This document outlines a proposal for an electronic birthday greeting card app. It identifies the opportunity to create a compelling e-greeting since existing apps are limited. It defines potential user personas like Ruth, a grandmother, and Fred, a 28 year old. It maps the user journey of designing, previewing, sending, receiving and sharing cards. It also lists desired outcomes like quick creation and sharing of cards. The overarching design principles are outlined as "Awesome...For Dummies", "More is not better" and "If it takes work, it's not a gift".

1. Birthday Greetings
a presentation by Dan Flanigan
COPYRIGHT 2009

2. Problem Overview
While email has come to replace much of written
correspondence, one of the most common forms
of correspondence -- the birthday card -- has no
prevalent electronic equivalent. There are a
number of apps in the Apple App Store, but none
is a clear leader. All are limited in scope and
imagination. There is a clear opportunity to
develop a compelling birthday e-greeting.

3. Personas
Ruth – grandmother
Kathy – HR Manager
Fred – the birthday boy

4. Ruth
Ruth is a 60 year old grandmother with
grandkids ranging from 5 - 14
She has basic computer skills such as Word and
Excel
She also dabbles with tools such as iPhoto and
Picasa to organize her photos.
She is diligent about sending cards and always
includes a traditional "dollar bill" even to her
grandchildren in their early teens.
She sees tools such as Evite as her being "up to
date" with current trends and technology
Her first reaction to a problem with her computer is
to bring it to the Apple Genius Bar.

5. Kathy
Kathy is a 35 year old HR Manager at a small
staffing firm
She is computer savvy
It is important to her to create a sense of family at
the company where she works.
She sends out birthday notifications to people
every week. She also maintains a company
intranet page where birthdays are shown
She wants to create something that feels
personalized but doesn't take up too much of her
time.

6. Fred
Fred is 28 and single
Much of Fred's social life is with people from work
Fred has an iPhone and iPad, which are his
primary casual computing devices. He has a
laptop but uses it almost exclusively for work.
He texts heavily but does still use email. However,
he screens out any email from people he doesn't
know.
He begrudgingly enjoys birthday greetings and
feels guilty about the dollar his grandmother sends
him (but would be hurt if he didn't get it)

7. Job Map
Design Preview Send Receive Share
Payment
Card Card Card Card Card
Related Activities
Other
Personal Site
Birthday
Holidays Holidays Registratio
Reminders
(i.e., n
anniversary)

8. Use Cases
Fred receives an email notification about his card
Fred opens his e-card on his phone
Fred opens his e-card on his iPad
Fred opens his e-card on his laptop

9. Market Research
While branding such as Star Wars or Harry Potter is
appealing for young children, the cost of licensing
these is prohibitive for a startup.

10. Design Principals
Awesome . . . For Dummies
More is not better
If it takes work, it’s not a gift

11. Desired Outcomes
The ability to design and send a birthday greeting
in less than 5 minutes
75% customer retention within 3 months
20% of users receiving birthday greeting share it
with others (via Twitter, Facebook or email)

12. AWESOME . . . FOR DUMMIES
MORE ≠ BETTER
IF IT TAKES WORK, IT’S NOT A GIFT