pal

Pal

How might we redefine sex education today?

Project description

Sex education affects everyone throughout their lives and can immensely impact our personal development, so I decided to tackle this topic for my bachelor's thesis. It should help young people gain competence in social, practical, ethical, and health issues rather than cause anxiety and confusion in one of the most crucial stages of human maturity. Social media and external influences in a connected world have changed the demands placed on modern knowledge transfer. There needs to be more conversation about the growing pressure on young people, and this lack of communication is based on shame and embarrassment, leading to insecurity.

So I asked myself, what should contemporary sex education look like? The goal was to use new media, language, ad methods to make knowledge accessible and to create a new relationship towards and with sex education.

pal is a digital mentor for young people and accompanies them on their way to adulthood. In addition to sex education, the app al visually integrates emotional changes into the learning process playfully. pal hopes to build self-confidence and facilitate a positive experience in dealing with sexuality by providing support, understanding the associated feelings, and fostering acceptance of one’s own body.

Context

Bachelor Thesis in Industrial Design, Bergische Universität Wuppertal

Type

strategy, UX, design, copy, motion, branding

Year

2019

Role

5 months of individual work, supervision by Prof. Trauernicht & Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hemmert

Social media and external influences in a connected world have changed the demands placed on modern knowledge transfer. There are inadequate conversations about the growing pressure on young people. This non-communication is based on shame and embarrassment and can lead to insecurity and anxiety.

Your inner team

① Using new media to reach youth
② Visualisation is key to make seemingly complex content
easily understandable
③ In order to educate about sexual development successfully, feelings and emotions must absolutely be part of the conversation

The requirements of the users are very divers, as everyone learns differently. In order not to exclude any user, I decided that an app which is able to adapt to several situations is indispensable. Every single user should be able to use the software as it feels right for them – in every single situation. How the content is communicated is a crucial point and should have the perfect balance between a playful yet serious approach.

Reflection

Throughout my research phase I quickly realised that a physical object wouldn't help to solve the issues around sex education. Therefore I created an app because the outcome should not be an industrial design object just because I studied this, but rather the best possible solution for the end user. This might have been the biggest push at that time outside of my own 'industrial design comfort zone' and my first entry point towards interaction design. I am grateful that I could explore my strong conceptual skills and pair them with visuals that would support the end result. I am still very proud of the outcome and overall concept.

Bits and pieces from the process of designing pal

Meet pal.
Name origin: Pal = Mate
Meaning: Your pals are your friends.
Other metaphors: coach, mentor, contact person, friend, companion, role model, guide.
pal is a digital mentor for young people and accompanies them on their way to adulthood.