creating a memorial experience for indonesia
Through shared stories and memories, we hope to turn moments of grief into lasting expressions of love. Focused on creating a community platform for memorials, we can empower friends and family to come together, find closure, and honor the life of a loved one.
mission overview
Zakki is an Indonesian social civic-tech NPO on a mission to build inclusive integrated communities for the marginalized.
Within their organization, they have many ongoing volunteer projects, one of which is named Agni.
Agni’s goal is to be developed as a progressive web app to help Indonesians from marginalized communities plan and arrange a funeral for the deceased and to find financial support for it.
what our team produced:
design system
visual style guide
complete designs w/ upcoming features
a mvp set of designs
duration of this project;
2 years
my responsibilities as design lead
To facilitate the product pipeline from research to design, while collaborating with stakeholders, and supporting volunteers' interests and expertises.
my contributions
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defined visual design
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created and managed the design system
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collaborated with stakeholders to explore and define business direction
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created and maintained UIDD
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conducted interviews and synthesized research finding
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documented cultural and systemic procedures of funerals in Indonesia
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collaborated and iterated on:
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wireframes
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hi-fidelity designs
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information architecture map
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concept ontology map
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created and iterated on go-to-marketing designs
jan 2023 | initial findings
we know that dying is expensive and land is scarce
Noted in 2019, Indonesia continues to face a shortage of burial spaces, particularly in densely populated cities, leading to rising costs due to scarcity.
Graves are rented; if not renewed, burial managers may rebury the prior deceased deeper to make room for the newly deceased. In Jakarta, grave rentals typically renew every 3 years.
Encouraging cremation is not a viable solution due to religious beliefs, especially for Muslims, who hold the largest religious population in Indonesia.
[2016] parman, a street beggar
Parman passed away from an untreated illness. With no means to be buried, his friends covered his body and begged motorists for donations. With no ID or known details, seeking help was difficult, but his friends gathered enough funds to clean, transport, and bury him.
[2023] their stillborn child
A grieving family faced tragedy when their stillborn baby was released to the father due to lack of funeral funds. With no other options, he placed the baby in a freezer box. Their story went viral and led them to receive financial support to bury the child.
synopsis of our user research
from our survey, majority of participants...
...believe that budgeting, and coordinating with attendees would be the most difficult part of funeral planning
and from our interviews, majority of participants who have attended and/or planned funerals have...
...felt lost, and overwhelmed while planning for a funeral
...struggled to cope with the emotional totality from the lost of a loved ones
...felt financially burdened by the funeral
there was a lot to unpack
To grasp deeper understanding on individuals’ assumptions, behaviors, and experiences, we deployed surveys on Indonesian forums and groups and identified 3 types of participants:
never attended or planned a funeral
attended a funeral, but planned one
attended and have planned one
exploring solutions
version 1.0; a solution for every problem
The longer we explored the problem space, the more our list of solutions grew. Determining our priorities, we concluded that we wanted Agni to empower users to be able to...
...discover funeral related articles and resources
...track budgets and spending
...find grief support
...create task checklist
...communicate with support group
...request funeral donation
but, agni still felt bloated
Reviewing our research under the lens of cutting back, we realized we’re too focused on alleviating problems and did not see the solutions stated in the interviews.
to recap, we concluded that participants often...
...felt lost, and overwhelmed while planning for a funeral
...felt financially burdened by the funeral
but, participants also reported that they...
...turned to their community or religious center for guidance
...often felt supported by family, friends, and community
However...
version 1.1; a pivot to fundraising
...request funeral donation
sentiments of the financial difficulties from funerals continue to echo in our research:
For the Torajanese, an Indonesian ethnic group, the costs of their customary funerals are enormous that many families go into debt that would impact the generations to come.
Government programs will cover funeral costs up to a maximum, but is not flexible for for varying traditions and situations.
This forum post discusses how funeral and celebration costs can vary based on local traditions.
Funerals can cost virtually nothing to 100mil IDR, depending on the number of customary gatherings and daily prayers observed.
Alyce, an American-based funeral director we interviewed, said, “I’ll tell you where the problem is: financing. You got [elderly] people that don’t have enough to cover [their funeral]. Social security gives a death benefit to the funeral homes of like under $500… Funerals are not cheap. Dying is not cheap.”
Further research into Indonesian culture led us to “jimpatan” and “rukun tetangga.”
rukun tetangga (neighborhood unit)
Rukun Tetangga (RT) is a volunteer-led village council, who takes care of community needs and facilitate activities.
RTs can help facilitate burials and funeral procedures, as well as collect jimpatan from community members.
jimpatan (a small pinch)
Jimpatan is a deep-rooted tradition of making a small donation to a community pot. It started off as a pinch of rice from every household that gets collected every month, and given to the most disadvantaged in the village.
Rice was eventually replaced with money because it was more effective in meeting the needs of the underprivileged.
digitizing a tradition
Jimpatan is practiced in funerals to help with the cost of the funeral, burial, and post-funeral traditions. Every attendee is expected to contribute a small sum of cash. RTs will help facilitate burials and funerals, and help collect jimpatan.
With a digital platform to collect jimpatan, we would create another way for RTs, families, friends, and the community to virtually contribute, especially for those who have moved out of the village, or out of the country.
file for reimbursements
During a design review conducted by the Product Owner, she expressed her concerns about fundraising platforms. She’s observed a lack of transparency how the donations are used, and witness a lack of trust from the Indonesian public.
As per her recommendation, we researched and designed a reimbursement feature.
so how would agni work?
oh, roadbump!
Our former project manager stepped down and was replaced by our current project manager. After a review on current design and research, he questioned:
market saturation
How is Agni going to compete against mature crowdfunding platforms such as Kitabisa, Mandiri Kita and GoFundMe?
discoverability
How are potential campaign owners and donors going to discover Agni?
motivation
Of these potential donors, how likely are they to continue donating?
engagement
How many potential donors would be interested in donating to funerals for individuals that are not family or friends?
reimbursement
Is it efficient for Agni to develop software that is already a standard business process?
We also didn’t satisfy the purpose of Agni, because we significantly narrowed our scope hehe
dec 2023 | proposal to pivot
version 2.0; have you looked into obituaries?
a proposal to pivot
Our project manager proposed expanding fundraiser pages to resemble obituaries. Instead of having traditional fundraisers, he believed that an indirect approach to streamline funds would be more effective at impacting those who disadvantaged.
“why obituaries?” we asked.
Our PM reminisces about the days when local newspapers were a staple of the morning routine, always turning to the obituary section to see who in the community had recently passed.
Unlike job listings (Linkedin, Indeed) or community events (city websites), obituaries never evolved into a dedicated digital destination. He saw an opportunity to change that.
We rebuilt the team, and moved forward side by side.
supporting research
our Indonesian-speaking volunteer spearheaded the interviews
Discussing experiences with death and gathering opinions on obituaries with local participants, our UX researcher translated the transcripts and synthesized the results. We learned that:
it is common practice for catholics to use obituaries
mosques announce deaths within the community, but obituaries are not commonly used
in-person grave visitation is preferred as the way to pay respects, reducing the need for a digital obituary
The concept of obituaries isn’t widely known or commonly used
so we shifted our focus.
obituaries
memorials
but after learning their experiences, we realized that agni has the potential to...
...reconnect generations
The younger the generation, the more they are disconnected from their family history. Often times, stories of the older generation are remembered and shared by others.
...overcome barriers
Because of the distance or traffic, it is increasingly difficult for Indonesian people to travel and visit the deceased, especially on national holidays.
...unite communities
By empowering families, friends, colleagues, and the community, they would with the ability to collectively share memories and stories of the deceased.
...be another option
As a digital space to remember the deceased, an online memorial would be an alternative option for those who cannot afford to be buried, but still want a dedicated space to be remembered at.
All the memories I had with my aunt was always a collective memory that I shared with the rest of my family.
Akila
Juan
With my colleague he didn’t manage to visit any yet because his colleagues is buried outside of town that is even further, because of traffic.
Ari
I used to reminisce about my aunt a lot, through images in my phone..I kept most of my digital images in google drive.
Luisa
competitive analysis
online memorials exists
So why are we still pursuing it? Existing memorial platforms share a common architecture and we felt lacks a focus on fostering a community: memorial homepages serve as a marketing tool to showcase their memorial page features. Memorial competitors also rely on users to know exactly who they’re searching for.
By putting relevant memorials in the forefront, Agni can focus on connecting users with their community.
proposed solution
version 2.1; a community for memorials
the motivation
Our PM recalls the passing of his late father. Despite the announcement and obituary listing, friends and family reached out months later, shocked to hear the news too late.
Focusing on local and relevant memorials to the user, we aim to be an alternative way to receive news of a passing. The future of Agni would serve as a platform that extends the reach of memorials and can ensure no loss goes unnoticed. We hope to create a space where friends and family can find closure and healing through sharing memories and stories of their loved ones. After all, “what is grief, if not love persevering?”
to summarize this section, users on agni can:
create a free memorial
write messages of condolence
share memories and stories
share upcoming memorial events
send a flower to place in the virtual garden
we understood the pain points
But, we hadn’t defined how to address them in a way that also met our business goals. We asked ourselves and pondered:
and we had many ideations
design guidelines
because of setback, i took lead in defining the visuals of agni
i upkeeped the design system
prior contributions:
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research on public design systems, such as:
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Carbon, Material, Polaris
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creation of initial set of components
what I contributed:
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overhauled design system components to align with updated designs
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wrote UI documentation
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created and reconfigured imported components’ property to be consistent with existing components
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continued maintenance of design system for errors or issues with component properties
i iterated on visual designs
prior contributions:
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selection of typography and documented reasoning and usage guidelines
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first version of color, corner radius, elevation, and spacing guide
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first iteration on color palette
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first version of color, and number variables
what I contributed:
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additional color palette exploration and redesign
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overhaul on color, and number variables
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updated color, corner radius, spacing, and elevation guide
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created variable, breakpoint, layer naming convention, and spatial guide
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wrote and updated documentation
And, I refined Agni’s visual identity
visual design
Iterations didn’t stop at wireframes
Designing across desktop, tablet, and mobile revealed many constraints, but we had time to solve them. After multiple reconfigurations, Agni was refined into 7 core features and 345 screens.
some final screens
business strategy
the business goal
Our objective is to focus on visitor engagement, retention, and traffic growth, by enhancing the experience around existing memorials.
The strategy is:
how will agni engage with their users?
a community for memorials
We want the [Discover] page to showcase memorials relevant to each user. These memorials would contain attributes like locations the deceased lived in and organizations they were associated with.
By connecting these attributes with details entered in the user’s profile, we can foster a more personalized experience.
goals of a memorial card
Memorial cards are designed to be readable and clear, conveying who the memorial is for and encouraging users to explore further.
[create memorial] adapting the experience for grieving users
We designed the memorial creation wizard to be non-linear, allowing users to skip steps if they’re not ready to complete. We expect memorials to be created during moments of grief, and we want to accommodate for if they need more time, or may want to ask friends or families to help fill out the fields.
To ensure memorials are created under appropriate circumstances and to prevent duplicates, we require the memorial creators to provide key details that Agni admins can use to verify the death.
Initially, we required an copy of the death certificate, but we recognized this would create a barrier for many users, as locating or acquiring the document may not be feasible.
[My profile] making impact visible
While we structured profiles to display their contributions on Agni, we also want to make their role in their community known and appreciated. We also explored ways to discourage bad actors, and concluded that showcasing users’ contributions would reduce anonymity and ward off nefarious activities.
In respects of private memorial pages, those will not be publicly displayed.
[My Memorials] memorial management hub
Each card will display a surface-level insight on number of flowers and messages. We also included number of visits and unique visitor, which was originally related to a feature we decided to cut out: an analytics dashboard with in-depth details on memorial activity.
While we conceptualized and created the wireframe, we concluded it wasn’t essential as part of first launch. In hindsight, analytics would not make sense to design and develop, because it doesn’t meet users needs nor support core business goals.
[gift of sympathy] not just digital gifts of flowers
Our goal is to make each act of remembrance feel intentional and meaningful. We limited how often users can place a gift on a memorial to mirror real-life acts of remembrance. This decision was based on our observations that visitors tend to pay their respects on significant dates like birthdays, anniversaries, or religious holidays. To support this behavior, we would send reminders and encourage revisitation.
Related to gifts are tokens, an in-app currency used to place gifts. With tokens, we want to create a separation from real-time payment decisions and foster a more immersive app experience.
scaling down
version 2.2; mvping the mvp because we over-designed
To scale down so we can build, deploy, and test faster, we prioritized features that refine Agni into to its core concept: memorials.
updated mvp screens
go-to-marketing design
preparing for launch
While forming our developer team, we wanted to create a go-to-market page with the goal to:
communicate what agni is
state agni’s mission & vision
generate interest & market awareness
I did the visual design & copywriting.
reflections
this is where i depart
While there’s a few tasks our team can work on as we are seeking developer volunteers, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m ready to pursue a more challenging role. This project has positively impacted on my growth as a designer and team lead immensely, but I crave to be in an environment where I’m continuously challenged by stakeholders, and engaged in navigating between the problem and solution space.
Before I departed, I cleaned up academic and UI documentations, and onboarded our next UX/UI design lead.
lessons and resolutions from my journey
There’s a lot I can talk about, but here’s a few takeaways:
progress is driven by continuous improvement
There was a lot of friction and pushback within this project.
Pivoting to a new concept was a big deal for the team. While the initial discovery and research efforts are useable, our prior work had to be reworked. However, under new leadership, changes led to a more refined product.
I learned the importance of staying flexible with design, especially when navigating through stakeholder input, financial constraints, and technical limitations.
there is a trade-off for almost every design decision
Our PM and I had many debates on the direction and design of Agni because of different perspectives and school of thoughts. Through those discussions, we were able to break down the ideas into trade-offs. There’s really no one-size fit all, because our experiences with technology varies.
However, to be questioned and challenged aided my growth immensely. It pushed me to confront what I knew and what I had yet to learn.
navigate pushback through the lens of understanding
Seeking to understand stakeholder’s perspective helped me navigate through concerns and find resolutions, and I recognize that pushback often stems from prior experiences and knowledge.
But sometimes, pushback happens because someone wants to explore an idea, and I learned to be more accepting and open to these explorations.