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Chelsea Shum

Together

The fitness and social app for amputees

Project Summary

When brainstorming a problem to address for her thesis project, Chelsea started by identifying mobility as something she's grateful for and investigated communities where mobility was impaired. Through conducting secondary and primary research, Chelsea created Together, an app that addresses the physical and emotional challenges of amputees.

After the life-changing event of amputation, how can an app foster connection and friendship?

How can we encourage physical activity since it is a common method of pain managment for amputees?

Amputees wished they had more information about the amputation process and experience. This resulted in patients looking to established amputees for trusted information on the amputee experience. How can we create a space for amputees to share information and resources amongst each other?

Participants in my survey didn't attend amputee conferences because (1) they didn't know of any and (2) none were in their area & they can't travel. How can we inform amputees about events & conferences they can benefit from?

Role

Secondary Research

Primary Research

Branding

UI/UX Design

Prototyping

Tools

Figma

​

Team

Solo mission

The Solution

Introducing Together

Access a Variety of Workouts

  • Since physical activity is a common method of pain management for amputees, series-based workouts motivate users to workout long term

  • Suggested workouts are specific to the user's settings (below the knee amputee, arm amputee etc.)

  • Users can discover workout series by filtering release date, difficulty level, instructor, and duration

A Supportive and Informed Community

  • Users can post their workout progress and celebrate with their community

  • Community pages allow users to discuss the topics that matter to them such as phantom pain or even movies

  • Amputees often didn't know what events or organizations were available to them. Let's make amputee events just as easy as buying concert tickets.

  • Find, register, or save amputee events and conferences

  • Filter by format, location, dates, and price

Making Events Accessible

Other projects

The Design Challenge

How can accessible technology such as an app provide both functional and emotional support for amputees?

Within the amputation process, functional support exists to help amputees physically recover. However, emotional support is lacking despite it being a crucial part of rehabilitation after a life-changing experience such as amputation. These insights arose after conducting secondary and primary research: 

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