Fluff & Friends
Project Overview
Client
Fluff & Friends is multifaceted project that will ultimately tie into workshops, a program specific therapist network, online resources as well as a smartphone app to address mental and behavioral health issues.
Team
-
Mina Hadi UX designer
-
Bonnie Simpson, UX researcher
-
Cindy Nguyen , UI designer
-
Robert Hill researcher and Agile strategist
Tools
-
Figma/Figjam
-
Trello
-
Canva
-
Zoom
-
Slack
My Role
UX designer
Time Duration
-
3 weeks
Introduction
Our goal was to discover the the most effective way to convert the ABC Model of cognitive behavioral therapy into a way users could easily understand.
This is prototype which is about user will complete 2 tasks
-
User will select her mood of the day
-
User will start journaling
Our goal was to discover the the most effective way to convert the ABC Model of cognitive behavioral therapy into a way users could easily understand.
This project is targeted towards users to create a dialogue to help them effectively identify, define and and assist those in replacing maladaptive "bad habits" and copping mechanisms that have developed from episodes of traumatic stress in childhood and adolescence.
This model is used for changing irrational thoughts. Its goal is to challenge negative beliefs and develop more practical, rational ways to handle stressful scenarios and is based on finding the correlation between activating events, beliefs and consequences.
The goal of the method is to recognize bad habits and work towards changing beliefs in order to create more positive ways of thinking. Incorporating the ABC model into the Fluff & Friends brand, users will be able to explore the connection between Beliefs and Consequences and focus on their behavioral or emotional responses to better form new habits.
.png)
Looking at the overall market in this graph Fluff and Friends is positioning itself in the projected revenue growth rate that will increase for 16.5 % from 2022 to 2030 and reach a market cap of 17.5 billion dollars by 2030.
.png)
C&C Analysis
Before designing, we studied 3 competitors and 3 comparators in the app space to gain a better understating of their best features that could potentially be implemented.
From these three competitors on the left we took coaching sessions, guided journaling and a mood tracker and mood tracking scale because we like thought and journal tracking features are standard on CBT mental health apps.
On the right we looked at 3 comparators taking a progress calendar, daily affirmations and a trend pattern chart that all had a common goal to help users form better habits.
What makes the Fluff & Friends mobile app unique?
Fluff & Friends would be the only app that incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy with an emphasis on the ABC model and utilizing this with their own therapy network .
Survey
We conducted a survey to study people's copping mechanism when they feel low:
-
33% of respondents' ideal goal for themselves is to change their thought pattern
-
40.7.% think journaling is the best way to stay motivated to keep track
The usage of apps is also accompanied by several risks and challenges including:
-
Privacy and data protection
-
Low quality of evidence of effectiveness
-
The absence of quality standards for the development of apps
Interviews
We interviewed 12 people who had used mental health app during the interview, we focused on their experiences and insights of mental health applications they have used
Theme #1: Users aren't aware how to effectively cope when they're feeling down
"Because I can’t pin point why I’m angry, I become violent to express my feelings"
"When I feel stressed, I don’t have the motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle like physical activity or eating"
"I’m able to notice when I feel triggered but I can’t pin point why"
Theme #2: Users are looking for the best practices to stay motivated but unable to find one that works best for them
"Repeating affirmations to myself makes me start to believe it"
"I would like to be able to record my feelings and do journals in the app, it will help me to review myself in the future"
"I would like to be able to record my feelings and do journals in the app, it will help me to review myself in the future"
Persona
In order to make the research more meaningful, we created one persona based on the results:
Natalie is a new mom, she has anxiety to the level that she can not continue her routines during the the day. she constantly questions her ability to be a good mom , and she always creates what if scenarios in her head.
she needs an easy and simple management system to be consistent in working on her mental health.
Her pain points are:
-
difficulty to maintain a new habit
-
low functionality in completing task that is too long and complex to finish
How Might We
After we went over Natalies situation, we started to brainstorm and see what Natalie's main problem:
Natalie needs an interactive and safe space to develop new and healthy habits because she’s not aware of how to identify and react to her own behaviors that cause her to be maladaptive in day-to-day activities.
we came up with couple of solutions:
Feature Prioritization Matrix
We gathered data from surveys, interviews and used a prioritization matrix to rank features based on the level of effort, customer value and business value. With our findings from the matrix we decided to focus on the following features:
-
Mood check
-
Modulation Exercises
-
Entering Triggers
-
Daily Reminders
-
Toolbox
When asked what color makes users feel calm and safe, all 12 interview participants said blue. Further research about colors revealed that green is also a color that represents tranquil feelings, growth emotions and hopefulness.
We decided that a combination of these colors would be a great representation of Fluff & Friends mission of improving users mental health
Next we began sketching to get an idea of the layout of each screen in order to begin creating wireframes.
Here is an example of the evolution from pen and paper to a hi-fi wireframe.
The Usability Testing
We conducted 2 rounds of usability testing with 4 participants per round to check the quality and usability of the app.
Task 1: navigate to the daily mood check in and select how they were feeling
Task 2: navigate to the reflection journal and start a new entry
Our primary goal for usability testing was to focus on qualitative results to get an understanding of users comprehension of how to use this app
Logistics
-
Moderated Testing
-
8 Testers
-
Remote and in-person usability testing
Goals
-
Users will be able to understand the concept of the ABC model
-
Users will be able to successfully reflect on their day in less than 6 minutes with no more than 3 errors
Metrics
Qualitative
-
Pleasure or dissatisfaction areas experienced by users while using the app
Quantitative
-
Amount of time taken to complete tasks 2-10
-
Total number of errors while completing a task
-
The success rate of completing a task
Round 1 Usability Testing
During our first round of testing, we found that participants were having a difficult time locating the continue button, so we moved the button to be larger and more central for users to easily find.
Version 1
Version 2
Another issue we found from our first round of testing was some confusion about the mood swipe feature. We found that 2 out of 4 participants did not find the first version to be intuitive and did not notice the written directions.
We decided to correct this and make it more clear by adding a bar that a user would tap and drag right or left to select the emoji that matches their current mood.
Version 1
Version 2
Round 2 Usability Testing
From our second round of usability testing, we found that some participants felt they were presented with too much information and felt overwhelmed by having to read through too many suggestions.
We decided to scale back the amount of information on the screen and give the user only 3 exercises at a time to choose from.
Version 1
Version 2
Next Steps
-
Personalized Quiz for Onboarding
-
Linking user's smart watch
-
Ability to share journals with medical professionals
-
Location services for 911/suicide hotline and local therapy networks