Alike
Designing a Peer Support Platform for Cancer Survivors & Patients
Designing a space where young adults with cancer find each other – and themselves.
Overview
Alike is a UK-based charity built for young adults impacted by cancer – a group chronically underserved by existing support structures. The founder, a cancer survivor herself, had a clear vision: a peer-led digital community where people could connect not around their diagnosis, but around who they are. I was brought in through Toptal as a freelance UX designer to shape the iOS app experience from the ground up – no brief, no prior design, just a founder with a mission and a prototype deadline. The work needed to be fast, sensitive, and exactly right. The prototype would determine whether the nonprofit could secure the funding to become real.
Problem Space
Understanding the challenge.
Business Challenge
The founder needed a high-fidelity iOS prototype compelling enough to attract investors and donors to a nonprofit that didn't yet exist in digital form. The design had to communicate trustworthiness, emotional safety, and clear utility – simultaneously to two audiences: the young adults who would use it and the funders who needed to believe in it. There was no room for a version one that felt rough.
User Pain Points
Young adults with cancer occupy an emotional space that most digital products aren't designed for – somewhere between vulnerability and fierce independence. They don't want to be defined by their diagnosis. They want connection that feels human first, medical second. Research with the founder – herself a peer of the intended users – revealed that the most dangerous design decision would be leading with cancer type. That information, shown too soon, reduces a whole person to a condition. The app needed to show the person first.
Constraints
The project was a two-person operation: one designer, one founder. Every decision needed to move quickly and carry weight. iOS design conventions had to be respected to make the prototype feel credible and native – a rough prototype could undermine donor confidence. The subject matter required emotional sensitivity that typical UX frameworks don't account for – language, imagery, and interaction patterns all carried more consequence than in a commercial product.
Research
How we listened.
Key Insights
- 1Cancer type should not appear on initial peer profiles – it doesn't define a person, it's a temporary struggle
- 2The app needed to feel inviting, genuine, safe, and uplifting – four qualities rarely found together in health-adjacent products
- 3Peer connection needed to feel chosen, not assigned – users needed agency in who they reached out to
- 4Onboarding was the highest-stakes moment: if it felt clinical or bureaucratic, trust would never recover
“It doesn't define a person – it is just a temporary struggle.
Strategy
How we framed the opportunity.
Research synthesis revealed a clear through-line: the core issue wasn't functional – it was relational. The product wasn't failing to provide information; it was failing to establish trust, set expectations, and create the conditions for confident action.
We organized the design work around three strategic bets: (1) progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load at each step, (2) transparency as a feature – making the system's behavior predictable and legible, and (3) emotional tone calibration to match the level of stakes users brought to the experience.
Process
How we got there.
Experience Strategy
Worked directly with the founder to define a three-step experience strategy: connect with the community, find your peer, stay engaged. Every feature decision mapped back to one of these three moments. This framework kept the prototype focused and made the investor narrative coherent.
Focus Group Outcomes Session
What Young Adults Need from a Peer Support App
Top Needs – % of participants
Participant Voices
"Not 'too much cancer' – it's about the people."
"We met through cancer, but we're not friends because of cancer."
"It takes energy to think. I want something smart that helps me."
"My phone was my lifeline during cancer."
"Talking to others was only useful when I was ready for it."
Design Principles Emerging
Person-first
Hide diagnosis on initial profiles
Safe & regulated
Data privacy, moderated space
Low effort
Fatigue-aware – simple & fast
Peer-led
Connection, not clinical support
On your terms
Available when the user is ready
Mobile-first
Phone as lifeline during treatment
Persona & Journey Mapping
Developed personas grounded in the founder's lived experience and extended through secondary research on young adult cancer patients. Mapped the emotional journey from diagnosis through isolation to first meaningful peer connection – identifying the moments where the app could intervene with the most impact.
Primary Persona · New Patient
Persona 1
Logan
New patient · Age 24
Occupation
Young Professional
Location
London, UK
Family
Single
Digital
iOS · Facebook · Instagram
"Not 'too much cancer' – it's about what we are. We met through cancer, but we're not friends because of cancer."
Goals & Interests
Find friends and peer support
Feel understood without explaining everything
Have a companion through treatment
Connect with others who share similar experiences
Pain Points
Isolation – no one his age in treatment
Friends lack understanding of his condition
Unsure what to say or how to reach out
Individual conversations feel exhausting
Motivations
Personality
User Journey Map
Logan – From Diagnosis to Community Belonging
Actions
Pain
App
Onboarding Design
Designed an onboarding flow that introduced Alike as a team – a community of people who understand – before asking anything of the user. The tone was warm and peer-voiced, not clinical. The goal was to make the user feel seen before they'd shared a single detail about themselves.
Peer-Matching Interface
Designed the core peer-meeting experience around profile cards showing name, age, location, and interests – deliberately leading with life, not illness. Users could say hi, send a message, or pass without friction. The interaction pattern was familiar enough to feel safe but purposeful enough to feel different from social media.
Engagement Features
Designed the engagement layer – peer posts, podcasts, and curated media resources – to give users reasons to return even when they weren't ready to reach out directly. Content became a gentler entry point into community.
Solution
What we built.
We designed a high-fidelity iOS app that put the person before the patient. Three core experiences – a warm onboarding flow, a person-first peer-matching interface, and a content-driven community feed – worked together to make connection feel safe, chosen, and genuinely human.
Warm, Peer-Voiced Onboarding
Three onboarding screens introduced Alike as a community of people who understand – before asking anything of the user. The tone was peer-voiced, not clinical. Illustrations and copy were deliberately warm, positioning the app as a companion, not a tool.
Person-First Peer Cards
Peer profiles led with name, age, location, and personal interests – never with diagnosis. Users could say hi, send a message, or pass without friction. The card design made connection feel chosen and human, not clinical or assigned.
Community & Content Feed
Posts, podcasts, and curated resources gave users a low-effort entry point into community – especially for those not yet ready to reach out directly. Content became the gentler on-ramp to genuine peer connection.
A Complete iOS Experience
The full prototype delivered a native-feeling iOS app – credible enough to secure investor confidence and emotionally considered enough to feel safe for the young adults it was built for. Every interaction pattern respected the sensitivity of the subject matter.
Impact
What changed.
Complete high-fidelity iOS prototype launched on schedule
Founder successfully launched Alike as a registered nonprofit
Prototype attracted initial investors and donor funding for operations
Entire UX conceived, designed, and prototyped from a blank canvas
Reflection
What I learned.
Kindred is the project I return to when I need to remember why UX design matters. Not because it was the most complex system I've designed – it wasn't. But because the stakes were entirely human. Every micro-decision carried consequence: the order information appeared on a profile card, the words in a push notification, whether a button said 'maybe later' instead of 'skip.' These choices weren't about conversion rates. They were about whether someone navigating one of the hardest experiences of their life would feel safe enough to reach out to a stranger. The most important design decision we made – hiding cancer type from initial peer profiles – came directly from the founder's own experience of not wanting to be reduced to her diagnosis. That's a reminder I carry into every project: the people closest to the problem often hold the most important design insight. My job was to listen, translate, and build something worthy of the trust being placed in it.