Spoony – All of the friends, none of the fear. 

Spoony is the world’s first social network designed exclusively for neurodivergent, chronically ill and disabled people. 

Shadowboxer
2024 - 2025

Scope: Brand, Brand guidelines, Brand collateral, Product and experience design, Web design, Market research, Community engagement, Roadmap development

Team: Design Director (me), Creative Director (copy), 2x Designers on and off, Product Owner (Jan-Mar 25), Development (team Spoony)

Explore Spoony

The world’s first social network designed exclusively for neurodivergent, chronically ill and disabled people.

Founded in 2024 by Nicholas Carlton, we worked with Spoony (and their community) to build their brand and design their MVP in 2024 then helped to validate and shape the roadmap in 2025 while expanding the product in pursuit of product-market-fit.

For people who are disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent, social media can amplify (rather than ease) feelings of social isolation. Why? Because it’s designed for the mainstream, not the niche. Ableism is rife. Customisation and sensory-friendly features are lacking. Autoplay and excessive notifications overstimulate, or worse, trigger illness. Captions and alt-text are autogenerated and often wrong. And users can get suppressed for posting about things they need support with. Enter Spoony — a safe place designed for and with the disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent community.

Spoony is not your (neuro)typical social app. It’s a platform that puts inclusivity first. Small touches like conversation starters, sensory friendly style, spoon statuses, alt text and more combine with major features like matching and health journals to create a greater experience for all.

Community involvement was a key principle from the get-go. From early insights to shape the product focus (dating vs friendship) to brand territory and UI feedback to deep engagement around features and wonderfully detailed bug reports, the 40k+ strong community shaped and co-developed a product that is right for them. And it shows in the numbers.

Results, 6 months post launch

25%

Monthly retention rate 
(compared to 3.9% social media average*).

*https://sendbird.com/blog/app-retention-benchmarks-broken-down-by-industry

+1hr

Average session duration
(<5mins social media average).

18.84%

Reduction in social isolation
reported by Spoonies after using the app.

Want to learn more about this project? 
Take a look under the hood.

All work was conceptualised and executed on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past and present.
Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Made with 🤍 in Melbourne in 2025.