TalkPop
TalkPop is a digital communication toolkit designed to help trainees build psychological safety and develop meaningful team communication skills, developed in partnership with the Digital Society School at Hogeschool van Amsterdam. I led the project as Team Lead and Coach, guiding a team of trainees through the full research, design, and development process — from initial discovery through high-fidelity prototyping.
Year
2021
Scope
Digital Product Design
Client
Hogeschool van Amsterdam & Digital Society School
The shift to online collaboration has made some of the most human parts of teamwork harder. Reading non-verbal emotional cues, encouraging equal group participation, and delivering honest feedback are activities that don't translate easily to a digital environment, yet they are essential for trust and meaningful project outcomes.
At the Digital Society School (DSS), trainees from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds work together in fast-paced, 20-week design sprints. Without an established atmosphere of team trust, these differences can quickly lead to inequalities within teams. Guided by UN Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, our team focused on two pivotal questions:
How might we design tools that help trainees work toward team psychological safety by practicing active listening, honest and constructive feedback, and collaboration?
How can we do this by harnessing the playful affordances of the online working environment?
Using DSS’s SCREAM methodology alongside Design Thinking, we developed TalkPop, an online platform with a playful approach to non-violent communication. The toolkit supports trainees through peer-to-peer group activities, interactive exercises, and individual self-development features like gratitude journaling. The result is an intuitive, expandable platform that meets trainees right where they are, making the process of building team trust approachable, inclusive, and fun.
Trainees I coached:
UX Design: Cinzia Magnani, Steve Savage.
Research: Jose Daniel Morales Riera, Sara Guagnini.
