Client
Stampede Design (Internal project)
Year
2020
Team size
1
My role
User research, user interface design
Overview
This was a design project (similar to a Capstone project in university but this was in a design company) when I was an design apprentice in Stampede Design back in late 2020. It was one of my proudest work as I got create a lot of custom illustrations with personalities that express different emotions. The idea of Mindful came from a selection of 5 other ideas when I was brainstorming and discussing them with my pricinpal designer.
The Problem
I selected a mental health related project because I thought that the during the COVID-19 Pandemic it was a problem that was very relatable to a lot of people in the world and some people close to me was also experiencing it. It was a hard and impactul problem to solve.
Guided paths to improve one's mindfulness
When I was sketching my solution flows and wireframes for the solution. I had the idea of helping people to improve their mental health through a series of guided steps and very nice visuals as I thought that by having people to follow steps will be a lot easier to come up with their own ideas.
Creating a warm and soothing app experience
Colours
I knew for a mental health app it needed to be relaxing and warn when the users are using it so I looked into pastel colours for the interface.
Typography
For the typography I used Poppins as it is easy on the eyes which will make reading the text easier. The geometrical structure of the letters are also very nice to look at when placed on the interface with other elements.
Illustrations
One of my favourite things in this project was creating the illustrations. They were the key visual element in the app. I wanted to include illustrations because they could connect with the user more easily when they are learning how to improve their mental health.
Diving into Mindful's Screens
Besides offering step-by-step guides. A few other things I included Activities and a gamification concept of collecting of cards like (Pokemon trading cards!)
Landing pages for the app
Another thing I did was to simulate how the app can be marketed through a landing page. Here's what I introduced for Mindful's landing page.
Testing and the results
I tested the first version of Mindful with some of my colleagues who had experience using various mental health apps and this is what they said.
It is never a one-off solution
Mental health solutions are never universal and can never be general as it needs time to get to know the person even before helping them with their problems. Though Mindful's interface is aesthetically pleasing it was missing one very major component in helping to improve mental health which is the human component. Having a professional will really help the person to navigate the complex problems within their minds.