creating a memorial experience for indonesia
agni (hinduism): the fire of rebirth
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
Agni going to be developed as a progressive web app, assisting marginalized Indonesians communities plan, arrange, and find financial assistance for funerals.
as design lead…
My responsibility is to facilitate the product pipeline from research to design, while collaborating with stakeholders, and supporting volunteers' interests and expertises.
what we produced:
design system
visual style guide
complete designs w/ upcoming features
a mvp set of designs
duration;
2 years
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.
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.
Funerals can cost up to 20x the average monthly salary, depending on the number of customary gatherings and daily prayers observed.
Alyce, an American-based funeral director, resonated with our findings: “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.”
dec 2023 | proposal to pivot
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.
humble beginnings
Agni began as a funeral fundraising platform, digitizing the tradition of attendees gifting a small sum of change.
supporting research
our Indonesian-speaking volunteer spearheaded the interviews
Discussing experiences with death and gathering opinions on obituaries with the locals, 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
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
so we shifted our focus.
obituaries
memorials
competative analysis
online memorials exists
So why are we still pursuing it? Competitors' platform do not focus on building a community for the users, relying 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 solutions
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:
then came many ideations
design guidelines
because of setback, i took lead in defining the visuals of agni
i upkept 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
•
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 the 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.
a few final screens
business strategy
the business needs
Our objective is to focus on visitor engagement, retention, and traffic growth, by enhancing the experience around existing memorials.
The strategy is:
how would 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
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-market design
preparing for launch
While forming our developer team, we wanted to create a go-to-market page to communicate what Agni is, state the mission & vision, and generate interest and market awareness. Our PM constructed a wireframe. I did the visual design & copywriting.
go-to-market screens
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.
there’s a lot I can talk about, but here’s a few takeaways:
progression 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 refined product.
My mindset shifted to understanding the importance of staying flexible with design and solutions, especially when navigating through stakeholder input, financial constraints, and technical limitations.
there's often a trade-off
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.
However, to be questioned and challenged aided my growth immensely. It pushed me to confront what I had yet to learn.
conflict is best viewed under the lens of understanding
Striving to understand perspectives helped me navigate through concerns and find common grounds to develop resolutions and compromises.
I recognize that pushback is rooted in experience I haven't had and is an opportunity for me to probe.
p.s. this case study is an abridged version of this project.
If you'd like to pick my brain with any question, lets connect! Email me at ********@gmail.com.