PeggyJo

One of my colleagues, Neilson Pacquing, was initially contacted through LinkedIn by ex-Googler, Jon Dinneen. He came to us with an idea of building an open source platform that brought together the intersections of Psychology & Technology to build AI for mental wellbeing. Cool stuff, huh?

His first couple of user tests for his mobile prototype were doing well. However, there were a lot of improvements to be made in terms of mobile usability. He wanted us to focus on the user flow and overall intuitiveness of the UX. The ultimate goal for PeggyJo was to become a platform for college students to connect with one another and find a community that advocates for mental health.

We started by figuring out who our main stakeholders were going to be. We wanted to use this information to figure out who would be best to interview.

Due to the constraints of proximity, we decided the most important group to initially target for interviews would be students at UC Santa Cruz. We wanted to get a range of students so we interviewed people we knew, people we didn't know, and students within the Psychology department, totaling 100+ students.

We also wanted to get a sense of how these students learn. More importantly, how they interact with mobile apps, so we also had them run through the current prototype during their interviews.

After conducting 20+ user interviews, we gathered these particular user insights:
‍
"I like the idea of it helping keep track of emotions so I know what to work on. For a later version it would be nice to have notifications of maybe motivational/inspiring quotes, or a reminder to log how I am feeling. There can also be a slideshow, or a feature that gives options of what to do when you're feeling down to relieve your emotions."
‍
"Needs introduction about the app for first time users because first time users may not know what app is about. Also needs more emojis such as "anger". It would also be great to have little words of encouragement when someone is having a bad day."

"When I was very upset, and I opened that app, I saw there were multiple options. If I was feeling depressed or not very good, just seeing the option to feel happy was very helpful for me. I know life has more possibilities and that I can choose to be happy. At that moment, I would be honest about how I was feeling (sad) but it was a trigger to help me pursue a happiness / a better emotion."

Based on these insights, I designed a user persona in order to better understand those who may be best suited to use the app.

I took charge of leading ideation for my team. After seeing how the users interacted with the current prototype we were able to identify constraints we needed to address moving forward.

1. Create a more effective on-boarding process that walks students through the UX.

2. Establish a coherent flow between the mood-tracking, embedded resources, and the community forum.

We went through a process of documenting main user insights, getting feedback from Jon, and identifying necessary elements. We used these findings to help guide the user flow and placement of assets on each page.

Going online and finding inspirational work from other great designers is really key. After gathering a few designs similar to the design I aim for, I categorize them. This is so that when I start out a new project, I can easily filter out the ones that could help me come up with a great design. Moreover, provide myself with inspiration in case I get stuck.

I wanted to take all of the prior research and translate it into basic design elements. By eliminating imagery and color, I was able to think more about the functionality of each element on a particular page. Therefore, placing a strong focus on developing the best possible user experience. Below are some wireframes I designed based on these insights.

We moved on to higher fidelity screens once we checked in with Jon. Now, we were ready to turn those wireframes into a design that would be easy to utilize. More importantly, instinctive for potential users. This turned into a noteworthy lesson of designing for universal simplicity, a higher need for the overall productivity of the app. We wanted the interface to be simple, clean, and most importantly, usable.

For now, the focus has shifted from design on to scaling PeggyJo. In fact, we are currently spreading mental health awareness at other UC campuses, such as UCLA, UCSB, & UCB. Our process is explicitly focused on building a community around PeggyJo's mission statement rather than our product. We understand that our product is subject to re-iteration, so we must place an emphasis on problem-solving.

— It’s really hard to produce great content, let alone a lot of it. Utilize your team, there are people in other disciplines that are perhaps also interested in providing content.
‍
— Don't be afraid to venture outside of the general scope of things. Brainstorming sessions are most productive when group members come in with sets of diverse ideas, and then are able to combine, interpret, and refine them together.

— Work is never finished. In a startup environment the process is constantly evolving. As a product designer, you need to understand that finishing a feature to the very end of perfection is a waste of time and resources. Instead you should focus on working to define an experience that engages your target audience, provides them with a delightful experience, and drives them to action.