Mental Health App

Providing accessible mental health resources

Role

Product Designer
UX Researcher

Time

1 Week
Spring 2021

Team

Isha Tamrakar
Reece Kuramoto

Context

Sora is a week-long case competition project developed by undergraduate students passionate about mental health awareness. Our team split into Design, Marketing, HR, Finance, Competitive Analysis, and Business Development committees to create a well-rounded pitch to our stakeholders.

The Task

Develop a mock mobile application that connects students to mental health resources.

Background ResearcH

Take it to the books...

We began our research process with journal articles and books on mental health's impact on student life and proper treatment.

WHy is this important?

40% of students reported experiencing depression, and this number is only on the rise

20.6% of American Adults suffer from mental illness.

1 of 8 from this group received proper treatment

49.9% of American Adults ages 18-24 reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders

Competitive Analysis

We looked into competitive analysis to understand released apps, find pain points, and develop competitive edges.

Informational Interviews

Where do you find mental health resources? How was that experience?

"I have trouble booking appointments with campus therapists because they are all booked for months."

"I don't go to therapy because it costs too much..."

"I just want one place, where I can get the help I need. There are many steps and waiting involved..."

How do you destress?

"Talking things out with someone always makes me feel better..."

"I play games on my phone to distract me from what is happening."

"My therapist taught me to take deep breathes and it always works..."

Final Design

Introducing Sora

onboarding

Let's get
started!

Purpose

Sora greets new users with questionnaires to collect general information and wellbeing status.

The information provided will help match users to therapists.

Design Choices

Progress bar to track onboarding

Feedback screen to indicate completions

Fill in & multiple choice questions

Mindful Dashboard

You are
doing great!

Purpose

Users can take daily mental health check-ins to track of their progress.

Users can view daily reminders and gentle encouragement notes.

Design Choices

Well-being index

Questions

Daily Reminder Checklist

Connect with your Therapist

Match with professionals

Purpose

Users can view recommended therapists and mental health professionals through our swiping system.

Users can can mark interested and not interested after reviewing.

Matches are found in Messages page

Design Choices

Profile swiping

Cards for visual organization

Tags highlighting specializations

Mindful Activities

Destress
on the go!

Purpose

Users can participate in mental health exercises to relieve and manage mental stress.

For example, we can head to the Name Game activity, which helps users focus.

Design Choices

Checkpoint to track progress in activities

Categorize by activities and exercises

Takeaways

Research.

Tackling mental health problems is a large task. I learned that the first step for any project is to gain valuable research and information. This means taking the time to understand the problem and its context.

Through our competitive analysis, background research, and user testing, I learned why apps are built a certain way and form design choices that are backed up with data. Before designing, I will take time to understand what exactly I am solving.

Collaborate is key!

I gained insight working with fellow designers from learning features in Figma to different approaches to human-centered design. I had a blast bouncing off ideas with my team and exchanging tips and tricks. As designers, there is always room to learn and teach each other our crafts.