VARASO
Background
Many young adults in Britain with a South Asian background, including second generation immigrants or those who moved to Britain from a young age, struggle with a sense of cultural belonging.
Growing up they had to balance cultural duality between preserving their family’s heritage and adapting to the norms of British Society. Due to pressures to assimilate and growing up in a digital there is often a gradual loss of tradition and a disconnection from ethnic roots throughout childhood.
Solution
A cultural connection app for curious south asians to rediscover their roots. For those who feel in-between culture, reconnect with your cultural roots and celebrate where you come from and with the Varaso app. Discover family stories, recipes and traditions that shape who you are.
Research
Research into various online resources discovering that many ethnic minorities face an identity crisis living in the UK which more evident in second generational immigrants. The younger generation have faced pressures to assimilate to British society and become distanced with their cultural roots.
Ideation
Most young adults are too busy, distanced from family and lack a dedicated place to record, learn or share all in one place. Most existing apps and websites feature generic and limited content for diverse South Asian backgrounds and feature lengthy texts.
Originally, I considered developing only one of my initial concepts but ultimately decided to combine all the ideas into one space. This makes the app more engaging to wider audience by encouraging young people to embrace their family heritage and preserve their family culture in multiple ways.
Visual design inspired by traditional art styles such as Kolam, Arjack, Rangoli, Islamic geometry.
Solution
The name Varaso is a Gujarati word meaning “legacy” and the branding is based on reshaping your identity through balancing modernity and tradition. The visual language uses traditional art styles combined with modern digital illustration design to create unique patterns using basic shapes to represent each unique identity.
The app features different ways to record, learn and share your cultural heritage through recording memories, building a family tree, browsing articles and messaging friends and family. The daily activities and time capsule features motivates users to continue embracing their heritage.
Advertisements for the app will be placed around public transport and online platforms like podcast advertisements to reach the target audience when they are travelling to work, university or visiting family.
Click through the Prototype:
https://www.figma.com/proto/JKsRNE4JW52h3FBt4X9f5D/Varaso-App?page-id=0%3A1&node-id=1-2&starting-point-node-id=1%3A2&t=gG6O5s7PYqocI19U-1
