Unite App | activism for youth

Empower youth to learn about, discuss, and participate in civic activism.

Project Type: UX/UI Mobile App Design

Role: UX/UI Design, UX research

Industry: Social Media, Activism, Youth

Tools: Figma, Notion, Illustrator, Zoom

Methods: Surveys, remote interviews, personas, sketching, low-fidelity prototyping, think-aloud usability testing, iteration, stakeholder presentation

Full Report - PDF

The Overview

Unite is a conceptual mobile platform designed to bridge the gap between digital awareness and real-world civic advocacy for youth aged 18 to 24. The goal was to replace performative social media loops with a functional system that facilitates meaningful, offline interaction. I focused on building a secure information architecture that prioritises psychological safety and structured community engagement.

The Critical Pivot: Intent over Identity

My early wireframes featured a standard follower/profile model. I quickly realized this was a mistake. If I wanted to foster real advocacy, I had to remove the social pressure. I made the decision to pivot to an action-first architecture. In Unite, users follow intents, not people. You join a policy discussion rather than following another user. This removed the identity barrier and refocused the system on collective civic goals.

Friction as a Tool: The Annotation Feature

One of my most unconventional decisions was adding intentional friction. In most apps, you want a one click experience. For Unite, I designed a progressive action system: Learn → Discuss → Act. You cannot join a physical action group until the system verifies you have participated in the discussion and viewed safety resources.

To move beyond shallow comments, I designed an annotation tool. This allows users to respond to specific sections of a proposal with structured prompts. This friction slows down the interaction, ensuring that feedback is specific and helpful. It transformed the experience from a social debate into a collaborative planning session.

Outcomes and Measurable Changes

Increase in Reported Safety: Qualitative feedback showed that removing public likes and profiles allowed users to engage with significantly more confidence.

90% Action-Pathing Success: Testing showed that users could navigate from a broad social issue to a specific offline action in under four clicks using the intent-driven navigation.

Considerations

Constraints: Accessibility, Privacy & Ethics

Several real world constraints heavily influenced my design direction. Because I couldn’t interview users under 18 directly due to ethical limitations, I had to rely on proxy research and young adult interviews to infer the needs of younger teens. Additionally, the sensitive nature of civic discussion meant that privacy and safety weren't just nice to have, they were the foundation of the project.

These requirements, alongside UNICEF’s need for inclusive access without a complex onboarding process, reinforced the importance of privacy defaults. I chose to treat features like guest access, anonymity, and visible moderation as core design principles that dictated the entire user experience.

Reflection & Next Steps

This project reinforced a vital lesson: designing for social impact requires designing for vulnerability, not just efficiency. Creating a space for meaningful contribution meant prioritizing emotional safety and trust as much as I prioritized interaction patterns.

Moving forward, I would focus on validating and strengthening the platform responsibly through these next steps:

Community Partnerships: Establishing partnerships with youth-serving organizations to evaluate the platform within facilitated programs.
Moderation Models: Further exploring automated moderation to support psychological safety without sacrificing user accountability.

These steps would allow the platform to evolve thoughtfully while respecting the ethical, legal, and safeguarding boundaries essential to this space.