Stimulate Case Study
Timeline
October - June 2021
My Role
Solo student project for CareerFoundry UX/UI Bootcamp
PROBLEM
We live in a digital age where everything is connected and virtual. The problem with this “always-on” lifestyle is that many people are suffering from burnout. Add to that the stresses of work, socioeconomic factors, inflation, and just life in general…it’s no wonder so many people struggle with staying on top of there health needs and conditions.
Additionally…
Applications available fail to design an inclusive product adhering to various user needs.
Mental health apps on the market lack either usability, personalization, credibility, or visually appealing UI. Users want something engaging, trustworthy, and aesthetically pleasing. According to a research article collecting 13,549 reviews from 106 mental health apps from both Google Play and Apple Store, the review analysis shows that:
How might we create a one-stop solution to simultaneously educate, engage, entertain, and provide tools promoting a healthy, balanced lifestyle?
SOLUTION
A multifunctional hub where users can explore diverse options personalized to their specific journeys.
EMPATHIZE: DESK RESEARCH
There is a mental health crisis that is being pushed under the rug.
According to VeryWell Mind, 76% of Americans acknowledge the importance of taking care of their mental health, but our actions seem to reflect a different reality:
“..61% of Americans spend more time working on their physical health, compared to 39% who focus more on their mental health”
There can be numerous stipulations made on the why of this statistic, and i’ve broken it down into 3 predicaments:
People don’t have knowledge of different coping mechanisms/tools
People don’t have necessary coverage to pay for expensive therapy sessions
There’s been a stigma engrained in our society about mental health that puts a bad light on seeking help or feeling “different”
EMPATHIZE: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competition lacked personalization and customization.
Each apps reviewed had their own strengths and offered a wide variety of tools, but they seem to require a large amount of input with very little output from the application itself, which can consequently deter users due to monotonous data entry with no gain.
EMPATHIZE: SURVEY AND INTERVIEWS
90% of my 27 participants have never used a mental health app, but answered that they’re struggling with anxiety, depression, insecurities, and motivation.
DEFINE: INTERVIEWS + AFFINITY MAPPING
I interviewed 6 participants that fit the mold of my target audience and synthesized the information into an affinity map to help form insights. These insights were gathered and distributed into categories that shared similarities.
DEFINE: USER PERSONAS
From the qualitative and quantitative data collected, I’ve created 2 core user personas that have captured the essence of my target audience:
DEFINE: USER JOURNEY MAPS
With the characteristics of the user personas in mind, I can now step into their shoes further by walking them through specific flows in Stimulate.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: SITEMAP
The sitemap created is an infusion of my findings from my open and closed card sorting. I really put my users at the forefront to try and eliminate any of my own biases. The feedback allowed me to discover that participants like the category “Healthkit” in comparison to “Toolkit” or “Challenges”, and provided me with fresh insight on how potential users would like
Results gathered from the closed and open card sorting overlapped. Using the data from the cards, categories, and similarity matrix, I iterated and created the third version of my site map which is shown below.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: USER FLOWS
With the analysis of where the users organically categorize topics, I created 3 user flows: Completing a Guided Goal prompt, Completing a Mood Check-in, then viewing your Mood Insights afterwards. Completing a Guided Goal prompt is shown below.
DESIGN
Turning conceptualization into reality for a compelling and intuitive user interface.
Attempting to create a heath and wellness portal without making it too clunky, disorganized, or over-informative is tricky. Using the data from my various research methods, I’ve broken Stimulate’s features down into 4 digestible categories: Home, Discover, Healthkit, and Profile.
DESIGN: TIMELINE OF LOW-HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES, TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
3 major improvements in my design
Keeping a user-centric focus (while also considering business requirements), I iterated and revised my design. These iterations are based on usability testing feedback, peer reviews, and mentor/tutor recommendations:
USABILITY TEST FINDINGS
Out of 16 classified errors, 11 are cosmetic and 5 need to be iterated and improved
The feedback received was mostly positive. Participants enjoyed the content but thought that getting there was the biggest issue. Fixing these issues will create a smoother experience when asked to complete a task during testing.
FINAL SCREENS
The final product
The Design System
CONCLUSION + LESSONS LEARNED
What I’d do differently next time.
Understanding the power of a singular color. Upon choosing the right fit for colors to best represent the tone of Stimulate, I struggled, HARD. Why? Because the opportunities and decisions are endless. I’ve tried 4 different color palette choices which took me an unintended longer amount of time. For my next project, I’ll try a different method in finding a palette.
Usability testing. During testing, participants veered off quite often to talk about something pertaining to mental health, and I had a hard time veering them back to the task at hand. This made reviewing the recordings more tedious. Additionally, the direct and scenario tasks were a bit lengthy which prolonged my review. During my second round of testing the high-fidelity versions, I’ll make the tasks short and sweet and learn how to naturally steer participants back to the task with the help of YouTube and Medium :)
Don’t fixate, move on. I’m a perfectionist, so I don’t like turning in assignments unless it’s absolutely perfect and made to the best of my ability. While this might be a good quality in some scenarios, I’ve learned that in highly stressful situations, I need to let little things go and focus on the bigger picture. Even though your work isn’t always at 100%, there’s always someone you can turn to in UX/UI forums that can assist you so you’re not stuck on one thing for 200 hours.