Overview


Role
UX & UI Designer

Sector
 Arts & Culture
Wellbeing
Duration
6 months

Tools
Pen & Paper /Miro  
Figma /Google Forms/
Google Drawings/ 
Optimal Workshop/ 
UsabilityHub/ Keynote/ 
Unsplash/ Loom/ 
Slack/ Teams

Ease is a responsive web application that assists its users in enhancing their well-being over time by engaging in creative activities and events.

Ease aims to become a cat alyst for creativity, making creative opportunities accessible to everyone for their benefit. The app offers a cultural agenda with events and activities that are available both locally and online.

Through Ease, users are invited to reflect on their current mood using a mood tracker and, after participating in creative activities, to evaluate how this experience impacted their mood. In this way, Ease will record and measure users’ mental wellbeing improvement over time.

Additionally, Ease encourages its users to join ‘Circles’, community groups, where members can discuss their common interests and recommend events and resources to each other.













Problems Ease Tackles










Design Approach










01


Empathise

Competitor
Analysis


My research for the Ease app started by conducting a thorough Competitor Analysis. Given that Ease is based on a fairly unique concept, there currently isn’t a directly competing app on the market. For this reason I decided to look at various apps that are solving similar problems. These include: Art Rabbit, Calm, Headspace and Fever.













User Research

After analyzing the competitive market, I surveyed and interviewed 20 people in total to be able to step into the shoes of potential users. This user research helped me to grasp their unique experiences and needs. 


Research Methods
User Survey
I used Google Forms to survey 15 potential users aged between 25 - 45, based in Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic and the UK.
User Interviews

I interviewed 5 participants aged 28 - 42 based in Spain, Netherlands, Czech Republic and the UK. Three interviews were conducted in person and two online. The average duration of each interview was 45 minutes.




Research Goals
  • To understand if participants have heard about the concept of improving mental wellbeing though art and creativity before and what they think it might look like.
  • Uncover the key motivations and drivers behind users interest in improving their mental wellbeing, as well as any beliefs that prevent them from taking more action.
  • To further gauge whether participants have previously used digital tools to improve their mental wellbeing; which apps did they use; what parts participants enjoyed and what pain points they experienced
  • To discover whether participants have previously used digital tools to learn about a cultural agenda in a particular geographical location; which apps they were; what parts participants enjoyed; what pain points they experienced and whether they attended an event or events based on their research.
  • To find out if participants would be interested in attending an online creative activity to improve their wellbeing and under what circumstances they would participate.
  • To understand whether people would like to evaluate their mental health improvement after participating in creative activities.
  • To gauge whether such activities would be something people would like to do with friends or alone.
  • To find out what features participants would like to see in the new app and why
  • To see if participants would be willing to pay for premium features of this app.





Interviewed Participants








Affinity Mapping









User Research Insights
Behaviours/ Beliefs

  • Participants take part in many different activities to improve their wellbeing, they often admit that improvement in mental wellbeing is just a consequence not the main purpose.
  • Although all participants are considerably digitally savvy, not all of them use digital apps to care for their mental wellbeing.
  • Many users mentioned therapy or meditation as a way to care for their mental health but wouldn’t list other activities such as sport, creative activities or cooking.
  • Some users who don’t consider themselves creative actually pursue creative/ craft hobbies, they are often lacking creative confidence and are afraid of failure
  • Some people feel that keeping up with daily streaks only puts pressure on them and can be therefore counter productive
  • Participants often only use free features in wellbeing apps
  • Participants like to do some activities alone and some with others, depending on the nature of a particular activity.
Recommendations /Likes /Dislikes

  • Participants like to feel that they are part of a community of likeminded people.
  • Some participants would like to see ‘quick wins’ to keep using the app for longer.
  • Participants want to personalise this app so it serves their specific needs.
  • Participants like to access music while being creative.
  • Some participants don’t like to disclose too much personal information into apps.
  • Participants are uncomfortable watching online content on a small screen.
  • Participants like simple navigation and app that ‘doesn’t require too much effort’.
  • Some participants prefer paying for their app subscriptions monthly, not annually with the option to cancel any time.
  • Some participants who don’t consider themselves creative think apps that look too ‘artistic’ are not for them.
  • Participants are interested in an app, that would encourage them or remind them to do creative things from time to time.






02

Define






User Personas

After conducting my user research, I gathered all the diverse insights and converged the strongest ones to shape two user personas. The personas and their user journeys embody the real challenges and aspirations of our users and help to guide the design process. Ready to meet Jo and Alistair













About Jo
Age: 35
Education: Master’s degree
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Status: Single, no children
Occupation: Graphic Designer
Pronounce: They/ Them


Two years ago, Jo decided to move from London to Barcelona in a search of a healthier and more relaxed lifestyle. They work for local and international clients, mainly from home or a local co-working. They love art, design, reading, cooking, sleeping and hikes in the weekends. They are committed to improving their anxiety and recovering from a burnout they suffered from in their previous job in a busy design agency in London. As a

freelance graphic designer, they have a lot of creative confidence and would like to expand their creative skills in other, more hands-on areas.
Motivations & Behaviours

  • Try to keep routine and be proactive about looking after her physical and mental wellbeing to manage their anxiety and energy levels
  • Want to make the most of the events/activities that Barcelona has to offer
  • Like to try new things, like dancing salsa on the beach or exploring new places in Catalunya
  • Are motivated when they feel part of a community of likeminded people and can see an improvement in their mental or physical wellbeing over time

Frustrations & Needs

  • After spending everyday in front of a screen, they are keen to do a more hands on activities and/ or change environment
  • Many events and activities take place in Barcelona but they often don’t find out about them until it’s too late
  • Many wellbeing apps don’t offer any free features and they don’t want to commit to an annual subscription













About Alistair
Age: 32
Education: High School & Bootcamp
Location: North London, UK
Status: In a relationship
Occupation: Web Developer
Pronounce: He/ Him


Alistair was born in London and lives in a strong community of family and life long friends. He works as a web developer for a big tech company and loves coding. Majority if his friends are also developers or work in tech and when they get together, coding and games are the most common topics they speak about. Alistair had always had a bit of a social anxiety which prevented him from meeting new people and discovering new areas of interest and hobbies. He likes the idea of trying out some creative techniques but he doesn’t know where to start and is afraid of failure. He tends to be quite skeptical about wellbeing apps.
Motivations & Behaviours

  • Recognises that his interests are a bit limiting and would like to expand his horizons by trying something new and meeting new people
  • Prefers doing activities for his mental wellbeing alone because I suffer from social insecurity; for more social activities, he is happy to invite friends along
  • Works long hours and only has free time in the evenings when he is quite tired. He doesn’t want his new hobby to feel like a therapy - he wants to have fun and treat himself
  • Likes to personalise his apps to suit his interests

Frustrations & Needs

  • Is skeptical about wellbeing activities having an impact and needs to see actual results to keep goin
  • Is put off from apps/ activities that look too artistic/ specialist
  • Is looking for a simple way into creative activities with all basic information, reviews, rating etc so he can make up his mind and see if it’s right for him






User Journeys




Jo’s User Journey
It’s Thursday, 5pm and Jo is about to send off the final version of a project she’s been working on since Monday. She feels tired as she’s been working long hours to meet today’s deadline. She craves to leave the house and get some fresh air.


Phases

01     Open the app, log in
02     Go to search events and filter events by criteria
03     Review the results and select a suitable event

Goals & Expectations

  • She doesn’t feel that she has enough energy to socialise tonight but wants to treat herself to some mindful and ideally a creative activity
  • She wants to do this in nature or on the beach that she hasn’t visited in a few days.
  • It’s already 5pm and she doesn’t want waste time by researching various sources to find a suitable activity
  • She wants to be able to find out quickly all important details such as the timing, location, price, duration, access, what to bring, level of difficulty and even how busy the event is going to be




Alistair’s User Journey
It’s Saturday morning and Alistair is thinking about his weekend programme. Kat, his girlfriend is away and he’s got a the entire weekend to himself. His friends invited him to play video games but the weather forecast looks great and he is tempted to try something new. Unsure where to look for ideas, he remembers Kat mentioning an app she used to attend a pottery class last week.


Phases

01      Open the app and sign up
02     Go through the onboarding process
03     Personalise the app’s offer

Goals & Expectations

  • Although skeptical, he decides to give the app a chance. He is curious if the app could help him overcome his social anxiety and be more focused and present in his everyday life
  • To do this, he feel that he first need to learn instantly about the app’s features and explore the content of the ap
  • He also wants to personalise it to help him achieve his goals.






03

Ideate





Task Analysis
& User FlowS

Based on the wealth of generated insights I successfully established the app’s three key features potential users will be interacting with. These are: 1. Finding a creative local or online event or activity; 2. Reflecting on the user’s experience after attending an event or activity and finally 3. A thorough customisation of the app to meet the user’s needs. In the below user flows, I am looking more in detail at what will these features look like.


















04

Prototype





Mobile Sitemap

The next step was to create a mobile sitemap. I tested the original version of the sitemap with five participants using a card sorting tool called Optimal Workshop. Based on the feedback, I reorganised the sitemap into the below version.











Homescreen Wireframes in progress










05

Test






Usability Testing

The resulting prototype is an initial hypothesis on how I hope to solve the initially established problems. Now, I will test the most important features and functionality for our primary persona Jo: Find an event by filtering criteria, Evaluate how users felt after participating in an event and editing interests to further personalise the app.


Methodology

  • The usability moderated test will be held in-person and remotely. The in-person tests will take place in my co-working office. Remote testing will take place via Google Meet.
  • We will test 6 participants. Each session will take up to 20 minutes. Selected participants will be recruited through my social network.
  • During each session, I will read out my test’s script and the list of selected tasks. Participants will be asked to describe what they are doing, vocalise any thoughts and comments, in particular any challenges they encounter in the process.

Goals

  • To determine the intuitiveness of the EASE app when performing tasks such as searching for a specific creative event, editing users’ interests or going through the evaluation process.
  • To identify any usability pain points users might come across and how they overcome them.
  • To determine how satisfying it is for the participants to use the app.




Test Participants






Affinity Mapping






Key Insights










06

Iterate






Implementing changes










UI Design Documentation 











KEY Mock-Ups







Interactive Prototype









Learnings
& Next Steps

Learnings

  • Never assume: Participants answers are unpredictable and we should never assume we know the response before we ask the question.
  • Step away for a better perspective: Taking breaks and revisiting the work with fresh eyes consistently led to improvements
  • Asset documentation and management: Putting an extra effort in documenting and organising created assets saves time and frustration in the long run
  • Simplicity over complexity: Simpler and recognisable solutions help the users to develop a feeling of familiarity which will ultimately result user retention.

Next Steps

  • Complete remaining screens in prototype and continue to test them with users
  • Incorporate additional accessibility functions such as voiceover, image/icon descriptions, pinch to zoom, etc and clearly label events with limited accessibility
  • Elaborate even more on the way the app evaluates improvement of user wellbeing over time
  • Develop new features such as the option to upload events for verified event organisers
  • Look back at the business requirements and related research I conducted and come up with a way for the app to be profitable, for example, by offering paid features or by charging event organisers to upload and promote their events
  • Develop and launch the app on the market