CONTEXT ➴
Could social media promote digital wellness without losing the content and connection that keep people coming back?
For the Crowe Fall 2025 National Case Competition, teams were challenged to create an ethical alternative to platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
In 48 hours, our three-person team developed Euca: a wellness-conscious platform that gives people more control over why they open the app, what shapes their feed, and when they leave.
THE CHALLENGE ➴
Build something people would genuinely want to use—without relying on the attention-driven patterns that keep them scrolling.
Wellness
How could the experience remain engaging without encouraging compulsive use?
Privacy
How could personalization feel relevant without silently profiling the user?
Viability
How could the business succeed without monetizing unlimited attention?
RESEARCH ➴
We needed to understand what to change—and what was still worth preserving.
Our research surfaced four recurring problems: safety and privacy, loss of control, reduced quality of life, and negative effects on well-being.
But simply removing harmful interactions would not make a valuable product. People still use social media to discover relevant content and maintain meaningful connections.
This reframed our goal: change the relationship people have with social media without removing the value they receive from it.
Key findings, competitive analysis, or the four problem areas
DESIGN PRINCIPLE ➴
The user should shape the algorithm, rather than be shaped by it.
Traditional platforms continuously observe behavior to predict what will keep someone scrolling. Euca reverses that dynamic by asking users what they want from each session.
The product personalizes only around information the user actively chooses to provide.
SOLUTION ➴
Replacing habitual opens with intentional sessions
Choose an intention and set a session length
Instead of immediately entering a feed, users begin by choosing what brings them to the app.
They can select or create an intention around what they want from their feed, then decide how long they would like to stay.
This creates a moment of awareness before the session begins and gives the experience a clear stopping point.
Interrupting scrolling without punishing the user
Euca periodically pauses the feed with a quick emotional check-in, breaking habitual scrolling while helping users notice how the content is affecting them.
Rather than blocking access or shaming the user, the product creates space for a conscious decision about continuing.
Mid-session interface and response states
Turning passive consumption into action
At the end of a session, Euca suggests a small action based on the content viewed and the goal the user set beforehand.
Someone watching exercise content might be encouraged to put on their shoes. Someone viewing recipes might be prompted to open one and gather an ingredient.
By breaking suggestions into manageable first steps, Euca helps users carry inspiration beyond the feed instead of endlessly consuming it.
End-of-session action recommendations
Preserving connection without popularity metrics
Smaller, interest-based communities preserve the social value of familiar platforms. Users can share posts and join discussions, but Euca removes public likes to reduce comparison and validation-seeking.
Moderation intervenes before potentially harmful comments are posted. The goal was not to remove interaction, but to stop popularity from becoming its primary measure of value.
Making personalization transparent
What Euca learned, its source, and controls to remove it
Euca builds its understanding of a user entirely through active input.
A visible profile shows what the platform has learned, where that information came from, and what can be removed.
Instead of hiding privacy controls deep within settings, we made them central to the experience so personalization could be understood and changed.
BUSINESS STRATEGY ➴
The business model had to reinforce the product’s promise.
We proposed a freemium model supported by aligned brand partnerships and contextual recommendations. A relevant product could appear within an action the user had already expressed interest in completing.
This tied monetization to user intent rather than time spent scrolling.
Our proposal also accounted for UX testing, algorithmic transparency, security, moderation, staffing, infrastructure, and launch strategy—making ethical design part of how the company would operate, not simply how it would market itself.
Revenue, staffing, infrastructure, and ethical oversight
PROCESS ➴
Designing a complete product in 48 hours
The time constraint forced us to quickly identify which decisions were foundational and which details could remain flexible.
My work focused on translating our research and strategy into a clear product experience. Because every feature affected the business model and the platform’s ethical position, I had to design beyond individual screens and continuously connect interactions back to our promise of user control.
Working across product, consulting, and business perspectives helped us move quickly without treating design as the final layer of the solution.
OUTCOME ➴
Euca placed third nationally and earned our team a $1,000 award.
The project showed me that ethical product design is not only about removing harmful features. It requires rethinking the incentives and interactions that shape the entire experience.
Thank you to my teammates and the Crowe National Case Competition!