The development of Folxline from ideation to prototyping took place over an 8-week Prototyping course in MICA’s UX Design graduate program. Working in a group with three other students with each of us taking on a UX Generalist role, we were tasked with creating an ecommerce platform that goes beyond a vendor-customer relationship and that has a strong community component. In its earliest form, the idea of Folxline was to create a product that uplifts and supports those with gender non-conforming identities.
Our solution was to create a website and subscription service that makes information, resources, and tools more accessible for folks in different stages of transition by connecting them to products designed by and for trans designers and artists. It also provides allies who want to help and support their transitioning loved ones with the education and resources they need. Together, the product creates a safe and kind space and community for trans folx to be themselves while being uplifted by friends and allies.
In tackling this problem, we created two protopersonas: Alex and Allie. Alex is our gender non-conforming user; they are new to exploring the question of how to present themselves and don’t know where to start looking or who they can torn to for help. Allie is their supportive friend who wants to become a reliable source of strength but struggles with self-doubt around whether she is a good friend or ally.
We then developed a design system centered around the words ‘bold, unapologetic, and joyful’ and adopted a retro aesthetic for our product to feel celebratory of the community that it wants to serve. We wanted to create a feeling of excitement, welcomeness, ans most importantly safety through the design and language, while being careful of unintentionally trivializing anyone's personal experiences or journeys around their gender identities.
As wireframes and prototypes were iterated on, we conducted two rounds of user testing with participants falling under either of our protopersonas. As a result, our latest prototype became easier to navigate and simpler for potential users to learn and understand. And, more importantly, the product became more inclusive and safe for our GNC users through our language and community components.
As four cisgender women tackling a product for trans folks, we had to learn and accept early in the process that we were inevitably going to get many things wrong - and that we shouldn’t be afraid of making these mistakes as long as we remain open-minded, which is in the nature of Product Design, but felt especially important given the focus of our work.
Thanks to our user testers, we were able to learn a lot about the trans experience and address their concerns and feedback in a sincere, genuine manner.
