Ikigai, 2022

Branding
Logo Design
Mobile Design
User Research
UI Design
Prototyping & Testing

Ikigai is an app that helps users manage their anxiety and panic attacks. It also educates people on mental health issues to help further break the mental health stigma.

The Problem

“I’ve recently been having panic attacks after a series of traumatic events, so I started seeing a therapist. I wish there was a way to better manage it rather than rushing to the ER or waiting a week for my next therapy appointment.”

“I’ve recently been having panic attacks after a series of traumatic events, so I started seeing a therapist. I wish there was a way to better manage it rather than rushing to the ER or waiting a week for my next therapy appointment.”

How can we use an app to help people manage their panic attacks while educating people on mental health issues?

Discover

In the discover phase, I conducted the following research:

  • Secondary Research — researched the mental health industry

  • Competitor Analysis — analyzed direct competitors to know their strengths and weaknesses, define any gaps in the market, and identify advantages/disadvantages of my product

  • User Interviews — conducted user interviews to understand users and their motivations, desires, needs, and pain points

Secondary Research

Secondary Research

I researched the mental health industry to gain a better understanding of how the mental health industry works and how mental health is viewed as a whole. Some interesting findings were that:

  • Mental health is a highly stigmatized issue not only in the US, but globally as well

  • Lack of awareness/education and social stigma plays a large role in seeking help for mental health issues

  • Cultural differences affect certain demographic groups from seeking or not seeking help for their mental health issues

  • Criminalization of mental illness in the US is highly prevalent

  • Limited access to mental health treatment due to lack of financial support, social stigma, lack of awareness/education and geographical accessibility, and scarcity of services

  • There are huge opportunities in the sector of mental health within the healthcare ecosystem

  • We have a long way ahead of us to make vast improvements in helping people find the right and best care that they need

Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis

In order to get a solid understanding of how our competitors are doing in the market and to lay out a solid foundation, I did a competitor analysis which consisted of direct and indirect competitors.

I found that most mental health apps require a subscription and rarely free. MindShift CBT was one app that I found that was not only free, but offered a variety of features. However, it was a bit confusing to navigate and difficult to easily access its features.

User Interviews

User Interviews

There is a strong mental health stigma and it doesn’t help users to feel better or supported.

  • Many people are generally unaware and uneducated on mental health issues and do not recognize its importance.

  • Because mental health is a taboo topic, it is not talked about much and thus makes users feel more alone in their struggles.

  • There are coping mechanisms and tools available that can help users manage and alleviate their anxiety/panic attacks.

Define

In the define phase, I created the following deliverables:

Empathy Map

Empathy Map

I created an empathy map to synthesize user research and better understand users to gain a deeper user-centric mindset.

User Personas

User Personas

Creating user personas helped me to better understand users & make better design decisions to create a product that will meet their goals & needs.

Storyboard

Storyboard

I also made a storyboard to better understand the user’s experience and context during their panic attacks. It also helps us to focus on what the priorities are for Ikigai’s users.

Ideate

In the ideate phase, I created the following deliverables and worked with my mentor to receive feedback and iterate.

Userflow

Userflow

Moodboard + Logo Design

Moodboard + Logo Design

Sketches

Sketches

Low-fidelity and Hi-fidelity Wireframes

Low-fidelity and Hi-fidelity Wireframes

Feedback & Testing

To test the prototype, I conducted usability testing with 4 participants to test the four main tasks:

  1. Onboarding flow: Sign back into IKIGAI & learn more about its features

  2. Home flow: Select your mood & check off your morning routine tasks for the day

  3. Help flow: Complete the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise

  4. Learn flow: Find an article on how you can help your friend through their depression. Favorite the article & leave a comment!

Identified Issues & Potential Solutions

Identified Issues & Potential Solutions

Difficulty remembering to use the app during an anxiety/panic attack

  • Notification reminders

  • SOS widget on home screen for easy access

  • Misclicks when checking off morning routine tasks on home screen

    • Increase size of check-off button

    • Change check-off button color for design consistency and user memorability

    • Remove icons next to each task

  • Unfamiliar prototyping tool

    • Clearer instruction before user tests prototype

    • More minimal, simple wording

    • Giving only one task to complete at a time

Original Home Screen Prototype

Final Home Screen Prototype (after iterations)

Metrics

In the future, further testing should be conducted to collect more quantitative and qualitative metrics. Post-launch metrics could also be analyzed to measure business outcomes.

  • Ways to measure user experience success

    • User Satisfaction — conducting qualitative interviews to determine user’s delight

    • Task Completion Rate — conducting more usability tests to measure efficiency

  • Ways to measure positive business outcomes

    • Downloads — measure how many new users install the Ikigai app

    • Retention — measure how satisfied users are with the Ikigai experience through positive reviews

    • Engagement — measure user frequency & inviting new users to engage with Ikigai app

Takeaways

Summary

Summary

Mental health has been a growing topic in culture, but it is still far from where it needs to be. There is still a strong taboo/stigma around mental health that must be broken. Experiencing mental health issues like anxiety or panic attacks is a very personal and body-mind focused, vulnerable experience.

Perhaps if there is a way to break or lessen the stigma around mental health, more people would feel comfortable with sharing their experiences with others and there would more accessibility/resources for people who need help with mental health issues. This is why I designed an app focused on helping people overcome their anxiety and panic attacks by offering support in the moment, but also educating people on mental health to recognize its importance and normalize mental health in society. Everybody who has a brain and a body experiences mental health, so it should be prioritized.

Challenges

Challenges

This was the first time I had to create an App MVP and had little direction in how to approach the project. Also, I had some personal life circumstances going on that set me back, so I had to get back on track and re-organize my timeline to complete the project. Thankfully, using Notion to organize and manage my project really helped me to keep things in order.

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

This project helped me to learn more about the process of designing an App MVP. It also helped me to dive deeper into how technology can be used in the healthcare industry. Although it is further advanced than before, there are still so many opportunities in the mental health industry to design products to help people improve their quality of life. Also, user interviews are always somewhat intimidating to do, but the interviews I conducted this time really opened my eyes to see how willing people are to share about their experiences if it’s for the greater good (in this case, to break the mental health stigma).