Codeword
Codeword aims to combat America’s suicide epidemic by enabling users to send a "code word" to trusted allies during moments of crisis.
Goals
My primary goal was to help the team launch an MVP while laying the foundation for a scalable brand that would resonate with their audience and attract future funding.
To achieve this, I facilitated design sprints to define essential features for launch and led brand workshops to uncover the company’s mission, values, and principles. These insights informed both the product design and the creation of a visual identity that aligned with their purpose.
Insights
Our discovery research revealed two critical insights that shaped the project:
The immediacy promise was key
Many users had already tried creating informal support systems with loved ones via text or messaging apps, but these tools often failed in moments of crisis due to missed notifications. Codeword’s success depended on delivering on its promise of immediate, reliable communication.
Building trust with men is essential
Men, a significant portion of the target audience, were often skeptical of self-help apps and hesitant to seek assistance. The brand needed to instill trust, convey usefulness, and feel approachable to this demographic.
We designed the app to deliver dynamic content tailored to specific audiences, creating a welcoming and relatable experience for everyone, from veterans to elderly widowers.
A codeword serves as a personal shorthand between individuals, with its meaning uniquely defined by them. To reflect this, we created a dynamic wordmark featuring various font styles, symbolizing the individuality and versatility of each codeword.
We leveraged AI to generate imagery and content, enabling us to launch the product and marketing efforts rapidly and with minimal overhead.
Outcomes