Project Type
Passion Project
Strategies
UX Research, UI Design, Prototyping, Branding
Timeline
10 weeks
Tools used
Figma, InVision, Adobe Illustrator + Photoshop
At a Glance
The Problem
Currently, more than 7 million people in Canada are living with a mental health condition. That’s 1 in 5 people. However, 40% of people who have experienced feelings of anxiety or depression have never sought help because of the stigmas attached to mental health. We don't talk about mental health enough, and we should.
The Solution
Our mobile app, re:mind, is a community that connects Millennials to one another where users can anonymously share their feelings and receive support and resources.
How might we ease Millennials into thinking about mental health and wellness so that we can normalize talking about the topic?
Research
Research Goal
To determine the barriers and concerns Millennials (ages 24-40) have about starting conversations about mental health and wellness so that we can address these issues with our design solution.
Research Methods
Eight 30-minute semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted over Zoom video call, using a script with follow-up questions and prompts
Participant Criteria
• Must be between the ages of 24-40 (Millennials' age range in 2021)
• Have access and/familiarity to a smartphone
• Have lived in Canada for more than 4 years (to ensure they have the cultural experience to inform from a Canadian cultural perspective)
• Have access and/familiarity to a smartphone
• Have lived in Canada for more than 4 years (to ensure they have the cultural experience to inform from a Canadian cultural perspective)
Key Insights
• Millennials have an overwhelmingly positive and encouraging response to hearing that their friends or coworkers go to therapy
• Some express hesitation in seeking help themselves
• There is a mental step required in talking to a therapist; some find the process daunting and half express interest in a digital platform that allows them to remain anonymous
• Millennials value close personal relationships with others greatly and are very selective in who they share their feelings with
• They are interested in hearing about others’ experiences with therapy, whether that’s inquiring about friends’ experiences, asking for recommendations or reading about strangers’ posts on an online forum
User Persona
Based on the primary and second research conducted, a user persona was created. Our target audience is Millennials who would like to explore mental health privately. Meet Carson, a 29 year old high school teacher who would like to understand himself and his feelings more.
User Task Flow
After working through different user stories, the core epic selected was "Connecting with Others". This addresses the HMW question the best in starting conversations about mental health. The majority of existing mental health apps focus on the individual being, and not collective connections, so we thought this would be a unique space to fill.
Task 1: Access the forum to share feelings
Task 2: Write about feelings
Task 3: Select relevant tags
Task 4: Complete breathing exercise
Task 5: Explore and interact with posts/resources
Final Prototype
After incorporating some branding with colours, typography and graphic elements, we are proud to introduce re:mind, the mobile app that connects you to other millennials to explore your feelings, thoughts and mental wellness.
Features
• Auto-generated theme tags to guide users and offer insight
• Custom resource generator tailored for each user's unique experience
• Meditation exercises to ground the user as they navigate through their feelings
• Custom resource generator tailored for each user's unique experience
• Meditation exercises to ground the user as they navigate through their feelings
Connect with Others—Read about the experiences of others, weigh in on the conversations and interact with others in the community
Share Your Experience—Write what's on your mind as an anonymous user, with auto-generated theme tags to guide you as you write
Receive Resources & Support—Read about others' shared experiences and explore the different resources, verified by re:mind's therapist friends and other community users
Practice Your Breathing—Sharing emotional experiences can be difficult; take some time to relax, calm your mind and ground yourself
Marketing Website
A marketing website was developed on desktop and mobile platforms to introduce our new product to users.
Moving Forward
Design Impact + Future Thinking
With re:mind, we have connected two facets of mental health: sharing our feelings and exploring resources individually. We hope that our platform encourages those who are curious about mental health to explore and connect with others who share the same experience. Looking ahead to the future, we would like to integrate an easy way for those who are interested to connect with therapists and counsellors as a next step. With this feature, our product will provide a holistic experience for users to explore their feelings, seek online resources and talk to a therapist.
Key Project Learnings
We don’t need new features to create a new product. In order to create a new product to address our problem, we thought we needed brand new features. It turns out, we just needed a new approach to existing features. We looked at the needs of our target audience and explored the features we liked from existing apps to address the gap. We implemented features that would have direct, and positive, impacts on our valued users.
