OVERVIEW

Fiction reshaped my approach to design, emphasizing how thoughtful design influences the way people interact with and feel about technology. As a founding product designer, I drove the product from an initial question:

Could we create an entertainment experience that leaves people feeling better, not worse, after engaging with it?

Our goal was to build an emotionally engaging space where content was actively experienced, shaped, and remembered.

BACKGROUND

Legacy platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram often prioritize endless scrolling without substantial emotional connection. We aimed to design something fundamentally different:

Intentional instead of addictive.

Collaborative rather than passive.

Dynamic instead of static.

We tested four unique product prototypes over the span of 1.5 years, each exploring different pathways to reduce regret and increase emotional resonance:

V1: Quick Reactions – A swipe-based, lightweight interface for instant reactions to generative content.

V2: Collaborative Stories – A group-based narrative creation tool resembling a social storytelling experience.

V3: Story Mapping – An interactive map visually connecting stories, characters, and themes.

V4: Multimodal Creation – A flexible platform integrating diverse content formats including stories, images, music, and interactive experiences.

Each iteration tested our hypothesis from a fresh angle, deepening our understanding of meaningful user interaction.

EXPLORATIONS

The design process was iterative, experimental, and driven by continuous user insights.

V1: Quick Reactions

Our first prototype was designed for fast, low-friction interactions. Users swiped through AI-generated content, rapidly expressing preferences. This approach quickly revealed a flaw. Although frictionless, it resulted in superficial engagement without lasting emotional impact.

Insight: Quick interactions alone don’t foster meaningful emotional connections.

V2: Collaborative Stories

In our next iteration, we introduced group-based storytelling. Friends collaborated on narratives, creating characters and shaping the plot together. To amplify emotional immersion, I crafted a visually engaging interface that subtly guided collaborative inputs, balancing user freedom with cohesive narrative structure.

Insight: Effective storytelling interfaces require subtle structures that encourage creativity without overwhelming users.

V3: Story Mapping

We then explored interactive discovery through visualization. Stories were mapped visually, allowing users to navigate interconnected narratives, characters, and themes. This transformed passive content consumption into active exploration, significantly enhancing emotional investment.

Insight: Active, exploratory interactions create stronger emotional bonds than passive consumption.

V4: Multimodal Creation

Finally, we expanded into diverse content formats. Users created and interacted with stories, music, visual galleries, interactive debates, and more. I developed modular components that dynamically adjusted to different content forms, fostering user creativity and emotional investment.

Insight: Providing diverse, expressive content types increases user engagement and pride in creation.

FINAL SOLUTION

The final version synthesized insights from all previous prototypes into a unified, dynamic platform:

Emotionally responsive interfaces tailored to different content types.

Intentional interaction pacing, creating moments of emotional depth.

Exploratory navigation, fostering active engagement rather than passive scrolling.

Ultimately, Fiction delivered an emotionally meaningful entertainment experience that actively involved users, leaving them feeling positively engaged rather than regretful.

We saw it in the numbers. Average time spent per app open exceeded benchmarks set by Facebook and Snapchat. Overall usage was on par with leading social media platforms. Fiction wasn’t just emotionally resonant—it was sticky, too.

LEARNINGS

Intentional pacing enhances emotional resonance. Purposefully designed pauses, interactions, and timing significantly improved user emotional responses.

Balanced structure encourages creativity. Subtle, guiding frameworks provided users with creative freedom without sacrificing coherence or usability.

Active exploration deepens engagement. Shifting from passive to active exploration greatly increased emotional attachment and content value.

Diverse expression boosts user pride. Allowing users to express themselves across multiple formats increased emotional investment and satisfaction.

Fiction fundamentally expanded my design philosophy. Effective design not only functions seamlessly but also fosters meaningful interactions and lasting emotional connections.