Fear of judgement
Cultural expectations and generational stigma made women hesitant to discuss reproductive health.
2025 / EXPERIENCE DESIGN · 0→1 · WOMEN'S HEALTH
Grab a Seat!
Exploring safer ways for women to discuss sexual and reproductive health through a conversation-based board game and AI health companion.
MY ROLE
Product Designer & Project Manager
TIMELINE
4 weeks
TEAM
4 Interdisciplinary Product Designers
RESPONSIBILITIES
User Interviews, Research Synthesis, Board Game Concept Development, Playtest Facilitation, Iteration, End-to-End AI Health Companion Chat Design, Project Management.
Project Overview
Making difficult conversations easier to start.
Talking about sexual and reproductive health can be uncomfortable, especially for women from conservative cultural backgrounds. We wanted to explore how design could make these conversations feel safer and more approachable.
We developed two complementary experiences under Grab a Seat!: a conversation-based board game and a companion app featuring Luna, an AI health assistant designed to help women privately ask questions and connect with healthcare professionals.
Through playtesting, we discovered that some board-game mechanics unintentionally pressured participants to share. This led us to rethink how we could encourage conversations while preserving personal choice.
We ultimately prioritized refining the board game, while Luna remained an untested digital concept.
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Interviews with immigrant women living in the U.S.
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Play-Testing Rounds
0+
Public Showcase players
0%
I love this so much. I wish I had this game growing up."
Grab a Seat! Player's Feedback
MY SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES
Led project management and moderated 4 of 6 user interviews, helping translate research findings into design directions for both the board game and digital experience.
Co-developed the board game's structure and proposed two changes to its components: replacing coin rewards with hearts and introducing different chair-shaped player tokens to represent diversity. Facilitated playtest debriefs and advocated for prioritizing board-game iteration over further app development.
Owned the end-to-end design of Luna's AI Chat experience, including AI-assisted health guidance, escalation to healthcare professionals, and pre-consultation notes.
THE KEY DECISION I ADVOCATED FOR
Prioritizing the board game over the app.
With limited time and actionable playtest feedback, I proposed focusing our efforts on refining the board game. We needed to understand whether a structured, supportive environment could encourage sensitive conversations before investing further in the digital experience.
Some teammates initially wanted to continue developing the app. After reviewing the remaining timeline together, we aligned on this direction.
Understanding the Problem
Four different cultures, the same silence.
Our team of four grew up in different countries, yet shared a similar experience: sexual and reproductive health was rarely discussed openly. We wondered whether other women from conservative cultural backgrounds faced the same barriers.
We recruited women who grew up outside the U.S. and were now living here. From 14 screener responses, we conducted 6 user interviews, 4 of which I moderated.
Three patterns emerged:
THE OPPORTUNITY
We realized the challenge wasn't simply access to information. Women needed to feel safe asking questions and have control over what they chose to share.
How might we make conversations about sexual and reproductive health feel safer, without pressuring women to open up?
The Solution
Two ways to make difficult conversations easier.
Our research showed that women needed different ways to engage with reproductive health, whether through conversations with others or by seeking support privately.
After exploring several ideas, we developed two complementary concepts.
GRAB A SEAT! BOARD GAME: STARTING CONVERSATION THROUGH PLAY
A teammate proposed a conversational card game, which resonated with my personal experience. I had played similar games that helped me share things I normally wouldn't bring up.
Building on that idea, I suggested turning it into a board game to give the conversations more structure and make the experience more engaging. We developed a format where players rolled dice, moved around the board, drew cards, and responded to prompts about reproductive health.
The intention was to let the game introduce sensitive topics naturally, rather than expecting someone to initiate the conversation.
GRAB A SEAT! APP: MAKING PRIVATE SUPPORT MORE ACCESSIBLE
Our research revealed that women often sought health information online before consulting medical professionals. Some even endured painful symptoms without seeking care because they felt ashamed discussing their concerns.
I owned the app's Chat experience end-to-end, focusing on three key interactions:
Ask Luna, anytime. Luna was envisioned as a 24/7 AI health assistant, giving women the flexibility to ask sensitive questions privately. Rather than relying solely on AI-generated answers, Luna could recommend relevant in-app articles written by medical professionals and anonymous community-style health discussions.
Luna offers 24/7 guidance and seamlessly connects serious concerns to a doctor with the full context already shared.
Encourage professional care without forcing it. When users described potentially serious symptoms, Luna would recommend speaking with a doctor and ask whether they wanted to connect. With their consent, relevant conversation context would carry into the doctor chat, so they wouldn't have to repeat sensitive information. The intention was to reassure women that their concerns deserved professional attention, without the pressure of initiating that conversation themselves.
Luna offers 24/7 guidance and seamlessly connects serious concerns to a doctor with the full context already shared.
Prepare before chatting with a doctor. Users could write their concerns at their own pace before starting a doctor chat. I included an example to help them understand what to share and reassurance that their notes were private to the selected doctor. The doctor would receive these notes beforehand, so the conversation could begin with understanding rather than explanation.
Choose a doctor, write concerns privately at your own pace, and start the conversation with the doctor already informed.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The goal was to make seeking health support less intimidating, while giving women control over when, how, and with whom they shared sensitive concerns.
Play-Testing & Iteration
We conducted two rounds of board-game play-testing. After each session, I facilitated debrief interviews using a feedback guide I prepared, focusing on how players felt, whether the questions encouraged conversation, and what made the experience difficult.
DURING PLAY-TESTING, WE FOUND THE PROBLEM WE DID NOT ANTICIPATE
We wanted players to feel comfortable sharing, but our game mechanics were working against that goal. Players could skip questions, but doing so came with a penalty: they couldn't advance. Some questions also felt too personal, making players uncomfortable answering.
Other feedback revealed usability issues: unclear turn-taking rules, small text, low color contrast, and game sessions lasting over an hour. We realized that creating a safe space meant giving players the freedom not to share, without consequences.
ITERATION
Based on the feedback, we made several changes:
Before and after
Removed pressure to participate. We eliminated penalties for skipping, replaced the winning condition with a simple finish, and clarified turn-taking rules.
2. Made questions less personal. We reframed prompts around hypothetical situations or a friend's experience, allowing players to engage without revealing their own.
Established psychological safety. We introduced a pledge card setting expectations around kindness, respect, and sharing only what felt comfortable.
Before and after
Improved accessibility and flexibility. We enlarged the cards, improved typography and color contrast, and created a shorter card-only version.
I also proposed two changes to the game's physical components.
The coin rewards hadn't been printed during play-testing. This is our token during Public Showcase.
Coins to hearts. Players felt coins were too transactional, so I proposed hearts as a warmer acknowledgment of participation.
Before and after
Different chair-shaped tokens. I proposed varying the chair designs to represent diversity and reinforce the idea that everyone has a seat at the table.
Outcome & Impact
The conversation we hoped for started happening!
At our public showcase, 15+ people played Grab a Seat!, including students, professors, community members, and a women's health doctor.
People sat down, engaged with the prompts, and shared their experiences. One participant told us:
I love this so much. I wish I had this game growing up."
The showcase gave us encouraging early evidence that a structured, supportive game could help people start conversations about sensitive topics.
While the board game reached the showcase, the companion app remained an untested concept. Luna's interactions would need their own usability testing before we could evaluate whether they effectively supported women seeking health information and professional care.
reflection
Empathy means knowing when to listen and when to speak up.
Having experienced the discomfort of discussing sexual and reproductive health, I felt deeply connected to the problem. But listening to other women's experiences reminded me that sharing similar experiences doesn't mean I fully understand theirs. True empathy requires listening without making assumptions.
The project also challenged me as a project manager. When I noticed an imbalance in contributions, I hesitated to address it directly. Instead, I kept adjusting our timeline to keep the project moving. Prioritizing the board game helped us focus, but I realized I had been managing around a team issue rather than addressing it.
Ultimately, this experience reinforced why I care about design beyond visual aesthetics: creating experiences that make a meaningful difference in people's lives. Moving forward, I want to bring that same care into how I collaborate, by listening openly, setting clearer expectations, and addressing challenges earlier.