Case Study
Personalized Acts of Kindness
The Client
Do Me A Favour Buddy (DMAFB) is a UK-based organization founded by Don Diffang and co-led by a small team of scientific and business experts. It was inspired by Don’s personal experience with a stranger's kindness during a personal housing crisis. This led him to explore the science of kindness as a clinical researcher. DMAFB's mission is to democratize the experience of kindness through AI-powered personalization, aiming to improve mental health and overall well-being for its users.
Don Diffang, founder of Do Me A Favour Buddy
The Challenge
The core group at DMAFB developed ways to personalize acts of kindness, but they lacked a tangible platform to implement this technology.
My team’s task was to transform this research-backed concept into a user-friendly mobile app that would help socially-conscious individuals overcome barriers to performing acts of kindness.
Collaboration & My Roles
As the Project Manager and UX Generalist on this project, I worked with a team of four designers, researchers and writers to create a mobile application that helps users engage in meaningful acts of kindness through AI-powered personalization.
As a project manager, I provided leadership in organizing & coordinating the team of UX specialists, helping to ensure that there was good communication and organized documentation. I also helped to ensure that essential tasks were clearly understood and completed on time.
As a UX generalist, I provided direct input, support and assistance with everyone’s work.
Users & Key Features of the App
Users
Socially conscious individuals who want to make a positive impact
People who struggle to find time for acts of kindness
Users who have difficulty identifying those in need
Individuals seeking meaningful ways to perform acts of kindness
Key Features
AI-powered personalization system that matches users with appropriate acts of kindness based on their psychological profile
Gamified progress tracking using a plant growth metaphor
Team-based interface for community connection
Organizational interface for implementing kindness initiatives in workplace settings
A gamified system using plant growth metaphors to track progress
Nature-inspired design elements based on user preferences
Usability Testing
In our first iteration, usability testing revealed several critical areas for improvement:
Users needed better context for personal questions during onboarding
Navigation issues, particularly with the Home button functionality
Lack of clear guidance for performing and logging acts of kindness
Difficulties in tracking progress due to navigation issues
We addressed these challenges in a second iteration by:
Implementing clearer navigation systems
Creating more intuitive user guidance
Impact
The final product successfully transformed DMAFB's research-backed concept into a workable prototype that:
Provides personalized act-of-kindness suggestions based on psychological profiles
Offers opportunities to strengthen community relationships
Enables progress tracking through an engaging interface
Supports both individual users and organizational implementations