Giftage

How might we design a donation experience that fosters empathy and encourages the willingness to give?

Sep 2017 - May 2018 /

Eunjung Kim (Independent Project)

Giftage—a name combining “gift” and “message”—is a digital donation platform that lets users send small gifts to friends while also contributing to meaningful causes. Rooted in the belief that giving should feel personal, emotionally resonant, and free from pressure, Giftage explores how empathy can emerge not through urgency or guilt, but through connection and care. Each gift includes a barcode and a personal message, allowing recipients to access the item and understand the intention behind the gesture.

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe XD

Principle

Final Cut Pro

1. Framing the Design Question

This project began with a personal experience: being prompted to donate at a checkout counter. Even though it was optional, the moment left me feeling guilty—an emotion I realized was common in many donation campaigns. I began asking: Why do so many donation experiences rely on guilt or sympathy to encourage giving? Could giving feel more joyful—more human—if it were approached with empathy instead of sympathy?

With a growing interest in empathy and emotional design, I wanted to rethink donation campaigns from the user’s perspective—not just in terms of outcome, but in terms of how it feels to give. This project became an exploration of how we might redesign the donation process to center connection, rather than discomfort.

2. Research & Insight

Understanding Emotional Barriers and Motivations

To understand what encourages or discourages people from giving, I conducted interviews and surveys, and created a journey map that traced participants’ emotional experience. A key insight was that people often feel satisfaction after donating—indicating a need to build emotional feedback and personal connection into the process.

Quantitative research

Through surveys and secondary research, I focused on millennials—under 35—who expressed strong intent to give, yet showed the lowest actual volunteer rates, often due to financial constraints. I also found that mobile-friendly donation platforms were becoming increasingly important as digital giving rose.

Qualitative Insights

User Testing and interviews revealed three main insights that shaped the direction of the project:

Targeted storytelling resonates more than general messaging.

Participants felt more emotionally connected to campaigns that focused on a specific individual rather than broad, impersonal audiences.
People connect more deeply with causes linked to meaningful products.

When the item or experience held personal meaning, participants felt more compelled to engage.
Social media is a common platform—but not always a trusted one.‌
While many expected to encounter donation campaigns on social media, they also questioned the reliability and emotional authenticity of these platforms.

These insights helped me reframe donation not as a transaction, but as a social interaction—one that could feel more like gift-giving than obligation.

3. Ideation & Concept Development

Inspired by the idea that both gifting and donating are acts of giving without expecting something in return, I began exploring how donation could be reframed as an emotionally meaningful exchange. Unlike donations, gifts are associated with empathy, care, and shared joy. I hypothesized that if donation could be experienced as gift-giving, people might feel less emotional discomfort and more connection.

4. Iterative Prototyping & User Testing

From Idea to Interface

I focused on building a user flow that highlighted emotional intention. In the prototype, donors select a gift for a friend, along with a cause they’d like to support. The recipient receives a barcode and personal message—via the app or text message—which they can use to redeem the gift. After the gift is exchanged, both users receive a follow-up message explaining the social impact of their donation.

Designing for Emotional Feedback

To bring the donation experience to life, I created a hi-fidelity prototype that detailed how the app facilitates emotional connection at every step. The prototype demonstrated:

Message visibility: Recipients view a personal message after receiving the promo code—making the act feel personal, not transactional.
Saved messages: When a gift is redeemed, the app saves the message for future viewing—mirroring the sentimentality of holding onto a handwritten note.
Donation outcome: After redeeming the gift, recipients receive a message explaining how the donation was made—helping them understand the impact of the shared gesture.

These small but meaningful interactions reinforced the idea that giving can feel intimate, reflective, and emotionally grounded—even within a digital interface.

User testing helped refine emotional tone, functionality, and flow. Iterations focused on making the interaction feel personal and intuitive—while reinforcing the connection between donor, recipient, and cause.

User Flow

5. Final Design & Reflection

Giftage aims to reimagine giving as a gesture of care. By merging donation with gifting, the project encourages small, meaningful acts that foster empathy and increase willingness to give—especially among younger generations.

This project sparked my journey to empathy-driven, human-centered design—and became the foundation for the work that followed.