Concept · Product design · UX research
Mosaic
Designing a mobile learning experience that helps immigrant families strengthen cultural connection through language, stories, art and shared learning.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Year
2026
Status
In progress · research phase
Tools
Figma, ChatGPT, Claude
Research so far
6
parent interviews from one cultural community
3
parent mindsets, from deep worry to low urgency
4
friction themes that shape the product direction
01 — The core tension
Parents want to pass culture on. Daily life gets in the way.
Parents want to pass down their language, stories and traditions, but homework, work and language barriers make it hard to keep culture alive every day.
School nights are especially tough. Parents want to preserve their heritage, but they often run out of energy before they can make it happen.
The tension
Intention vs. consistency.
Cultural connection gap
✕ Heritage learning feels disconnected from children’s everyday digital lives
✕ Parents struggle to make cultural learning engaging and consistent
✕ Few chances for families to learn about their culture together
✕ Cultural identity weakens across generations
Target state
✓ Interactive, child-friendly cultural learning
✓ Stronger parent–child cultural engagement
✓ Personalized content based on age and interests
✓ More motivation through progress tracking and rewards
✓ A stronger sense of belonging and cultural identity
02 — Research
Six parent interviews, three mindsets.
This study is based on four parent interviews from one cultural community. Every parent cared deeply, but they held that care in very different ways.
Deep worry & duty
Some parents feel a strong sense of responsibility and worry about losing their connection to their heritage.
Optimistic hope
Others feel hopeful, and trust that small moments like food and holidays keep culture alive naturally.
Low urgency
Some parents care deeply, but other daily needs feel more urgent right now.
A starting point, not a final answer
Six interviews from one community can’t speak for every family. These insights are a first step, and the next phase tests them with more families from different backgrounds.
03 — Personas
Four ways of keeping culture alive.
Composite personas drawn from the four interviews. Names and portraits are illustrative, to protect participants’ privacy.
The ritual keeper
Mina Rostami
39 · Graphic designer · Toronto, ON
Persian is spoken at home, and she marks every major holiday with real food, objects and rituals.
Goals
✓ Keep traditions alive every day, not just once a year
✓ Give her daughter sensory memories of heritage
✓ Feel confident she’s doing “enough”
Pain points
✕ Daily rituals take major ongoing effort
✕ Cultural materials are hard to find locally
✕ No clear benchmark for whether it’s enough
The quiet worrier
Leila Kazemi
44 · Pharmacist · Mississauga, ON
Works full-time, with a quiet, ongoing worry about what bicultural roots her son could lose as he grows up.
Goals
✓ Protect her son’s Persian connection before high school
✓ Feel reassured her effort is landing
✓ Understand what’s “normal” for bicultural families
Pain points
✕ Guilt about the lack of formal instruction
✕ Anxiety fed by other families’ perfect stories
✕ Uncertainty about how her son identifies
The culture editor
Roya Tehrani
41 · Product manager · Vancouver, BC
Thinks about heritage deliberately, adapting some traditions and leaving outdated norms behind.
Goals
✓ Pass down core values like hospitality
✓ Adapt traditions to modern city life, guilt-free
✓ Support her daughter in shaping her own identity
Pain points
✕ No framework for what’s essential vs. optional
✕ Tension between heritage and school culture
✕ Wary of tools that treat culture as a checklist
The confident continuer
Tara Amini
37 · Product marketing · Ottawa, ON
Persian is the main language at home, and her young son responds especially well to music, song and rhythm.
Goals
✓ Deepen a connection that’s already working
✓ Find local community mentors and musicians
✓ Understand how her son identifies among peers
Pain points
✕ Generic language classes don’t match his pace
✕ Hard to find specialists instead of worksheets
✕ No easy way to see identity signals
04 — Key friction themes
What gets in the way.
01
Overwhelming starting points
Parents struggle to introduce culture without planning a full lesson. The effort of getting started stops spontaneous moments from happening.
02
Finding trustworthy materials
Available resources often feel outdated, complex or culturally distant. Authentic, engaging tools are hard to find.
03
Dependence on distant networks
Cultural practice often relies on video calls or visits from grandparents abroad. When those connections aren’t available, practice stalls.
04
Uncertainty of impact
Without clear feedback, parents wonder whether small daily actions, like speaking words or playing music, are really taking root.
05 — The opportunity
How might we
How might we turn the everyday pauses of family life into natural moments for cultural connection?
06 — What’s next
Next: co-designing with five cultural communities.
The next phase focuses on co-design and validation workshops with five cultural communities, to find shared patterns in how parents keep culture alive and to test these ideas well beyond a single community.
Mosaic is a work in progress. I’ll share the design phase here as it develops.
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