Mindful Case Study

RESEARCH + DISCOVERY

I then created three provisional personas based on Mindful’s target market and information I’d gathered during my initial deep dive into secondary sources. This helped me identify people who might be ideal interview subjects and consider how I might want to frame some of my interview questions and planning.

1)  The general flow of therapy for anxiety is to: identify, track, and find tools to help manage.
2)  Everyone has their own baseline, so it’s important to start with an initial rating so progress can be measured in relation to it. 

3)  Tracking in relation to a baseline also helps get buy-in from patients, because they’re primed to look for change.

4)  In therapy, she works with clients to proactively recognize physical signs of anxiety like increased heart rate, clenched jaw or fists, etc.

5)  From a therapist’s perspective, the option for clients to share information with their therapist can expose them to liability, so she would only want to use an app that she reviewed with the patient.

I created an interview script and interviewed 7 people over 2 days (3 in person, 4 via video chat). Participants were women ranging in age from early 20’s to 60+ years old. All said they’d experienced anxiety, and several had tried using an app or wearable device to monitor their health or help with anxiety.

Regardless of age, all participants seemed to describe many of their experiences, causes, and methods of dealing with anxiety in similar ways. While participants had a variety of coping techniques, meditating and talking to someone were most often cited. Participants overall expressed some ambivalence towards wearables. Some but not all participants had tried apps to help with meditation or relaxation.

Synthesis + Defining

Drawing from the insights and needs identified via my empathy map, I established a primary user persona: Ellen Fisher. Ellen is able to manage her anxiety fairly well most of the time, but there are times when she feels exceptionally anxious, worried or stressed. She’s tried some meditation apps before but finds some of them a bit overwhelming. She’d like a simple, straightforward way to find some helpful tools and coping techniques when she feels anxiety setting in.

Taking the insights and needs from my empathy map and persona, I translated them into POV ("Point of View") statements and then HMW ("How Might We") questions. Reframing the insights and needs I identified in my research allowed me to turn them into clearer invitations and challenges for design. 

With my POV statements and HMW questions planted in front of me, I used the Crazy 8's brainstorming technique to generate ideas and consider as many possible solutions I could within the allotted time frame.

Project Strategy

Tools used: PROJECT GOALS MAPPING, PRODUCT ROADMAP, SITE MAPPING

I had a lot of ideas from my brainstorming and ideation— now, it was time to make some decisions on which ones to pursue. To help focus my project objectives and priorities, I identified where individual business, user, and technical goals overlapped. The resulting shared goals gave me a way of assessing which ideas would be best suited for the needs of both Mindful and its users.

In the resulting product roadmap, features are presented in order of priority, along with proposed metrics to assess the impact and effectiveness of the features.

Informed by the features and priorities outlined in my product roadmap, I created an app map showing the content architecture proposed for Mindful.  

While the user flows showed an overview of the complete journey from a user’s entry to their eventual exit, I also wanted to focus on some specific tasks within these flows and carefully consider their details. To do so, I created 2 individual task flows, breaking out specific tasks from the first user flow and creating more detailed, individual screens. For example, in the user flow a group of screens called “initial preferences questions” is shown. In my task flow I break out this grouping and show the progression and content planned for each screen. Doing this helped me make sure I’d included all necessary key frames I’d need as I created wireframes for my prototype.

Referencing the screens I’d mapped out in my user task flows, I considered high level and detailed requirements that the app and each page would need and outlined them in a UI Requirements document. This served as an outline and punchlist of sorts for me as I designed the key screens for the user flows. You can view the UI requirements list here >.

Again referencing the task flows, I sketched screen designs for each keyframe and included annotations. I referenced various Material Design UI Kits and Google’s guidelines as I considered how to pull from them while also adapting as needed to fit my content. Thinking through the layout, interactions and flows of these screens at this stage helped save time once I moved into creating mid-fidelity wireframes. 

I then brought my wireframes into InVision and built a mid-fidelity prototype to share with users. Testing the app’s design at this stage, before any visual design had been added, allowed me to get feedback from test subjects that was focused around the concept, organization, flow, and interactions of the app. 

A few relatively quick and easy fixes emerged as recommendations for the baseline questions section. Since they involved minimal investment of resources while resolving some points of user frustration, I prioritized them. Beyond those fixes, some broader mandates emerged. It became clear that adding icons and graphics where possible would offer users a way to visually differentiate content and get a quick read not completely dependent upon text. Also, the concept and identity of the “Fill Your Cup” feature needed more development and explanation to users. Finally, emphasizing Mindful’s ability to track breathing rates in connection with anxiety via the wearable sensor would help differentiate this unique feature of the app, helping it stand out in a competitive market.

I sketched logo ideas in pen before moving to screen, then worked through some (rough!) ideas before finally settling on a final direction for the logo.

I then worked on the style tile, trying out colors and approaches in my wireframes to see how they might work in context. I chose a vibrant tone of purple to convey a sense of optimism and clarity, while using softer tints of purple and complementary colors to keep the design feeling light. 

Going back to my mid-fidelity wireframes, I applied the colors, styles and icon illustrations outlined in my style tile to create a higher fidelity version while also making recommended changes as outlined in my affinity map. I integrated distinct graphic icons throughout the app to provide strong visual cues and opportunities to understand content without needing to closely read text. I also revised content related to the Fill Your Cup feature to help explain and develop the concept further. And on the page of recommended actions, I changed the top recommendation to a breathing exercise to better integrate and emphasize Mindful’s ability to offer help with breathing in connection to anxiety.

  

I brought these wireframes into InVision once again, to create a prototype that offers another opportunity for user testing before going further with the site design and implementation. 

Finally, I created a UI kit to serve as a reference and resource guide for anyone working on the site. The UI kit provides a place to document styles and elements used across the site, so that they remain consistent. 

With more time, I’d like to further develop the emphasis on Mindful’s ability to offer content-rich, meaningful suggestions and resources based primarily on breath monitoring and management. My user testing revealed that at least a portion of users find this aspect of the product particularly valuable and interesting. Developing those aspects of the app further would provide focus and help create a more defined point of distinction for the app.