Hey guys, this is Ken, a self-teach UX student. Recently I finished my third UX project which I found on the UX challenge.
My scansorial was:
“Sometimes strangers who have gone through similar situations can give the best advice when we’re going through rough times in our lives. How can you design an environment where people who are seeking help feel safe to connect and support each other?”
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Overview
We all have some vulnerable moments and indeed it’s suck if you couldn’t find anyone to talk with. Sometimes, friends and family aren’t our perfect listeners. Maybe we don’t want to let them worry, maybe the stuff in our head is too personal or maybe we did but they couldn’t imagine how painful we are. All the insecurities make us tend to find someone who has a similar situation in order to gain some sense of comfort. The Safe Place to talk (SPTT) is the place users could be carefree and express their thoughts with no scruples.
The problem
Is not hard to imagine not every problem could easily talk with our family/ friends, especially if the topic is relatively sensitive. For most people, feeling secure and comfortable is significantly important. In order to provide those elements, SPTT has no identity required, plus users could choose what topic they interested in.
Why SPTT?
There is no doubt, 24/7 hotlines or support groups are way more professional than SPTT. However, from the interviews and researches, mostly actually know what they need to do but only lack motivation. Mostly just need a good cry or express the sadness. Moreover, desk research showed 24/7 hotlines might have a blind spot. The operator might not really connect with the caller. It would make things worse. SPTT allows two people with similar situations can talk without knowing each other identity.
Research plan
In order to gain more data to develop my project. I chose to observe the people in my workplace, which is a Mental Health Service clinic, the questionnaires and interviews as well.
Observational study on Mental Clinic.
Goal: By observing the mental clinic, I could have a better idea for the people who seek help.
Outcome: I realize the age of people who seek help is quite broad, from age 12 to 60. Also, from students to professionals. But not everyone came to the clinic is looking for service, someone was just here for company.
Questionnaire
Sent: 40
Received: 36
Goal: I wanted to gather more data about what the users need and their thought while they are having a bad moment, plus, it could also examine how common the problem is.
Finding:
- Mental illness is very common.
Over 70% of the responders replied they had/ have a different level of mental illness, but most are minor.
2. People tend not to talk the sadness to someone they know in real life
Only 4 responders would talk to their family and friends. The rest won’t talk because; they might feel embarrassed, too personal, or the other reasons
3. Privacy comes first.
Most believe a comfortable environment must be built upon high privacy
Interview
Participant Demographics: 4 people, 3 people who had/ have mental illnesses and a Psychologist
Goal: I wanted to dig deeper and found out how different people reacted to the darkest moment in their life
Finding:
- Knowing each other identity could be a huge disadvantage
Most people afraid to talk to someone they know in real life because of several kinds of reasons, but mostly afraid the relationship dynamic will be changed. Therefore, even though almost everyone understands talking to someone could make them better, mostly choose not to. Thus, keeping each other completely anonymous is significantly impotent since it could make users feel safe and comfy.
2. Express the feeling could also help people
The interviewees state that mostly they need to talk to someone in order to express their feeling, no matter in a verbal or nonverbal way. By expressing their thought to the other could make them feel released.
3. Self-comfort zone
Have stated that having a self-comfort zone, like a journal or an album, could help people who suffer from mental health issues to clearance thoughts, plus it is also one of the ways to express their feelings. On top of that, psychologists always encourage their clients to write journals or paintings is they could always review their progress and feel the improvement
4. SPTT will never able to replace the professional services
Last but not less, the more interview I have done, the more I believe that seeking professionals help is the only way when having serious mental issues. What SPTT could do is offer a platform that users could unleash their feeling on someone they don’t know. By realizing the boundary line and the limation of the product, it could ensure the product would go too far and lost focus.
Persona
Using a user persona could help me define my user formally and help me focus on the right spot. On top of that, it could help me build a better sense of empathy with my prospective user.
Based on the data I have collected, I decided to create only one persona. Because all the motivations I found were so similar, I didn’t think additional personas were necessary.
When I was creating my user persona, I focused on the details from my observation and interviews that were related to my project.
The user journey
Based on my research so far, I mapped out what I thought the typical actions look like when Timmy needs someone to share his depression.
I also mapped out the user comfort zone which many believe would help.
Given that the user’s goals are simple, the map was short.
Ideas generation
Product requirement
According to the mapping and the data I gained. I identify three major features and the interactions a user takes.
Feature 1: Anonymous system
Using color codes could avoid users might recognize each other. And because there are over 16.7 million color codes, the chance that users using the same color code is relatively low. Thus, users could enjoyably and cheerfully talk to others without any worries.
Feature 2: Journal page
The journal page could let users build up their own place to unload their thoughts and emotions. Moreover, this page is only for the user and the person who has talked with, which means the person could keep up with the owner’s status and the owner also review his/ her past.
Feature 3: Voice chat
When people suffer from bad emotions, written language might not the best way to express themselves. The voice chat feature allows users to directly talk about whatever in their minds.
Design Decision
HMW offer users a place to feel comfortable/ secure
I wanted users could feel fully secure and carefree as much as possible so that users could feel free to talk about their struggles. On top of that, most vulnerable people are very sensitive.
An anonymous system could provide a shield to the user that they won’t be recognized by the other and also make them feel safe.
Goal: Ensure users would feel no worries and minimize the potential threats.
Previous iterations
I thought about allowing users to use their own user names. However, some users might use their real name or the username they normally used. The semi-anonymous system cannot fully create a safe place and comfortable environment.
HMW make users even More feeling comfortable.
From the interviews and the research, I found verbal communication sometimes is more effective than written communication. Users don’t need to have a clear mind, and also okay to just literally yelling or crying at the person they don’t even know.
Yes, indeed users might capable to recognize the other just from the voice. However, I believe users could make sure the person who talking with is not someone they know in real life before they start.
Goal: Leverage research to create a place users could feel more carefree
Previous iterations
Voice message:
Although voice message and voice chat are using verbal communication, voice message comes with less interactive and less instantly.
A support group like:
A support group requires a qualified person to lead the group. On top of that, not everyone would feel okay to talk in front of people despite anonymous.
Compulsory questions before voice chat:
The compulsory questions might avoid the user could recognize the others from the voice. However, I don’t think users would love to give too many unnecessary details to the app. Therefore, leave this part to the user would be beneficial for both users and the product.
HMW make the elders feel confident while using the app.
In order to take care of all ages of people, using the clean and simple design allows the elder could follow their intuition without any frustration.
The big icons and buttons allow users spend less time searching the rest of the buttons. The following example demonstrates how users update their daily journals. It only requires a few clicks and users only need to follow the guidelines in order to upload their works.
Goal: Using the UI design to reduce the disturbing and help the user focusing on the main tasks to increase accessibility.
Previous iterations:
Only use icons
Use icons only was an idea in the project in order to take care of someone who has a lower education level or even someone who doesn’t have a good English level. However, only using icons is hard to explain the meaning of those buttons/ functions.
Final Prototype
User story1:
I want to talk to someone.
User story2:
I want to write something in order to release my feeling.
What would I do differently?
Details make more perfect
Although I believe I was on the right path, while I was doing the Hi-fi prototype, I felt the whole prototype was a bit off. I believe the reason is I missed/ haven’t thought deeply. The missing part I would say they are inconspicuous, for example, where should I put the report button, how to show the user their chatroom is opened, is there anything users could do once they opened the room instead of just waiting. All the details things could help the project become more realistic and definitely could make it better.
User rating system
After I finished my prototype, I just realized how stupid I was. I only counting on the “conversation guideline” to keep the environment healthy. The conversation guideline just like the porn site's warning page. We all know we shouldn’t get in before 18, but we just clicked “I am 18 or above” even we weren’t. If someone wants to destroy the environment, using only the signal guideline or the warning page couldn’t help. Using the rating system, like Uber, let the users know how’s the other user behaved.
Detachment from my own bias
When I was doing this project, although I believed I fully utilized all resources and the information as an anchor, there were some parts I designed just based on my bias. If the interviewer asks me some questions like, why I chose this color instead of the others or why I used this font. I don’t think I can give him/her a solid answer. Perhaps none of anyone will note that, but the best is kicking the bad habit away.
Think of different perspectives
I feel there are many places I could do better by thinking more from different perspectives. Compare with other projects, this project was including a huge amount of different types of users and different individuals have different feelings on the same mental issue.
