Client: Next Shift Learning & Snap Inc.*
Breaking Free
The Ask: Create a socially conscious feature for Snap Inc. that promotes positive social change and elevate underrepresented voices who are looking to become change agents.
The Strategy: Design an interactive feature within Snapchat that allows youth of incarcerated populations to share their story.
The Idea: Breaking Free: A Snap Mini
*This project is not real client work; it was created as the final project assignment for Snap Academies participants.
Introducing Breaking Free
Breaking Free is a Snap Mini feature within Snapchat built to elevate and empower the youth of incarcerated populations through storytelling and art.
Our mini hopes to make an impact through our four main features: audio stories, stickers, add speaker as friend, and story submission.
Audio Stories 🎧
Audio stories create an intimate relationship with users. By being able to hear someone tell their story, it allows users to really listen and connect to the speaker. Users can also share the story they’re listening to with their friends or stories by adding the audio story sticker.
Stickers 🌟
Along with having the opportunity to be the speaker for the week, users will also be able to design stickers for the Snap Mini. Users that are the speaker of the week stickers will design around the topics and themes they spoke about in their audio. There is also an additional tab of stickers designed by the Breaking Free team. These stickers can be shared on users’ Snaps to share with their friends or stories.
Add Speaker as Friend 👥
The ability to add the speaker of the week as a friend serves as a way to build a community with other youth with incarcerated family members.
Story Submission 📓
Users who are interested in sharing their story through the audio stories and sticker design can sign up via the “Share Your Story” button. It will take users to a form where they can be considered to be featured on the mini.
Brand Values
Open Mindedness 🧠
We treat everyone as individuals, with compassion, respect, and sensibility. We understand that everyone's paths are unique and should be appreciated.
Caring 🫂
We aim to represent the qualities of kindness and compassion to ensure a welcoming community. We project warmth into all our work and always think of others.
Expression 🎨
We recognize the healing effects that self-expression holds. It allows us to free our emotions and thoughts. This helps us reflect and grow.
Inclusive 👋
We value a society where everyone's voice is heard and valued.
Engagement 🎙️
We believe engagement is the backbone of every loving community. Breaking Free finds interactions between people the key to building positive relationships.
Community 👥
We are committed to opening the opportunity to nourish meaningful connections. We value every interaction.
Brand Voice & Tone
Based on our above values, we wanted our brand voice to be humane and comforting. Breaking Free should use simple language and have a friendly demeanor in all communications.
To achieve this, Breaking Free has to steer clear of complex language, difficult jargon, degrading terms, and triggering phrases. Our tone will be down-to-earth and honest.
Competitor Analysis
When our team conducted initial research, we found no product or feature specifically tailored to this community. We approached the process by comparing our product features with those offered by other non-profits.
Marketing Plan
Below is our plan to market Breaking Free.
Creative Ad Campaign
Press Release
Social Media Ads
For our ads, we selected social platforms our audience typically frequents: Instagram, Twitter (now X), and Snapchat.
Out-Of-Home Marketing
For our out-of-home marketing, we decided to place our ads around places where students typically spend time at, like bus stops and around major cities.
Final Presentation
Click below to watch our final presentation. If you’d rather scroll, you can check out the Figma file directly below it.
View High Fidelity Mockup
The engineers on our team developed a high-fidelity mockup showing what the Snap Mini would look like in action. You can test out the feature yourself by following the directions on GitHub.
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Art Director & Designer: Myles Lewis
Engineers: Newsha Niazmandi, Jhon “JT” Trujilo
Brand/Creative Strategists: Libbe Phan, Adrian Salinas