Background

Addiction is one of the most prevalent diseases of our day. The American Addiction Centers reported that 46.8 million Americans aged 12 and up have battled a substance use disorder in the past year, with 10.5% of Americans having battled alcohol use (2024).
With this in mind, we decided to focus on people that are on their recovery journey. We believe that facilitating the process to find a sponsor would not only motivate but also inspire people to continue on their journey to sobriety.
During the design process we discovered many challenges our potential user base faces when it comes to finding a sponsor, and learned about some of their preferences.

The Problem

Not everyone has access to potential sponsors who can help them with their journey to sobriety.

Project Goals

Design an app that mirrors dating apps like Tinder but with the purpose of finding a sponsor that a user can relate to.

Research Goals

Facilitate the process of finding a sponsor
Facilitate the connection between both parties

Research Questions

1. Why are sponsors important in the recovery journey?
2. How do people currently find sponsors?
3. What are some challenges people face with sponsors?
4. How can we make it a simpler/faster process?

Methodology

We plan to acquire this information by creating a proto-persona that we believe would fit the characteristics we’re looking for. From that, we will conduct a series of interviews in which we ask the interviewees specific questions about their healing journey and how a sponsor has made a difference in that process. We will also post a survey on social media platforms to get quantitative results. We believe this process will take 8-10 days. Lastly, we will conduct a competitive analysis.

Proto Persona

Research Statement

Objective1: Understand what they’re looking to get out of their recovery journey with a sponsor
Objective 2: I want to understand the challenges one might face when looking for a sponsor.

Interview Notes

Survey Results

66.7% of participants prefer a sponsor of a specific gender.
66.7% of participants agree, having a sponsor is important.
100% of participants are open to digital communication.
66.7% of participants have used group meetings to find a sponsor.

Competitive Analysis

3 main takeaways
1. No true competitors connect users to sponsors.
2. Matching is based on insurance, not preference
3. The more communication options the better

Affinity Map

Our user interviews have identified 4 major issues/needs for users, recipients, and solutions already in place.

User Persona

Problem Statement

We believe that connecting those struggling with addiction to a compatible sponsor will help them on their recovery journey.

I like, I wish, What if?

Prioritization Matrix

Storyboard

User Flow

Low Fidelity

We made some mobile first wireframes and expanded to tablet and desktop. For the most part we kept the same layout but decluttered it and fixed some of the spacing issues.

Style Sheet

High Fidelity

Login Page

User Testing Tasks

1. Set your personal preferences
2. Skip a profile and circle back to profile selection
3. Favorite 2 sponsors
4. Go to favorite sponsor list