luxury of attending the thesis week presentations, and that really did serve to take a good portion of my anxiety away. They showed me that it is possible to have your project exist in a multitude of states, and still be capable of impacting the lives of others.

The work that I’ve done has been relatively important given the thrilled responses that so many people have offered up. But I don’t believe they are a means of simply puffing me up, because I have learned that I’m not the only one who has noticed the many gaps in the market when dealing with issues like death, and how to cope positively. This work does not stop with me, but I believe I can make a useful contribution to the many, many DAI solutions that will inevitably follow in my little tool’s wake.

Changes (from my last presentation):

I have shifted focus to being concerned about the nuanced aspects, and am focused on creating a design that can carry this concept forward. With the hopes of being able to implement the code this summer so it can be fully deployed to needy users.

Who else might care about it:

Ignoring the actual person grieving, individuals that might want to help but don’t know how to could tap whole groups that the core person/people mourning did not know even cared. It could also be used by younger people that might not have the funds, or means to pour out support, but could use this in conjunction with other social tools to create more fully fleshed out online memorials.

Key Performance Indicators:

After encountering my project, a user will still grieve, but will feel fully supported by their loved ones while also having a constant keepsake of their memories of their loved one. They may play it on difficult nights, put it on for holidays, or even just toss it in the back of the closet after they are done. Either way, ByeLine would have served to help cope with their crisis of grief and carry them to better times.

In terms of what success looks like, I would feel wonderful if the concept were fully fleshed out, and in a state that I could continuously update to keep current on modern devices to aid user’s in their own journeys. That means core design, code, and just being able to be fully usable by end users.

To be somewhat fulfilled, I would create a pretty well fleshed out Figma mock-up of the design that both illustrates the majority of the core features that I want the concept to embody, while also being in a state that will allow it to be imported into what ever interpretation layer necessary to fully finish the concept.

Failure would be not completing working on the Figma design, and getting past the design blockers that make this concept challenging for me from time to time (User Journey, Profile Considerations, Ease of Use, Ect…).

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For user tests, I want my testers to focus on three things:

  1. Let me know if any transitions are strange, needed, or redundant.

  1. Try to walk through the basic user flow to see if the process is even logical, or if modifications are needed.

  1. Let me know of any design resources or examples that can help take this concept to the next level.