Mind Word
CHALLENGE:
Help to create positive health & wellbeing outcomes for a significant number of people with the focus on accessible and inclusive mental health support.
MY ROLE:
Part of team of 3. End to end process: discovery, user research, design, testing.
DATES:
March - May 2023
Mind Word is a study project in which we designed an engaging game that helps users talk openly about mental well-being, while also giving information to make mental health support more inclusive and accessible.
The goal of the project is to design a service that supports mental health, promotes the concept of a healthy body and mind, and addresses the challenges of cost and availability associated with mental health support.
Problem
Therapy is now seen as important aspect of self-care, but there are concerns about its accessibility and suitability. Issues include cost, lack of awareness, unwillingness to voice feelings of distress, stigma, limited resources, language barriers, and physical accessibility.
3/4 of all mental health problems are established by the age of 24. (BBC)
20%
Most issues develop during childhood or our early adult years. In fact, an estimated 20% of the world’s adolescents and children have mental health disorders. (WHO)
40% Of Men Are Uncomfortable Talking About Their Mental Health. (Priory Group)
Solution
Mind Word aims to address these problems by developing an engaging mental health game experience that is inclusive and encourages open conversations about mental well-being. The goal is to provide accessible support and empower individuals to prioritize their mental health.
Research
Why: To understand the complex web of human needs and experiences related to mental health.
What: We did thorough interviews and research, aiming not just for facts but for deeper comprehension. One breakthrough was finding out about "Locker Room Talk," a program in Sweden that helps young men understand their emotions.
What We Discovered: Talking to young men aged 20 to 30 gave us valuable insights into their challenges. Money, social expectations, and trouble communicating stood out as big issues, highlighting the pressing need for mental health help that's easy to get.
Challenges and concerns:
Affordability and accessibility of mental health resources and therapy act as barriers.
Traditional masculine ideals and societal pressures make it difficult to openly discuss mental health.
Recommendations:
To help young men improve their ability to communicate their feelings in relationships.
To provide consistent support with minimal effort to access, at least initially, would be beneficial to many people.
Insight Statements:
Tom wants to find a way to express and reflect about his emotions more because it makes him feel better but he procrastinates too much and rarely finds the time for it.
Why: To simplify what we've learned and figure out what steps to take next.
What: We made personas and maps to make our data more relatable and find the main problems. Let's introduce Tom, a made-up person who represents the struggles and hopes of our audience.
What We Found: Tom's story showed us a tough choice between wanting help and dealing with what society expects. It made clear how important it is to have easy-to-reach mental health resources that fit each person's needs.
Define
Tom wants to have something that makes him accountable for his actions regarding his mental health because It would create a consistency for him but he is too overwhelmed with all the resources out there and does not know where to start.
Tom wants to talk about his feelings more because it could help him to cope with difficult emotions better in the future but he thinks it's a sign of weakness.
Ideate
Why: To go beyond traditional approaches and tap into the limitless creativity of our group.
What: Using methods like "How might we" and Crazy 8s, we started thinking of new ideas. Taking inspiration from games like Wordle and Hangman, we imagined a fun and meaningful solution: Mind Word.
What We Found: We realized that gaming isn't just for fun; it can also greatly improve our emotional well-being. It helps reduce stress and build communities, showing its immense potential to lift spirits and make people feel stronger.
How Might We… support Tom when facing his struggles?
How Might We… create direction and support for Tom’s MH?
How Might We… help tom access professional services that he can afford?
How Might We… teach Tom to manage his emotions on his own?
Crazy 8s
Storyboard
Context Scenario
Make toast - User journey
Prototype & Test
Why: To breathe life into our ideas and test their resonance with our audience.
What: Through rapid prototyping and user testing, we transformed concepts into tangible experiences. Insights gleaned from user feedback guided iterative improvements, ensuring our solution resonated deeply with our audience.
What We learned: We created a detailed model that matched our vision of easy-to-use mental health support that keeps people interested. Feedback from users not only showed we were on the right track but also gave us new ideas to improve it further.
First Prototype:
Key Takeaways from User Testing Feedback:
Text and Navigation:
Users found text on exit page confusing.
Confusion over asterisk next to "tools/tips."
Squares on resource page not obvious as clickable links.
Content Presentation:
Preference for intuitive word order in library.
Interest in exploring tools/tricks before resources.
Need for search bar or alphabetical sidebar.
Interaction and Engagement:
Users prefer text sharing over email.
Game suggestion for engagement.
Preference for vertical scrolling.
Additional Concerns:
Clarification on peer support vs talking to friends.
Hesitation to play game due to topic sensitivity.
Questions on sharing content. What do I share?
Concerns over resource/article updates and typo.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our journey aimed to address the pressing need for accessible and inclusive mental health support for young people. Owing to the overwhelming nature of the topic and the constraints of time, resources, and expertise, we recognized the limitations of our ability to create a comprehensive solution. However, Mind Word emerged as a feasible project within these constraints, providing a platform for engagement and learning.
Even though the project isn't fully formed yet, it felt like something manageable for our scope, and we're proud of what we've accomplished so far. We ended the course with our second prototype, but there's still a lot we could do to improve it. I've started redesigning the user interface to make it more appealing to our target audience, to be followed by more testing.
Looking ahead, possible next steps could be devising a strategy for keeping users engaged with the app over the long term, teaming up with mental health experts to spread the word, and making sure we're reaching the right people with our product.
