Problem Statement: In a limited amount of time, conduct market research, and develop a user interface and branding/style guide for a new mental health app
Role
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer, Graphic Designer (Individual Project)
Timeframe
12 Hours
Tools
Miro (Ideation + research), Figma (Wireframe + Prototype), Illustrator (Graphics), InDesign (Presentation)
12 Hour Design Challenge - In a limited time frame, conduct market research and produce a UI prototype with branding for a new mental health app
Inspired by my own battles with mental health, Grow aims to create an app to provide tools for self help in the management of mental health conditions. It offers tools aimed at short-term immediate help through games for things such as anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, dissociation etc., as well as help working towards long term goals (with an emphasis on personal ‘Grow’th) and steering users towards local services for professional help.
Due to the limited time frame for the project , it wasn’t possible to conduct user research as desired. Instead, data and primary research had to come from market research to see what products already existed, and generative data created through mind mapping and employing design thinking.
Scope
Market Research
Research
The branding for Grow focused heavily on flowers for several reasons. Primarily, taking care of flowers is a drawn out process of caring for them, ensuring they have enough water, sunlight, soil, nutrients etc., and serve as a perfect metaphor for self-care.
Looking after a plant is also considered a good form of self-care as it helps form a routine and structure where you can see the positive improvements over time.
Lastly the name and brand was also established based on the idea of a growth mindset, how positive thinking and optimism improves attainment.
Grow Branding
One of the main goals was to create an interface free of
Pre-conceived gender stereotypes such as a strong blue or pink presence, as this can be off-putting to some clients.
With the theme of growth, an organic colour palette was created inspired by natural colours from water and sunsets. This colour selection keeps the app bright and cheerful without feeling overwhelming or ‘cheesy’
Colour Palette
Quicksand was selected for this project due to it being fairly light, and easy to read. It has a youthful playful feel thanks to its rounded edges, making it a great font to accompany the playful elements of the app, while still retaining enough respect to warrant the more serious subject matters.
Font
When dealing with mental health as a design topic, it's important to be very serious in considering the implications of your design.
This design concept was in no way intended to be a crisis service or a professional staffed service, but a simple mood tool, and it was important to establish this from the start.
With this in mind, safeguarding users and being able to direct them to an appropriate crisis service for the help they need was a key issue. This is why one of the first pages designed was the disclaimer and terms of use. This screen features as part of all log in methods as a clear reminder when accessing the app that it was not a crisis service and to contact emergency services if in crisis.
Further Considerations
User Safety
Other Projects
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