Beginning
Mindmap
Research Goals
01_Understand couples' current issues/ and their solutions.
02_Find out what the partnership means to couples.
03_Understand their current tools to manage their emotions and mood.
04_Reveal their ideal form of relationships/ how they work on getting close to their goal.
Interview
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Emotional
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Developing
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Accepting
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Understanding
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Sharing
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Healing
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Interactive
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Curious
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Balance
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Mental
" I am Hanami Itagaki, a graphic design major student at the Academy of Art University. I am currently working on an app creating a project that solves partnership issues. Our personal aspect of life is always interconnected to the outcome of professional life. Therefore, I’m creating this specific app for couples with serious relationships to have better + deeper understanding of each other by sharing, reflecting, analyzing their memories and background.
Thank you for your help! "
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Thank for participating
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Intro to project
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School project
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Driven by curiosity on spending habits
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Expectations
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Time frame (30 minutes)
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Able to leave at any time
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Answer only questions that are comfortable
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No right or wrong answers
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Permission to record
Research Questions
TO COUPLES
1. How important do you think the partnership is?
2. How much do you plan to have time for your partner? And do you think it is enough currently?
3. Do you think you want a better understanding of any aspect of your relationship with your partner?
4. Have you been to couple/ marriage counseling? How much did it cost?
5. Do you think your status in your relationship affects your mood/ emotions/ and professional aspect of life? (Both positive + negative)
6. What are the tools/ actions you take to solve your relationship issues?
7. How do you manage your emotions/ mood?
8. How do you save your memories with your partner? Do you go back and reflect on them?
9. What do you want to develop your relationship into? Do you have an ideal image for the future?
10. What do you think about tracking your relationship development with self-analysis?
11. Anything you want to add-on!
TO PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS
1. What do you think about what it means to work on the partnership?
2. What do you think is a common thing for your clients to perceive their relationship?
3. What are the general solutions you offer for issues?
4. How do you get to know your clients?
5. What do you usually do to let them understand themselves in the session?
6. What are the most important things for the clients to know?
7. What do you think about the idea of working on partnership issues on the app in general compare to real-life sessions?
8. If you think it’s beneficial, how so?
9. How much roughly does your counsellings cost?
10. Anything you want to add-on!
Answers
TO THOSE WHO ARE CURRENTLY SINGLE
1. Do you wish to have a relationship currently?
2. Have you had any communication error with the past relationship? If so, can you give me some examples?
3. Would you like to use tools to know your partner in the future if offered for free? If not, why?
4. What does define “relationship” to you?
5. Anything you want to add-on!
MEGAN (26)
Married for 3 years
Graphic Designer/ student
If there are issues between us, I have
a harder time focusing at school and
it affects my mood. If we’re in a good place, I’m less distracted.
01_ Values time for developing the partnership in daily life
02_ Gets affected by emotions from relationship issues especially when
it's negative
03_ Currently does not have particular tools to save memories + reflect on them
LAURA (35)
Married for 11 years
Graphic Designer/ student
I always love learning more about my husband and I think it’s neat to see how we change as we get older, so there’s always something to learn about him.
01_ Used to set specific days of the week as “regroup night” “date night” and “adventure day” for spending time together
02_ Gets deeply affected by emotions from relationship issues
03_ Is curious about relationship data/advice
SHINPEI (48)
Married for 21 years
Phycho neuro immunologist
Knowing where you come from and how you have become who you are now, truly helps to look into what you really want in the relationship.
01_ Asks basic questions to know + let them know about the clients
02_ Thinks knowing where you come from and how you have become who you are now are the most important
03_ Thinks app will work great for couples to have the overlook of the problems
STEPHEN (37)
Married for 11 years
Security Officer
I plan to get as much time as I can get with my partner. It’s not enough. It’s a very busy time in our life.
01_ Values time for developing the partnership 10/10
02_ Wishes to be more patient and understanding for his partner
03_ Wants to have more time to look back the memories and laugh with his wife
SAMUEL (30)
Engaged for 2 years
Arborist, Nutritionist
Partnership is crucial for anyone who one day wishes to raise a family.
01_ Thinks partnership is not about
time, but quality of the method for spending time
02_ Uses meditation/exercise/discussion/
activity/writing to cope with
emotional issues
03_ Has reflection time with both photos and writing
GRISHMA (22)
Single
Screen Writer
A good relationship is one in which
there is understanding, companionship, and compromise.
01_ Had issue of the other person was not ready to open up
02_ Thinks good relationship needs
understanding, companionship, and compromise
Affinity Map
Insights
01_ Relationship/ partnership is their first priority in life and has the highest value for spending time.
02_ Common to try making time for a partner, but it's never enough.
03_ Patience, meditation, discussion, taking a break, and staying open-minded are methods couples commonly use for issue management
04_ No solid tools for sharing memories, but photos/ videos/ cards are the common mediums
05_ Couples wish to develop even more to fully know each other, willing to know much more and have more reflection time
06_ Mostly curious about the methodology/ frameworks for getting a new perspective of their relationship.
Persona
ARISA (26)
01
Relationship Status: In a serious relationship for 2 years
Occupation: Editor/ Journalist
Location: San Francisco
LifeStyle: Aesthetic, busy but enjoyable
Background
Arisa is a young working-class woman who wishes to get married in a few years with her current partner. She enjoys her job, but struggling to have a good balance of her time to spend both professional and personal life. She loves her partner, but she is not sure if its fully understood by her partner whom she lives together for 2 years.
Fractions
Time management skills,
too much concentration + occupied time from work,
constant changes in her mood that she finds difficult to control,
small fights with her partner due to stresses
Relationship Goal
Wishes to develop her relationship into a deeper level,
where you can have conversations for both serious and casual + loving subjects anytime without being awkward. She wants to lessen the number of quarrels over small topics in daily life, and be patient to actually try to see how her partner feels at that moment rather than being temporarily emotional.
“ I love him, but a partner and my work are
both equally important to me. I can’t choose over the other!”
TOM (34)
02
Relationship Status: Married for 3 years
Occupation: UI/UX designer/ developer
Location: Chicago
LifeStyle: Concentrated, packed schedule
Background
Tom is a mid-age male who works for a corporate company as a UI/UX designer and
is also a dad of a 2-year-old kid. His schedule is always packed with both professional plans and for his kids, and he wishes to have more time for only his wife to talk + love. He is caring, loving, and open-minded; however, he sometimes finds it difficult to consul his private matter/concerns with his family and friends in the workplace.
Fractions
Hiding real feeling in front of kids/ wife and does not pay more attention to his inner voice. Not consciously search for tools to solve the issue since he is blind to what he
is struggling with.
Relationship Goal
He wishes to have personal time with his wife a lot more with full attention to themselves. He also wishes to fully solve the emotional issues every time they come up and avoid not communicating.
“ I am totally healthy with my wife and my adorable kid.
Priority is them and my job, and I love to work hard for my most important thing in life”
MARTHA (47)
03
Relationship Status: Married for 13 years
Occupation: Professional Herbalist
Location: New York suburb
LifeStyle: Sustainable, organized, relatively relaxed
Background
Martha is a married woman who devotes her time with partner gardening, working
for her clients and taking care of the house and her plants.
Their 3 children have grown adults who live in downtown, and Martha and husband are in a new phase of their relationship of re-understanding each other without their kids.
Fractions
Always full attention to her kids for concerns/care than her husband, has defined her relationship by her kids. She needs some activities to connect with her husband, and not knowing how to simply enjoy spending time with him.
Relationship Goal
Wishes to regain the curiosity toward her partner who she has been together for over 10 years. Wants to find new aspects in him, actively communicate a lot more for their own interests
“ I’m so proud of my kids. They are everything to me, and I am now trying to find who I am as a unit with my partner”