Rethinq: A Mental Wellness Application
Researching, Conceptualizing, Designing, and Building an App in 9 Days
My time as an Ironhack has done nothing but fly by. There is something about sitting at your desk for fourteen hours a day Monday through Friday with your brain going full speed that just makes time pass.
These past two weeks I was able to work on my first full individual project from start to finish. I got to make researched-based decisions on the concept, features, and design of my app which I named Rethinq. Read on to see my Double Diamond guided design process!
The Brief
The brief for this project was to first choose one of six dimensions of wellness (defined here by the National Wellness Institute (NWI)), and then, research users’ relationship with that particular area to develop a coach-to-client application.
The app had to include a way for clients to set goals, do activities, and share their progress with their coach. The app’s UI had to have a fresh, updated look to go along with the NWI’s push to develop a new visual system that reflects their innovative and refreshed approach to wellness.
About the National Wellness Institute
The National Wellness Institute defines itself as,
the leader in providing professional development and engagement opportunities that support individuals from a variety of disciplines in promoting whole–person wellness.
They provide certifications for wellness professionals, continuing education programs, and hold wellness conferences. They continue to uphold and represent the professional standards for the health and wellness industry.
The area of wellness I decided to focus on for this project was mental wellness. In brief, the NWI describes mental wellness as the ability to accept one’s feelings, the ability to center and manage emotions and stress, possession of emotional resilience, and the ability to be attuned to others’ emotions.
Secondary Research
From the beginning, I had an interest in seeing what types of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy apps (REBT) existed. I‘ve had experience with CBT and REBT from my own mental health journey.
According to Statista, CBT was the second most common type of therapy practiced in the US right behind psychotherapy. What is the difference between CBT and REBT you ask? Well, Albert Ellis founded REBT in 1955 and since then, different forms of REBT have developed, mainly called CBT.
REBT is a theory-based approach to therapy that focuses on the idea that it's not the events themselves that happen to us that are the reasons for our distress, but our perception of those events. You can read more about the differences between CBT and REBT here.
Market Research
I started my market research with a feature comparison matrix. I downloaded seven different mental wellness apps like the popular meditation app, Headspace, and journaling app, Jour, which I later considered to be my indirect competitors. My direct competitors included CBT Companion, MindDoc, Bold, and CBT Thought Diary. I also wanted to see what the NOCD app was all about.
I focused on features like journaling options, sleep assistance, meditation, community boards, and education. Apps like Headspace and Jour had this “overall wellness” approach to them. They pushed the ideas of mindfulness and meditation. The other apps focused on CBT learnings, mood tracking, and journaling. One of my biggest takeaways from this tool was the fact that there were no Ellis teachings on universal self, life, and other acceptance. Few apps covered the ideas of irrational belief systems and only two of the seven apps had an emergency contact feature. I was surprised since Ellis, considered the founder of these types of therapies, strongly vouched for the idea of acceptance.
Next, I placed the apps on a market positioning chart to find an uncontested area of the market, or in other words, my “blue ocean”. This is where I realized I had a lot more research to do about what exactly was considered a theory-based therapy technique. I read studies like this one and concluded that there was no evidence that meditation programs had positive effects or were better than forms of “active treatment” like behavioral. So, when placing apps on my matrix, I rated anything that had CBT information about topics like cognitive distortions, Socratic questioning, and other CBT-related topics as a “theoretical approach”. Apps that featured types of journaling and mood tracking I considered as “self-reflection”. From this, I concluded that my blue ocean laid in an app that had a theory-based approach but also offered a healthy amount of guided, self-reflection. I felt that self-reflection, like journaling, was something that users would expect out of a mental wellness app.
Surveys
I posted my survey everywhere I could think of including several appropriate Reddit pages and Facebook groups. I received 84 responses almost overnight. Almost half of the respondents were between the ages of 16 and 24.
I was surprised that 71% said they had received help from a mental health professional, and the main reason for working on their mental health was to have better control of their emotions. This was followed by having a better outlook on life. Almost 70% of surveyors said they have heard of CBT, which backs up my findings on Statista, but only 19% knew of both REBT and CBT. My biggest takeaway from this was that most people (42%) felt the effects of stress and anxiety in their everyday lives, but whether those people were a part of the 71% getting help was a question left unanswered.
Knowledge gaps: Could a better understanding of the teachings of CBT and REBT help users have better control of their emotions? Were the 49% of surveyors who said they practiced mindfulness and meditation seeing improvements to their mental wellbeing? How frequently did the practice?
User Interviews
In total, I surveyed 4 users about their mental health habits. Three of my interviewees at some point in their lives sought professional help. Two admitted that it helped them work through issues they were having, and another said it did not help at all.
Two said that they practiced meditation and journaling to try and deal with anxiety and panic, but they failed to do anything consistently enough to see improvements. One of my interviewees said her goal was to believe affirmations that she said told her self.
Through my interviews I was able to understand that for those who suffered from anxiety and dealt with other mental health battles, it was only until they themselves decided to get consistent help did they see improvement. This made me realize the importance of the coaching aspect of the application.
Distilling the Data
After two days of research, I decided it was time to move on to distilling my data to find patterns and commonalities among my findings. I used an affinity map to do just that. What I uncovered was that people took a variety of approaches to work on their mental well-being. Some take baths or cook while others hire life coaches and visit therapists. What this made me realize was that there is no “one-size-fits-all” to mental health and wellness.
I moved to an empathy map to get an idea about how users think, feel, and what they hear, and what they see others doing around them. This is one of my favorite empathy tools because of how many ways it gets you to think about things from a user's perspective. From this, I have built the assumption that as mindfulness and yoga have become popularized, and apps like Headspace have gained attention, users tend to try what they see others doing in terms of mental health. For some, these techniques work, and for others, they don’t.
Knowledge gaps: Could those who have anxiety and panic disorders see improvements in their symptoms if they integrate meditation (and/or journaling) into their daily habits? Or are more clinical approaches, like CBT and REBT, more appropriate for those cases?
I created a user persona that I best felt reflected the types of users I saw within my data. Anxious Anna deals with feelings of stress and anxiety on a daily basis and therefore has let it control most of her life. She has a hard time staying positive and doesn’t really believe in the positive things she tells herself. She’s tried meditation but has a hard time being consistent.
I mapped out the steps Anna would take if she were to seek out professional help from a coach or therapist using a user journey map. I used this tool to gain context into when, where, and how my user might use my application. I found problems where when it came to being consistent. I assumed that the user felt the least amount of stress when they found the right mental health professional (MHP) and went to their first session. Where it “fell off” for the user was when they were left to their own devices between sessions. My persona, Anna, did not make the conscious effort to put in place the practices given to her by her MHP, falling back into her old habits.
Before moving onto my problem statements, I completed the customer side of the value proposition canvas helped me analyze the emotional, social, and functional jobs-to be-done.
While there were physical jobs to be done, like visiting an MHP, doing mental health exercises, and learnings, I felt that the important information lied in the emotional and social pains and gains created.
Problem Statements and How Might We Statements
Once I made sense of my data, I narrowed down user pain points into three problem statements. I focused my problem statements around user’s lack of accountability and their lack of knowledge on different types of mental wellness practices.
- Users need a way to learn about thought traps so that they can become more aware of their own unhealthy ways of thinking.
- Users need a way to prioritize and focus on certain mental health exercises specific to them to be able to overcome their anxieties.
- Users struggle to achieve their mental health goals because they lack a sense of accountability.
To make it easier to find opportunities for design, I formulated How Might We statements from my problem statements. I used these statements to aid me in the next stage of my process, ideation.
How might we display information in a way that it easy to understand and does not overwhelm the user?
How might we provide users with the ability to focus on the specific needs of their mental health?
How might we keep users engaged in an exciting way that doesn’t add additional stress to their lives?
Thinking About Solutions
Now, it was time to brainstorm solutions. Altogether, I came up with 32 different ideas for my app. Some of my ideas were simply subjects from CBT and REBT that I did not see in any other app. I kept in mind my blue ocean by trying to think of ideas that would balance self-reflection and theory. This proved to be a challenge without the help of a professional.
Developing an MVP
I utilized the MoSCoW method to narrow down what features would make up my MVP and bring the most value to users. In my ideation phase, I realized that some of my user pain points were easier to come up with solutions for than others. Some of my main ideas included a chat feature for coach-to-client communication, a retroactive activity, and a streak feature.
At this point, I decided to look into Headspace’s negative reviews to try and narrow down my ideas. One reviewer talked about how the streak feature was “counterintuitive” because of the amount of stress it brought them when they lost their streak. Another review mentioned that the app felt “bloated” with the number of features it offered. Um… can you say feature itis?!
This helped me realize that I really needed to prioritize certain information I put in my app. Gamification was out of the picture from this point on.
Next, I completed the products and services side of my Value Proposition Canvas. As a reminder, this canvas is to ensure a product-market fit.
The MVP
After research, distilling my data, feature prioritization, and a bit more research, I developed my minimum viable product as a mental wellness application that would serve as a connection between coaches and clients. Coaches could assign daily or weekly assignments, like gratitude journals and readings, that clients could complete through the app. Clients could track their entries and schedule sessions with their coach. It would allow clients to learn about their anxieties in ways that would allow them to not just cope but overcome their anxious feelings and stress.
Since there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to mental health, I wanted to really focus on the coach-to-client relationship within the app. I felt that this, along with a customized approach to each client's issues, was essential for the client to see progress within themselves.
Prototyping: Low-Fidelity
I translated my sketches onto Figma instead of using my paper prototypes for testing. For the Profile and Explore pages I used Jour and CBT Journal for references.
All in all, the lo-fi prototype testing went well. I had seven testers complete one task. One tester had some ontology issues which I adjusted in later iterations.
Prototyping: Mid-Fidelity
The mid-fidelity mock-ups had much more detail to them. At this point, I started creating atomic design elements for my hi-fidelity mock-up.
This time around, it took testers a lot longer to complete the three tasks given to them. One tester suggested adding more options to get to messages which I did in the next iteration.
Building the Brand
There was a conflicting “look” between my direct competitors and indirect competitors. Headspace and Jour felt warm and personable with their choice of colors and fun illustrations.
CBT Companion, Medoc, and the others felt more clinical and educational. I took the latter route and aimed for a more positive, cheerful look. Therefore, I choose cheerful, genuine, and imaginative for my brand attributes.
This icon that I discovered from The Noun Project had inspired the friendly yet imaginative look that I was going for. I conducted desirability tests with both my moodboard and style tile with my classmates. Those who commented mentioned how they felt that the board was “cheerful”, “happy” and “comforting”. I was pleased with their feedback.
The atomic design inventory proved to be a test of my Figma skills. This is where I housed all of my main components and variants, and so it made making changes to the high-fidelity mockup much easier than in my previous projects.
I felt really inspired by the icon I found on The Noun Project and decided to make some patterns to try and include in the app. At this point, I did feel like the app was looking more childish, or “zany brainy” as I dubbed it, but I went with it. I tried using different colors and sizes to make it more grownup.
Takeaways
I learned a lot during this nine-day sprint. First, I lean much more towards visuals and user interface than I do research, but this still means I need to work on building confidence and direction when surveying and interviewing users. I had a difficult time finding a solid direction within my research to move forward, but nonetheless, I kept going to complete the project. I had a lot of fun building the brand for this project, and I look forward to the next time I get to create visuals for another project.
