Feather
A Self Care App that offers an Easy and Effective way to Cope with Stress and Anxiety to leave you more Calm, Comfortable, Confident and able to Better Face Life's Challenges.
" Feel as light as a feather"
David Hopper: UX Researcher/UI Designer
Team: Bing Z Project Manger, Andjelija S The Glue
Tools: Figma, Miro, G-Suite, Zoom, Trello, Canva, Pens/Paper, Soundcloud, Feathers, Chimes
Team: Bing Z Project Manger, Andjelija S The Glue
Tools: Figma, Miro, G-Suite, Zoom, Trello, Canva, Pens/Paper, Soundcloud, Feathers, Chimes
David Hopper
Role
UX/UI
Researcher
Designer
Researcher
Designer
Tools
Figma, Miro, G-Suite, Zoom, Trello, Canva, Pens/Paper, Soundcloud, Feathers, Chimes
Challenge: Create a mobile app that can help lower people’s stress levels and enhance people’s mood and overall mental health.
I had way too much fun working on this project! Such a great team to work with and learn from. Talking with people about meditation and life, honing in on effective self care methods, making the world a better place through mindfulness and a peaceful state of being.
I especially enjoyed creating several different graphics and icons that really kicked the design into overdrive. Lots of fun colors, textures, and images. I also really had fun digging deep into research, the psychology of self care, story boarding, and my wellness tool kit. Getting to design a user interaction that utilizes breathing techniques, meditations, sound healing, and affirmations was awesome!
I especially enjoyed creating several different graphics and icons that really kicked the design into overdrive. Lots of fun colors, textures, and images. I also really had fun digging deep into research, the psychology of self care, story boarding, and my wellness tool kit. Getting to design a user interaction that utilizes breathing techniques, meditations, sound healing, and affirmations was awesome!
Overview
3 Week Design Sprint
Timeline
March 13 - 29, 2021
Challenge: Create a mobile app that can help lower people’s stress levels and enhance people’s mood and overall mental health.
I had way too much fun working on this project. Talking with people about meditation and life, honing in on effective self care methods, making the world a better place through mindfulness and a peaceful state of being. I especially enjoyed creating several different graphics and icons that really kicked the design into overdrive. Lots of fun colors, textures, and images. I also really had fun digging deep into research, the psychology of self care, story boarding, and my wellness tool kit. Getting to design a user interaction that utilizes breathing techniques, meditations, sound healing, and affirmations was too cool!
Problem
Young professionals, 25-35 years old, who are passionate about life and strive to improve their overall well being, need to be better equipped in managing their stress and anxiety, because taking better care of themselves helps them feel more aware, energized, focused, and able to achieve their goals.
How Might We
Build a platform that offers young professionals a better way to practice self care and cope with stress and anxiety so that they can reach their full potential and improve their overall wellbeing ?
User Research
Semi-structured user interviews via Zoom video calls were conducted to collect qualitative data from 5 participants. A survey compiled from the interview questions was dispersed among various groups on Facebook and Slack using Google Survey.
5
User Interviews
87%
of people are negatively affected by stress and anxiety
153
Survey Responses
5
User Interviews
153
Survey Responses
87%
of people are negatively affected by stress and anxiety
Research Questions
What prevents people from being proactive or accessing mental health and wellness services?
What internal and external factors interfere with their ability to practice self care. How can they be addressed?
What potential rewards and positive reinforcers would create engagement and awareness?
Identify typical stressors and research backed solutions.
" Meditating is great , when there's someone to guide me, but I don't know how to do it myself. "
" My anxiety flares when facing a challenge. I try to change my thinking to deal with the problem better. "
" it gives me a joy of meaning, it gives me purpose "
Interview Notes Survey Results
Research Findings & User Behaviors
Challenges
Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Mental Health, Relationship/Family Drama, Finances, Societal Pressures, Health, Pain, Disability, Work/Job, Trauma, Addiction, PTSD, Loss.
Feelings
Overwhelmed, Stress, Depression, Withdrawal/Shut down, Anxiety, Nervousness, Exhaustion, Fear, Nausea.Sad, Hopeless, Defeated, Alone, Discouraged
Coping Methods
Positives: Breathing. Walking, Talking to someone (therapist/friend), Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Music, Activity. Negatives: Crying, Sleeping, Medication/Alcohol/Weed.
Self Care Tools
Breathing, Beautification, Yoga, Exercise, Meditation, Divination, Friends/Family, AromaTherapy.
Key Insights Confirmed
During our semi-structured user interviews and a Google Survey, it was discovered that:
Stress & Anxiety
A majority of people experience a fairly high amount of stress and anxiety
Health & Well Being
This has a significant impact on their overall health and well being
Let's Meet Sylvia and Learn About Her Journey
Affinity Diagram and Empathy Map
Using research data, findings, and an army of digital post-its, an affinity diagram was organized to help visually assess the challenges, behaviors, stressors, emotions and motivations of the user.
An empathy map was used to understand how users feel, what they may say, think, or do, as well as their potential pain points and things they may gain from.
An empathy map was used to understand how users feel, what they may say, think, or do, as well as their potential pain points and things they may gain from.
User Insight
Sylvia, is an outgoing social worker who cares very deeply about people and her community.
She needs assistance practicing self-care when she feels overwhelmed, anxious and stressed.
She believes that she can do a better job at helping others if she takes better care of herself.
User Persona
The analysis and synthesis of research data lead to the creation of a user persona. This user persona would help guide and inform the development process.
Story Board
I created a story board to illustrate and give life to our user persona, this was helpful in guiding development and making research findings and synthesis more tangible.
User Journey
Definition & Ideation
Brainstorming | Features
Direct quotes from the user survey and interviews were categorized into the “I like”, “I wish” and “What if” sections, in order to better understand users’ habits, pain points and wishes.
Prioritization Matrix
Wishes and “what ifs” were prioritized based on the user feedback. Most people wanted to feel less stressed, improve self-awareness, feel more calm and in tune with their body and mind.
Competitor Analysis
While most of this research was done in the initial stages of development, this stage and the following stages of development is where we really see it gain traction.
Belly Bio, Insight Timer and Headspace as direct competitors and Rain Rain Sleep Sounds and My Fitness Pal as indirect.
Studying and analyzing these companies Apps provided valuable input on what makes the user experience pleasant, what drives the users away from using the Apps, where there is a gain, and how to make a superior product that stands out amongst competitors.
The biggest gain here was understanding that something simple and accessible was a perfect niche and solution.
Studying and analyzing these companies Apps provided valuable input on what makes the user experience pleasant, what drives the users away from using the Apps, where there is a gain, and how to make a superior product that stands out amongst competitors.
The biggest gain here was understanding that something simple and accessible was a perfect niche and solution.
Value Proposition
After identifying user needs, self care methods, stressors, and benefits a value proposition was formulated.
Feather is a self care app that provides users with an easy and effective way of coping with stress and anxiety so that they may be more calm, comfortable, confident and able to better face life's challenges.
"Leaves you feeling as light as a feather"
Design and Prototype
User Flow
Simplify, simplify, simplify ! V1 had too many features and options. V2 simplified it to 3 main features. In v3 the on-boarding process was simplified.
Simple
Accessible and easy to use, does not require a login or lots of know how
Functionality
On-boarding process
Minimal
3 features based on provenly effective methods
Breathing
Relaxation
Gratitude
Lo-fi Prototypes
This initial lo-fi paper prototype was turned into a wireframe and tested using Figma. It was then reviewed, and iterated on.
Mid-fi Prototypes
From Lo-fi to Mid-fi the layout and functionality was simplified, several potential layouts were explored. Here you can see mocks comparing functionality around the play button and copy used.
Guerrilla Usability Testing
V1 wireframe was used for usability testing, after several iterations V3 (seen below) is the one that was pushed to final development stages.
V1
V3
Logo, Icons, Styling, and Visual Design
More than any other part of this process I had fun with and enjoyed creating some fun visual elements and graphics.
Hi-fi Final Design
Simple
Minimalist
Engaging
