Overview

Momenteer is an app that exists to help individuals, particularly women in the BIPOC community, feel supported in their mental health moment-by-moment. By creating a solution that is intuitive, tailormade, and personal, we can empower individuals in their daily lives and offer support during traumatic life events. The user is given tools to self-guide their thoughts, even between therapy sessions.

Introducing Momenteer

Background

Adobe Creative Jam 2021 had challanged all the professionals to design an inclusive third-party mobile app to help educate others, create awareness, encourage action, and/or facilitate access to minority mental health care for the misunderstood, overlooked and underrepresented communities in 2 weeks.

Me and my project partner worked extensively for this Adobe Creative jam challenge. Our project was chosen for the final round out of 155 competitors. We had to present it in front of the judges online, live on facebook. We used Miro board and monday.com for project management and collaboration. Adobe XD was used for design and prototyping.

My Role

This was a team project, me and my project partner worked hard for 2 weeks. Due to tight deadline planning and proper division of work was crucial. I was extensively involved in empathizing, ideation and prototype.

Kickoff & the Discovery

I wanted to dive into the psychology and possible considerations on why minorities aren't getting proper care. Based on the recent National Healthcare Quality and Disparities report there are many reasons apart from recism, bias and discrimination in treatment, why minorities don't get proper care.

During this research I stumbled upon the statistics from National Institute of Mental Health and it shows that any mental illness is higher in females than males.

Evidence suggests that African American Women are at increased risk for mental health problems because they are simultaneously exposed to multiple factors that can cause stress and depression. These factors may include low-socioeconomic status, violence, discrimination etc, all of which can lead to emotional distress, thus increasing women's risk for poor mental health. So I decided to narrow down the scope by concentrating on the BIPOC community, particularly women, to support their mental health.

BIPOC WOMEAN ARE AT INCREASED RISK FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

Deeper Insights

Competitive Analysis

Since the space is already saturated I wanted to leverage what works and identify gaps that I could incorporate in my design. I studied 3 apps namely Headspace, Calm and Savello and I realized that each has some limitations, and the personalization aspect is missing. Headspaces and Calm apps focus on meditation. Savello is a popular app.

THE COMPETITION HAD NO PERSONALIZATION ASPECT

User interviews/primary research

After researching the psychology, health and mind imbalance issues plus competition in this space, I wanted to empathize with users because interviews can give in-depth understanding of the users' values

After one formal interview and a few informal interviews with friends and family with variety of backgrounds, income level, age range, and geographic locations I was able to gather qualitative data about insurance coverage, support from family, friends and community to cope up with the mental illness.

Lets meet Alexis, a young professional who recently started attending therapy due to traumatic life circumstances. Finding a therapist was a journey in itself, with all of the specialties available. For many family members, she is their rock. But she needs someone to support her as well after traumatic life experience.

Lets meet Tara, a homemaker, is looking, to overcome therapist stigma and looking for personalized ways to overcome negative thoughts. She is looking for a friend with whom she can discuss, share and seek advice.

HOW TO PROVIDE QUICK TOOLS

FOR VARIOUS DAILY ROUTINE SITUATIONS TO OVERCOME MENTAL ILLNESS?

Reframing the Problem

Based on research and interviews, I was able to refine the problem statement:

TO CREATE AN INTUITIVE, TAILOR MADE AND PERSONAL APP

THAT CAN EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR DAILY LIVES AND OFFER SUPPORT

OR COURSE OF ACTION TO HELP COPE WITH TRAUMATIC LIFE EVENTS.

Affinity Mapping and Product Vision

With these insights I was able to organize all data through affinity mapping. I tried to find similarities which helped me to categorize product vision.

Brainstorming, ideation session was based on providing quick tools to my targeted users for various routine situations. It helped to challenge assumptions, think outside the box, and explore uncharted territory.

USERS WERE MORE LIKELY TO SUCCED WHEN THERE WERE QUICK TOOLS

IN THEIR POCKET FOR FREQUENT EVERYDAY SITUATIONS.

User Flows and Design Drivers

With constant testing and exploration I came up with the 4 main flows for the app design -

• Grow
• Reflect
• Talk Now
• Find a Therapist

Based on the interview findings it was clear that positive emotional feeling pramote mental health so I wanted the product to be Elegant so that users should feel invited into the space. The digital solution should be one that they want to spend time with, not like data entry or a form.

In order to overcome mental health stigma it was important to give users confidence that their personal information is protected. Thus I wanted the product should be Transparent.

And it was important to add personalized flavor by making it Dynamic so that users will feel they are seen. The app should evolve with the user and make recommendations to suit.

Entry and Exit Points

Here is a glimpse of user flow diagram for Reflect

Introducing MOMENTEER

Next Steps

For future enhancements, I would like to explore having a dark mode, more robust home screen with AI to show relevant topics.