ROLE
Project Lead &
Product Desiger
TIMELINE
24 hours
SKILLS
Prototyping
Visual Design
Interaction Design
COLLABORATORS
Rachel Chen
Valerie Irawan
Tiffany Zheng

Between Us

A digital letter-writing experience that reintroduces emotional depth to online communication.

Between Us is a mobile-first digital platform that brings the intimacy of handwritten letters into a digital space. Created in under 24 hours during the CreateSC Designathon, the product allows users to craft multimedia messages with photos, voice notes, drawings, and mood customization, and time-lock them for future delivery. It’s a slow, intentional form of communication in contrast to the constant feed of traditional messaging apps.

🔗 View Devpost submission here.
🔗 View Figma prototype here.

Problem Space

What if digital communication felt less like a notification, and more like a memory worth waiting for?

The theme Digitizing Tangible Experiences challenged us to transform everyday physical experiences into innovative digital interfaces.

Social media platforms prioritize speed, performance, and curation. This often leaves little room for vulnerability, creativity, or emotional nuance. As college students studying far from home, my team and I found it hard to maintain meaningful friendships while managing time zones, school, and life.

Inspired by the intimacy of handwritten letters and how time capsules preserve moments of reflection and care, we wanted users to slow down and be intentional, with their words and with each other.

Solution

Between Us emulates the tactile joy of sending and receiving letters, digitally.

Key Features

Time-Locked Letters

delivered on special dates or moments (“when you’re feeling low”)

Reflective Prompts

Prompts inspired by We’re Not Really Strangers to encourage depth in writing

Multimedia Messages

Attachable voice notes, drawings, and photos

Envelope Customization

Custom stickers, stamps, and visual mood palettes

Interaction Design

Bringing the Tactile Experience to Life

💌 Checking Inbox

Flip through new letters sealed with care and waiting to be opened.

✍️ Writing & Sending a Letter

Compose a heartfelt message with voice notes, doodles, photos, and personalized stamps. Choose when it’ll be delivered: now or later.

📬 Opening a Letter

Open a digital envelope to reveal a full-screen letter, designed to slow you down and draw you in.

🗂️ Exploring the Archive

Revisit past messages in your personal archive, organized by date or sender, like flipping through a digital scrapbook. Or, let the app surprise you with a random letter when you need a moment of warmth.

Visual Identity, Branding Guide
My Role

Project & Product Design Lead

As Project Lead and Product Designer, I brought the team together, aligned our vision, and ensured the project stayed on track from ideation to submission.

My key responsibilities included:

  • Initiating and coordinating the project, setting internal deadlines, and managing final submissions

  • Leading the design process from low-fi wireframes to high-fidelity screens, including prototyping all interactions in Figma

  • Writing and refining all copy, including Devpost descriptions, feature explanations, and in-product letter examples to shape our brand voice

  • Owning the narrative, ensuring our concept was emotionally resonant and user-centered

  • Attending mentor sessions, collecting feedback, and translating it into actionable steps for the team

  • Committed the most time to the project due to teammates’ scheduling conflicts, maintaining momentum and quality through to the end

Reflection

Less is More, Build What Matters!

While we started with a wide range of feature ideas, we realized the importance of being more convergent in our thinking to thoughtfully narrow down what belonged in a meaningful MVP. We also discovered that time, space, and anticipation, when intentionally designed, can transform digital interactions into moments that feel personal, sacred, and emotionally resonant.

With that being said, we successfully created a full prototype in under 24 hours, complete with animated flows and thoughtful UI patterns. Beyond the hackathon, Between Us sparked conversations around mindful technology and the future of intentional communication design.

Our reaction to submitting our project on time 🎉

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I'm so happy you're here!

© Autumn Fung 2025

Made with a good Spotify playlist

and many boba and matcha runs 🧋🍵