Lead UI/UX Designer - conceptualization, research, analysis, user flows, design system, lo-fi, hi-fi designs
CheerU is a mental health app designed to support college students in and achieving connecting with therapists, tracking moods, self-improvement goals . As the lead UI/UX designer, I directed the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and final designs while incorporating user feedback at every stage. Key features include guided exercises, therapist connections, and personalized podcasts. CheerU aims to promote mental health awareness and provide accessible tools for personal growth and emotional well-being.
Above is one of my competitor analysis on the app Take a Break. Analyzing related apps reviewed the following market trends:
We conducted general research, gathering users thoughts on past experiences with mental health app features. We conducted an online survey that gained a total of 43 responses, as well as 6 in-depth interviews. Through Affinity Mappings, we organized this insights and came to the following conclusions:
Major pain points of mental health management
Goals users want to achieve
With Hot Ideas, we brainstormed features to best help users combat pain points and achieve their goals.
How can we create a digital solution that empowers college students to better understand their emotional well-being, access support, and foster long-term mental health improvement?
From our user research findings, we narrowed down to these 6 user goals surrounding mental health:
We began brainstorming and visualizing these features. below are the sketches I made for Incentivizing Consistency's storyboard and early UI for the home page, and the user flow connecting consistency to therapist features.
In the Lofi prototype we emphasized the flow of features and a comfortable, intuitive layout. It consisted of five main parts: Onboarding, Home, Guides, Therapy and Profile. Onboarding's goal is to create an immersive introduction to the app. Home page emphasizes streaks and daily health tracking data to motivate consistent use. Guides includes a tree of goals selected by the user according to their interests, each with its own series of exercises for the user to complete, allowing for a personalized experience. Therapy connects first-time users to healthcare professionals through a questionnaire, or alternatively gives the option to add a therapist that they already know, establishing live communication through chatrooms. Lastly, profile provided users with customizability in their avatar and app color themes, along with other settings.
User tests were conducted with this Lofi model and the feedback indicated still a lack of intuitive navigation. Users were confused about the guides feature and the home page functions. Thus, our later iterations focused intently on making the app user friendly, as well as tying together some of the features in the home page (further discussed below in Feedback & Improvements).
The design system was created for the Hifi prototype around the theme of uplifting, warming, and rich in color and mood. We decided on a darker color theme to evoke the emotions of comfort and emotional depth. However, one weakness is that the default pink palette may discourage use from the general male audience due to its stereotypical association with the female gender. We are planning to address this problem with the support of further user testing, though ultimately the color theme is customizable.
