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Balance hero.jpg

Balance (v2.0)

THE PRODUCT:

A library of reliable and easily accessible information on mental health and self-awareness along with streamlined services and alternatives for therapy and self-care.

PROJECT DURATION: v2.0 -Jan.2023 / v1 - October 2021- November2021

MY ROLE: UX Researcher, UX/UI designer, designing the app from conception to testing.

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SOFTWARES USED: Figma, Miro, Survey Monkey, Pen/paper

Project Overview

I chose to work on this issue as it has become an even major concern as COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated it and has had severe adverse effects on people’s mental health.

56 million

Indians suffer from depression

PROBLEMS -

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  • Lack of awareness

  • Stigmatization, specially in India has been a major reason for lack of awareness of such issues.

  • Limited number of apps that focus solely on mental health assistance (above that they have paid subscriptions).

  • Reaching out to the right counselor/therapist is a very challenging process.

  • Expensive services for any kind of therapy.

38 million

Indians suffer from anxiety disorders

GOALS -

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A single platform for reliable and easily accessible information on mental health and self-awareness along with streamlined services and alternatives for therapy and self-care.

A service that users could trust in their times of stress, sadness, and affliction for any solution they might need.

Research

User research

Research goals - 

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  • Finding out problems encountered by people and how is their approach to it.

  • Understand the type of methods people use to solve their problems and how effective it is.

  • To evaluate the existing options of psychological support systems, their accessibility and success.

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Secondary research - 

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I read articles, surveys and researches conducted by institutes and NGOs such as WHO, TLLLF and some of the key insights I found from the research conducted are:

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7.5%

Indian population suffers from some form of mental disorder

20%

adolescents globally experience mental health conditions.

10%

children aged 5-16 years have a clinically diagnosable mental problem.​

1 in 7 Indians

suffered from mental disorders in 2017.

Source: Lancet Psychiatry

Mental Illnesses that begin at around age 14

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Many of them often go undetected and untreated

Source: WHO

566%

Demand increase for Mental health apps,
demand for online prescriptions has doubled in past four years.

Source: Building Better Healthcare

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Primary research - 

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  1. For primary research I first conducted a survey to help me understand the level of awareness people have and to explore their attitudes towards mental health issues.  This survey was done by 30 people mostly between ages 20 to 55 and dealt with basic questions like:

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  • How has the pandemic affected their mental well being?

  • What is mental illness according to them?

  • How should a person with mental issues be treated?

  • How can they know if a person is going through mental illness and how do they help them?

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A diagrammatical representation of the statistics obtained from the survey:

Key insights on survey - 

Indicating high level of stigma

respondents used words like 'retard, crazy / mad / stupid, careless / irresponsible' to describe people with mental illness

Indicating lack of awareness

respondents agree that one of the main causes of mental illness is the lack of self-discipline and will-power

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2. Later I conducted user interviews for which I shortlisted 5 candidates, who had sought therapy/considered it or have issues like anxiety and depression.​

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Key insights on interview - 

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  • "I would want to go but not sure if the doctors are good and qualified."

  • "Good therapists charge too much for their services."

  • "Before starting the sessions, I would first want to know my compatibility with the therapist."

  • "The items present on internet are very generic, I would want to get a more specific articles and sessions."

  • "I would check the cost, specializations, ratings before considering a therapist”

 

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For better understanding I grouped the insights gathered from user interviews on the basis of similarities. I was able to categorize them as follows:

Competitive analysis

At this stage, I searched for other mental health apps having similar value proposition as Balance. The various features present in the apps were noted and drafted in a digestible tabular structure as below.

competitive analysis.jpg

User Persona

Based on the affinity map and interviews I came up with a persona which would later help me in formulating a problem statement.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

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Johnci is a marketing manager who wants to search for a professional with whom she is comfortable in sharing her feelings and problems as it would help her tackle it more effectively and efficiently.

Define

User flow and Site map

Based on the Competitive analysis, I created a very basic user flow for the appointment booking and therapist confirming an appointment.

Based on the Competitive analysis, I created a very basic user flow for the appointment booking and therapist confirming an appointment.

Ideate

Ideating

Making some iterations of the main screens by sketching to get in the flow and then slowly work on to the other pages. 

Balance sketch-1_edited.jpg
Balance sketch-4_edited.jpg
Balance sketch-3_edited.jpg

Low Fidelity Prototype

Test & Design

User Testing

Research Questions

  1. Are users able to find mental health assistance techniques?

  2. Where do users get stuck?

  3. Does user think the app is easy or difficult to use? Why?

  4. Are users able to find a professional and schedule a session?

  5. How long does it take the user to schedule sessions?

Participants

  • 5 participants

  • Two male, three female users between ages 20 and 60.

  • Participants have either sought therapy, considered it or are dealing with stress/depression.

  • Participants use stress management apps online or have done consultations with it's help.

Methodology

  • Unmoderated usability study.

  • Location: INDIA, remote.

  • Length: Each session - 5 to 10 minutes, based on a list of tasks.

  • Users were asked to place order on a low-fidelity prototype.

Usability Study Findings

  • The awareness logo and page name needs to be more intuitive. Users didn’t understand the page's need and were confused about it.

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  • Slot booking CTA was not user friendly and needed better interaction.

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  • Users wanted the app to provide personalized information. A page for personalization needs to be added while registering in the app.

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  • Some users wanted to contact remotely via chat to therapist. Chat feature needs to be introduced.

Sticker sheet.jpg

Iterations and Final UI Design

Boarding page.jpg

Screen made more informative, as many users were experiencing confusion with the button usage in the low fidelity prototype.

Also switched there places since 'Seek Therapy' had more priority.

Awareness page renamed to explore for more intuitive user flow and better user understanding.

Hi Fidelity Prototype

Improvisations in Version 2

Added some features like:​

  • A page for personalization of the app according to user needs while registering in the app.

  • A video introduction of the professionals, so users can get a better insight and make informed decisions about choosing their therapists. 

Next Steps

For the future iterations I would like to add some features like:​

  • A chat feature to contact remotely to the therapists inside the app.

  • Add small games to help the users get to understand themselves better.

  • Daily affirmations and mood tracker.

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