iMind

This goal of this project was to break down mental health stigma and improve access to care by building a secure, accessible platform where users can seek support without fear of judgment, discrimination, or logistical hurdles.

Challenge

There is a need for a solution that offers anonymity, ease of finding help, and community support to tackle the public and self-stigma related to mental health issues. The importance of accessible, private, and secure mental health services that are available everywhere, anytime, for everyone. Also how the significance of education in dealing with mental health problems and the role of community support in reducing social isolation and providing emotional support.

Out of 70 user responses in our research, 22.9% expressed concerns about privacy and the fear of discrimination as major issues when seeking help.

Distance: 15.7% reported that the distance to access care is a barrier

Difficulty of Booking a Session: For 21.4% of individuals, scheduling a session poses a challenge.

Being Judged or Discriminated: About 22.9% of participants expressed concern about facing judgment or discrimination

During the qualitative research done, users also expressed their concerns with discrimination and how it hinders seeking help.

Results

Throughout the iMind UX design project, I developed a deep appreciation for the critical role of research in uncovering user challenges. Conducting user interviews and surveys provided invaluable insights into user needs and expectations for the product.

I also learned that empathetic design is essential for creating a successful user experience; understanding users' pain points and preferences helped us craft more meaningful solutions.

Embracing feedback became a powerful tool for gaining new perspectives and refining the work donw, enabling me to iterate effectively and ultimately create a product that genuinely meets users' needs.

Design Process

To tackle this problem, I used the Design Thinking approach, guiding me through each stage with a user-centered mindset.

Disovery Pahse

Quantitative Research

in an open ended survey of 70% of people, 28.5% of responses mentioned stigma as a hindrance to seeking help. This draws attention to how public stigma and discrimination affect the willingness of individuals to seek help for mental health issues. And based on the responses here are the key insights presented below

Challenges in Accessing Mental Health Care: The research identifies significant barriers such as financial constraints, fear of being judged or discriminated against, difficulty booking sessions, and distance from mental health professionals.
Importance of Anonymity: Anonymity is emphasized as a crucial feature to encourage individuals to seek help without fear of judgment or confidentiality breaches

Competitive Analysis

In order to get a solid understanding of how our competitors are doing in the market and to lay out a solid foundation, we did a competitor analysis which consisted of direct and indirect competitors.

Competitive analysis of wysa

Wysa doesn’t support user with history of sessions while iMind does.
All of the activities and exercises are done with the guidance of the AI chatbot, which can be frustrating for some users.
Wysa would be a great fit for people who are interested in learning cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, those who need a little bit of support managing their anxiety and stress, and people who like to have an in-app guide.
Wysa is not for those who need therapy, those who do not like chatbots and those under the age of 18 will need to seek out an alternative.
Subscription plan prices are different for Android and IOS users.
Wysa is free but its free trial is only for Android users.

Define Phase

Using Design Thinking, I created personas, empathy maps, and a customer journey map to dive into users' challenges. These offered a clear view of users' needs, pain points, and journeys, guiding my design to be more user-centered.