The Problem
Average Americans or Home Owners need an easy way to connect with neighbors to repair and share skills because communities today often lack close-knit support systems and people struggle to find sustainable alternatives to replacement.
My Role
My role was to solve this problem by creating a community-driven platform where neighbors help each other fix things, supported by AI to improve idea generation and search filtration.
Process
Research Insights:
The Numbers
Consumer Insights:
- 81% of U.S. adults replaced at least one of the following—smartphones, appliances, or vehicles—due to breakage in the past five years
- 53% replaced items earlier than desired because they couldn’t find a good repair provider
- 84% support Right-to-Repair policies, seeking greater access to repair options
Global E-Waste:
- 62 million tonnes produced in 2022, projected to reach ~82 Mt by 2030. Only ~22.3% of e-waste was formally collected/recycled in 2022. (UNitar The global E-waste Monitor 2024)
Economic Impact of Repair Behavior:
- The average U.S. household could save ~$382/year by repairing electronics instead of replacing
- Nationally, that equates to $49.6 billion in annual savings.
Logo Experementationt:
Experementation and logo-building helped me decide what direction to go in with my interfaces. This step solidified the colors and feel of the interface.
User Journey Flowchart:
After creating the User Journey Flow, I got a very clear direction of my final product. I used each step in the flow chart to guide me through my low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes.
Solution
Key Interactions:
The Log-in and sign-up pages are critical to the function of the flow and design.
The request screen and the subsequent screen are vital to the function of the project. This is the main advertising feature and therefore has to be done well.
These are the primary ineraction feature and these screen serves as the primary was to locate and respond to posts/request.
Important States:
Left to Right: Loading Page, Empty State, Error Page
Impact
My product is a solution to the problem of community sharing and fixing. It would work to connect neighbors through tasks, and to build a community. Growing up in a place where it was normal to ask your neighbor for milk if you were out, I feel this sense of community is missing now. Community isn’t just about proximity, it is about support and connection, and that is the impact of Kindred.
Reflection
This project taught me a LOT. I LOVED the long-term format of this class/project and I learned a lot and created a presentable product from scratch, with virtually no knowledge of mobile UI. I gained a lot of software specific knowledge to Figma, as well as understandiing design systems and user-centered design. I thought the survey with the walk-through of the prototype was an awesome way to gain insight into how users interact with my creation, and a good guide to the changes that needed to be made.
Yulya Bakhshetyan 
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