FUNERAL
Putting the 'Fun' Back Into Funeral
About
Funeral is a mobile designed for people who want to create and design their own funeral. "Funeral" offers users the tools to create a personalized funeral ceremony from scratch or use one of the app's themes.
The "theme" will be saved and sent to the user’s special team that would be responsible for bringing the perfect funeral to life.
My Role
UX / UI Design
Platform
Mobile
Year
2020
Concept
The inspiration for the design came from the city night life. The saying "let's die with fun" throw us to the party scene, and make the sad and the serious funeral into a fun and enjoyable event.
User Research
What do users want?
To better understand users needs, I conducted a survey among Israelis aged 25-40. I wanted to understand what people thought about planning their funerals and the challenges which might accompany that.
30 people answered the survey. Among the survey participants:
83%
Would like to have the ability to take care of all the necessary arrangements before dying
67%
Would like to make sure they will be remembered in a positive and special way
96%
Think that the traditional funeral ceremony is no longer relevant these days
Hi Jonatan, can you please tell me how your funeral would look like if you had the chance to plan it on your own?
Maayan (UX/UI Designer)
Well, I've never thought about it at length/ I've never given it much thought, but I guess I would like to have some party instead of doing the old ritualistic ceremony we all do.
Jonatan (Potential User)
I see. Can you please tell me what is stopping you from having that party funeral?
Maayan (UX/UI Designer)
I don't think that concept would work in Israel since burial arrangements follow the Jewish tradition which has a strict rules.
Jonatan (Potential User)
Pain Point #1
All funerals look the same.
Funerals are considered sad and serious occasions which are marked in a very conventional and somber manner. There are not many cultures that celebrate death.
Pain Point #2
Facing that part of life.
Most people don't like to think about the moment they will die, which means they leave other people to plan their ceremony while they are grieving.
Pain Point #3
The Jewish tradition doesn’t allow for individualized funerals.
Orthodox communities don’t allow the option of planning individualized funerals, and funerals in these communities are organized by the religious bodies in those communities.
Market Research
Today, there is no solution for
planning a fun funeral
After understanding user needs, I did market research to see how other products tackled this problem.
I realized that the companies which offer that type of service focus on the bureaucratic side of death like wills, documents and burial arrangements; none of them offer options for planning individualized funerals.
The concept of planning creative, fun and happy funerals could work only in places where religion does not play a central part in the mortality process.
Information Architecture
Building the Foundation
Based on the interviews, I categorized and sorted the actions users will take when planning a funeral, and then I worked on the optimal user flow that will help them plan their fun funeral efficiently.
Wireframes
Putting Ideas on Paper
Once I was satisfied with the architecture, I started to work on the user interface. I love to start with a low fidelity sketch before creating high fidelity wireframes and prototyping in Figma.
Design
Let's Die Having Fun!
The inspiration for the design came from the night life scene. The saying "let's die having fun" evokes the party scene and turns the sad and serious funeral into a fun event.
Logo
Colors
Typography
Montserrat | Roboto
It’s All About the Details
The icons were drawn outlined in pink, referencing party elements like decorations, music and party dress codes.
Decorations
Eulogy
Music
Dress code
Food
Welcome to Funeral
The onboarding experience here is about introducing "Funeral" by using cute, funny and humorous characters.
Let's Get to Know Each Other
The primary purpose of the wizard is to help the system suggest the most appropriate path for the user, in this case - the suitable theme for his funeral.
Each screen asks the user about their preferences, habits, and lifestyle. After the user shares the relevant information, the system analyzes the data and offers the best funeral theme for them.
The Themes
Once the system suggests the theme, the user can choose to accept it as is, make changes, or ask the system to suggest a new one.
Edit Theme
Each theme's category can be specifically adjusted or replaced according to the user’s personal preferences, such as what the guests should wear and what kind of food will be served at the funeral.
Upload eulogy
The user can upload a eulogy text file which gets transformed into an audio file based on a character's voice and intonation.
Music
This playlist aims to make the music at the funeral a more social experience than what's offered today by the major music platforms.
By creating a list of songs, the user shares their musical taste and their family and friends can experience it together.
Profile
The profile screen in "Funeral" is what the user sees when he opens the app, after completing the registration process.
This screen allows the user to add media or send notes.
Hello from the Other Side
One of the most exciting features of "Funeral" is the ability to send messages and notes after the user passes away.
Scheduled messages can be cancelled or edited as long the user is still alive.
Hi! How Can I Help?
If needed, the user can contact one of "Funeral" team members to get more information or to get updated on new features.
