Design-a-thon
Rekindling Old Friendships with a Gamified Experience
Context
I joined the Rice design-a-thon with 3 other designers and was excited by the chance to collaborate with others.
Timeline
3 days
Thought Process
Before hearing the prompt, I was mostly thinking about designing something visually striking or technically innovative; a project that would stand out for its precision and innovativeness.
Prompt: Creating A Way To Preserve Human Connection In The Age Of AI
Because of how vague the prompt was, it truly allowed us as designers to come up with innovative ideas. We took a moment to discuss what kind of experience we wanted to create and how we hoped to interpret the challenge.
"Whatever we make, it should remind people what genuine connection actually feels like."
“I just want the idea to spark something real between people, not feel forced or artificial.”
"Yeah, I want it to feel human, not like another algorithm telling you who to talk to."
Understanding What Makes Connections Feel Real
To ground our concept in real experiences, we set out to understand how people build and maintain meaningful connections in today’s digital world.
Survey
We sent out a short survey to understand how people define meaningful connection and what factors shape their relationships.
One-on-one interviews
Through 15 minute interviews, we gathered personal stories about how people navigate connection, technology, and emotional barriers.
Academic Research
We reviewed studies on digital interaction and trust to ground our insights in existing theory and understand connection.
What We Discovered About Connection
Our research revealed that while people deeply value human connection, many struggle to maintain it in today’s digital world. Patterns across our survey, interviews, and academic findings highlighted a gap between wanting connection and feeling connected
AI Can Limit Self-Driven Fulfillment
84.3% of respondents felt that AI minimizes their ability to engage in self-driven tasks. While AI simplifies life, it can also make achievements feel less personal.
Barriers to Genuine Connection
Social anxiety (71.4%) and difficulty opening up (64.3%) emerged as the biggest personal obstacles to forming meaningful connections.
Trust in Digital Relationships Is Low
Only 21.4% of participants trust relationships formed just online. This distrust highlights the need for digital experiences that feel safe, intentional, and emotionally authentic.
Opportunity
How might we create an experience that preserves empathy and human connection, in an age increasingly shaped by AI?
Turning Insights Into Possibilities
With our research in mind, we dedicated an entire day to brainstorming, filling whiteboards with sketches, notes, and mind maps. Our goal was to translate what we learned about human connection into tangible design ideas. We encouraged open exploration, pushing past first thoughts to uncover concepts that truly reflected authenticity and empathy.
Introducing Seedlink
From our brainstorming, we developed Seedlink, an AI-powered platform designed to help people rediscover and nurture meaningful relationships they’ve lost over time. Rather than replacing human connection, Seedlink uses AI as a bridge to spark authentic, shared experiences.
Gamified Growth
Connections in Seedlink are visualized as seeds that grow as users interact with friends. Each seed reflects a user’s personal and social growth, creating a tangible metaphor for relationship development.
Personalized AI Prompts
AI analyzes a user’s past interactions, shared interests, and mutual connections to suggest meaningful reconnections. Prompts are gentle and personalized, making it easier for users to re-engage without feeling pressured.
Visual and Playful Design
The platform’s seed and garden metaphor creates a relaxed, playful environment that encourages authenticity. Users nurture connections over time, fostering pride, ownership, and real emotional investment in their relationships.
My Contribution To Seedlink
With just a day and a half left to design Seedlink’s gamified experience, I focused on shaping the core elements of the platform’s interactive world. My goal was to create a playful, visually engaging environment that reflects personal growth and meaningful connection.
I got inspiration from games I used to play when I was younger and used it to craft components.
The Island: Your Home Base
The island represents each user’s personal space in Seedlink. It’s a visual anchor where users return to see the progress of their relationships and the growth of their social “garden.”
Flowers: Personalized by AI
AI generates flowers based on each user’s hobbies, photos, and interests. These unique elements bring personality into the world, making the environment feel tailored and meaningful.
Seeds: Nurturing Relationships
Seeds symbolize connections that users plant and cultivate with friends. As relationships grow through shared experiences and tasks, the seeds blossom, turning social bonds into tangible accomplishments.
UI Kit: Building Consistency
I also created a UI kit for Seedlink, defining typography, colors, icons, and interaction patterns. This ensured a cohesive, playful visual language across the app and made prototyping more efficient.
Full Prototype
To see Seedlink in action and explore the full interactive experience with audio guidance, check out our complete prototype walkthrough on Devpost.
View Full Design-a-thon submission
Reflection
I never expected that our team would create such a comprehensive platform in just three days. This experience taught me that trust isn’t just about security, it’s about designing transparency and empathy into every interaction. Taking the lead during our intense, almost two-day ideation phase strengthened my confidence in guiding teams under pressure. Our final product reminded me of a design’s potential to foster real human connection, even in the age of AI.
Building User Trust
When dealing with sensitive data, trust must be designed into every interaction, not just through security, but through clear and transparent communication.
Leading Under Pressure
I took initiative during ideation and guided the team's 2-day deadline, strengthening my confidence in fast-paced and collaborative environments.
Fostering Genuine Connection
I designed an inclusive experience that adapts to diverse needs while helping users connect and grow meaningfully.