Findings and Focuses, Insights and Iterations

• Finding out what community is to this user group. It’s common to think about community as a network of connections and people, with the generalization of the more the merrier, but for these moms, that’s not the case. After their kids leave, they still have their spouse, other friends, and social groups. Their feelings of emptiness and lack of belonging aren’t coming from being physically alone–it’s from the lack of having someone to personally and deeply care for. That’s their need. Addressing belongingness for these moms wasn’t about helping them meet lots of new people, but about helping them find one or a few new people to take care of, because that’s where they feel like they belong.

• “How Might We” Statement: HMW support these empty nesters in transforming their instinct to care for others into opportunities for personal renewal and self-discovery?

• As we gave prototypes of What’s Nest to our users, we found that they were much less interested in using it to meet new friends than they were using it as an informative tool on local volunteer or applicable career opportunities.

• That realization led to a transition in which we refocused the app around its volunteer and career oriented aspects, featuring vast array of volunteer events with whom to contact and career pathways that are centered around skills already developed as a parent.