The goal of this project was to expand my design skills while also incorporating my passion of mental health into the product. After conducting research and finding a platform to build this product on, I made a mobile app directory of activities, movies, and apps for the user to utilize as a way to "feel good".
Date Started
January 5, 2021
Date Completed
January 20, 2021
My Responsibilities
Brainstormed/created app idea
Researched various resources to include in the app
Added all data and information to spreadsheet
Planned the navigation and layout of the app
Planned the design and color scheme of the app
Tools Used
1. The Challenge
The Goal
As someone highly interested in the amalgamation of mental health and technology, I wanted to challenge myself and decided to create an actual product that targets mental wellbeing. I chose to make a directory/community of "feel good" resources. My goal for this project was to design and build a web app, have people use it, and have those users leave feedback.
2. The Process
Research
To ensure this product was as effective as possible, I researched various topics such as current mental health applications, potential activities users can participate in, and what to build the platform on.
Based on my research, I found that prior to modern day technology, many individuals did not have access to mental health related services causing them to become further stigmatized by being forced to participate in unnecessary treatments such as lobotomies or shock therapy. Thanks to technology being integrated into our lives more and more everyday, services for mental health are being made available to people who otherwise may have never been able to receive treatment.
After completing this research, I decided to make a directory of comforting movies to watch, meditation videos to follow, free mental health apps to use, and relaxing activities to do.
I chose to make this application on the platform “Glide” where a user can make an application from a spreadsheet. I organized and added all the various resources to a spreadsheet, which I then, loaded into glide.
Initial Sketches
After completing initial research, I started working on creating initial rough sketches for the design of the mobile app. The image to the left shows a few screens encompassing ideas that I wanted to be incorporated in the app, like a comment section, movie genre, and movie image.
Competitive Review
My research included analyzing current popular mindfulness apps, to gain an understanding of which features are popular/useful. I completed a competitive review of some of these apps. I identified key features and made note of what the apps were lacking in order to identify opportunities for my own project. I observed how many of these applications did not offer free options. Additionally, there was not much of a community aspect present in these applications. Seeing this, I decided on creating a directory of mental health resources, including various meditations and a comments features for users to be able to interact with one another.
The two upmost images are buttons within the app, and the bottom image is the app's icon. All were designed with pastel and comforting visuals in
Design
After loading all the data, it came time to actually design the product. I wanted this tool’s design to reflect the comforting feeling that it is supposed to provide the users. For this reason, I decided to make the primary color of this app a cool pastel lavender color and chose bubbly, appealing images for icons. Cooler tones like lavender are known to have a calming effect on viewers. This design provides the user with the most uplifted and relaxed experience.
Reference:
Cherry, Kendra. “Can Color Affect Your Mood and Behavior?” Verywell Mind, 28 May 2020, www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-2795824#:~:text=Colors%20on%20the%20blue%20side,feelings%20of%20sadness%20or%20indifference.
3. Results
The Final Design
After completing the design of this web app, I was able to share it with peers. Within 24 hours, over 60 users had signed up for this service.
Some users even provided their feedback, stating positive remarks:
"This is honestly a really cool and unique app idea."
"I think [the app's] super useful and I'm definitely planning on doing the activities"
"I love the idea, and its design is super cute."
The app can be downloaded through this link: https://limitless-middle-4894.glideapp.io/
Future Plans
Creating this app taught me more about the process behind brainstorming and research. As a way to ensure users continue to use this application, I plan to continue updating the app with new resources and activities every two weeks. I hope to encourage more community building on this application with these new resources being a way for potential conversations to start in comment sections.
