Designing for thoughtful disagreement
Product Design Intern
TIMELINE
May 2025 - Aug 2025
SKILLS
UX Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping, Market Research, Data Analysis
Figma, FigJam, Notion, Tableau, Qualtrics
How might design help people have better disagreements?
Point Taken started as a psychology research study using a gamified intervention for having hard conversations — on topics like the death penalty, health insurance, and student loan debt. As both a research assistant for the psychology study and an intern on the product side, I moved between designing experimentally and designing practically. This involved translating abstract psychological principles into features, interfaces, and experiences that people would genuinely engage with, not just interact with in a controlled study setting.
Research and Discovery
We began by running user studies with pairs who held opposing viewpoints. I designed the protocol and used Tableau to map shifts in sentiment and empathy before and after gameplay. Seeing those visualizations—arcs of emotion softening and openness rising—made the impact tangible.
These findings helped us ground our value proposition in something tangible and informed a pivot towards educators and corporate teams, who already value structured dialogue and reflection.
Looking at the psychology of disagreement
Before designing, we looked to social and cognitive psychology for answers. Research shows that:
People become more polarized when surrounded only by those who agree with them.
Slowing conversations down and introducing structure helps people engage with opposing views more thoughtfully.
Written dialogue encourages reflection over reaction, reducing emotional hijacking.
Fig. 1
INSIGHTS FROM TABLEAU
Once we saw evidence that the game could meaningfully shift how people engaged with disagreement, the next step was translating those insights into a real product.
IMPACT
Please reach out to me if you'd like to learn more, as this project is partially under NDA!
In parallel with the psychology research, I worked on translating insights into design decisions and game mechanics. Collaborating across product, research, and design, I helped shape what Point Taken would become—from early strategy to launch.
Product Strategy
I helped narrow the product scope and identify an initial target audience. After analyzing user data and our network strengths, we pivoted from a broad consumer focus to educators and companies: two groups already invested in structured dialogue and reflection.
UX Research
I designed and ran user testing sessions with pairs holding opposing viewpoints. Using pre- and post-game sentiment measures, I analyzed how gameplay influenced openness to other perspectives and the ability to recognize nuance.
Brand Development
I contributed to multiple rounds of brand exploration and naming, helping define a tone that felt both playful and credible. I also collaborated with developers and stakeholders to launch our MVP and B2C website under a tight timeline.