Bringing Families Closer Through the NYT Mini
2024
timeline
4 days
1st place winner
skills
Product thinking
Prototyping
team
Sonya Surapaneni
Jacqueline Guo
Hong Yu Wong
Michael Zaklavsky
tools
Figma
ProtoPie
intro
We designed this in four days for a competition
I teamed up with three others for a design competition centered on the prompt: How might we bring young adults (18–24) and their parents closer together?
solution sneak peek
Custom mini crosswords about your parents on Mother’s and Father’s Day
Flow 01
Event discovery on NYT
The timeline gave users just enough space to prepare, while still creating urgency to act
The event had to be discoverable on the homepage with limited real estate
Flow 02
Onboarding: Introducing and building up to the event
We introduced the event quickly and made it easy to share with a parent
We built anticipation while setting clear expectations for how the experience would work
Flow 03
Parent creates crossword
We crafted intentional prompts for parents, which later turned into crossword clues
We had parents speak their stories aloud to make it easy and more personal
Flow 04
Young adult solves crossword
Keeping the familiar Mini solving flow while weaving parent stories into the experience
Designing for continuity so the exchange extends beyond the crossword
reflection
We took our prototype to NYC and came home with first place in a competition
The judges highlighted three strengths in our work:
Beyond messaging
The Mini gave families a playful reason to connect.
Designed for both
Low-lift for young adults, meaningful for parents.
Audio-first storytelling
Speaking made sharing stories easier and more personal.