Through an independent study, I was able to help Jen Landis—founder of Pincurl Girls—explore opportunities for her upcoming project, which would be an app based on a book she was writing—a self-help book for teen girls called Ready, Set, Level Up.


I created empathy maps to increase our understanding of different types of teenagers and how they would interact with the book’s information. From those initial exercises we quickly decided that the best way to get an idea for what would help teens, would be to ask them.

 

We formed a couple different workshops. The first of which was an opportunity workshop with only four people, and the second was a day full of exploratory workshops with seven teenagers between the ages of 12-17 with an emphasis on co-design.

It was through these workshops that we began to experience project-altering ideas and opinions. We quickly learned that many of the girls we spoke to were gender fluid and didn’t resonate with the idea of our book being purely for “girls.” We also learned that many of them already used a collection of apps—mainly including Spotify, Pinterest, Instagram, and games—to help them regulate their moods.

We facilitated the group to curate personas that would bring up poignant issues in their lives that we could discuss without any specific alienation. And then we listened and took note of the creative, unique solutions they came up with.

Through this experience, we also learned who teens will trust or not with their personal struggles. We also gained insight into their interests, media consumption habits, and their attitudes towards mood transformation and positivity. The collection of paper apps we co-created together will illustrate ideas and inspiration for the future of this project. The data that I collected created a solid foundation for wherever Jen Landis decides to develop her project and ensured that the product would be accessible and designed for teenagers.