Friend from Media Factory on Vimeo.

By Marla Kalaw s3435169

“How are you?”

‘Friend’ is a companion app that you can text or call to chat with an AI bot to keep you company and lend an ear during moments of social anxiety, loneliness, for your safety or just any time that you feel like being listened to without any of the social stresses.

This app began from the thought that although mobile phones can cause various anxieties for many, these devices are also tools to help relieve anxiety. This complicated relationship that we have to our phones sparked the beginning of ‘Friend’. After researching trends in other mental health apps and conducting anonymous surveys, ‘Friend’ was conceived after finding a niche in the mental health app category that asked for simple and user-friendly function that is not overwhelmingly dense with information. This process of iteration and creation was incredibly helpful in being able to focus creative thoughts, being able to find creative direction through sharing works in progress and collecting feedback gave me so much clarity while designing the app. This process was a valuable lesson in teamwork and not being too precious with your own work because being able to view it from other perspectives will only help the work become even greater.