PeerTECH 3.0
A mobile and web platform that encourages people with severe mental illness towards recovery through peer connection.
Overview
PeerTECH is a tool that facilitates peer support for individuals with lived experience of mental illness.
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With my background in anthropology and passion for deep empathy, I strove to improve the UX / UI of the existing mobile and web sketches from the previous team to creating a product which both sparks joy and is simple and accessible for all users.
Project Details
Skills
UX / UI Design
User Testing
Team
4 developers
2 designers
1 project manager
Duration
10 weeks
A Lack of Mental Health Support
Existing mental health resources lack supportive strategies necessary to learn and implement habits that are crucial for overall health.
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As a result, people with serious mental illness have much shorter life spans, dying on average 30 years earlier than individuals without serious mental illness.
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This challenge was inspired by our partner, Karen Fortuna, a Professor of Psychiatry and The Geisel School of Medicine.
Objectives
Designing for Mental Illnesses
PeerTECH's Users
There are 4 distinct users of PeerTECH: Super Admin, Admin, Peer Support Specialists, and Service Users. To ensure the best experience possible, it was important to understand the roles of PeerTECH users.
Super Admin
Owners of PeerTECH who have access to all PeerTECH users and organizations via web
Admin
Owners of the workspace for their specific organization.
Peer
Trained individuals with experience of mental illness who support the service users in completing the PeerTECH curriculum.
Service User
Individuals with experience of mental illness who work with their peer support specialist toward recovery.
Project Timeline
The design timeline for PeerTECH as it had already gone through a complete design process before I joined the team.
However, one of the best things about design is that there is always room to improve on the existing UX / UI.
During 10 weeks with PeerTECH, I was the most challenged and passionate about improving the Service User's Goals experience.
Let's talk about goals.
User Empathy
Let's be honest - setting goals and achieving them is really hard!
With our users in mind with live experiences of mental illness, it was crucial to develop a goals experience that both made them
feel great and celebrate their achievements.
Setting goals is a process.
Here's how we do it at PeerTECH.
Personal Growth
After meeting with the previous designers, we discovered areas of improvement for their current goals feature.
While they had done a great job, there were still ways to enhance these designs to ensure the best experience for Service Users.
Sketching it out
I started to sketch out a variety of ideas that included layouts, editing, adding, and viewing progress.
Putting Ideas Into Action
Once I had a clear idea of some of the main features and views, I opened Figma and started designing.
Each design iteration was accompanied by user testing from PeerTECH users and feedback from Karen.
Pain Point
"There is no way to differentiate between completed and in-progress goals, and the icons are confusing."
Iteration
Completion Color: I added green once a goal is accomplished to reduce the cognitive load of users.
Pain Point
"The goal label text is too small and does not provide enough information."
Iteration
Linear View: allows users to be able to see more information about their goals.
Pain Point
"I like the specific icons, but add goal interferes with the scrolling."
Iterations
Add Goal: Adding goals should be easy and encouraged. I extended the add goal bar.
Icons: Incorporated action-specific icons for users to customize their goal experience.
Pain Point
"I want a more qualitative way to view my progress.
Will I have to endlessly scroll to see complete goals?
Iterations
Add Goal: button was not placed in the proper hierarchy.
Color: Incorporating green for completed goals. Colored emojis are more fun!
Progress: individual progress bar is below each goal for users to stay motivated.
Pain Point
"I can't find an easy way to edit my goals. What if I complete a daily goal, but it's not fully accomplished?"
Iterations
Accomplishments: The prior design limited users from viewing their achievements if the scroll got too long.
Progress: Overall progress is displayed at the bottom, while individual daily iterations are beside each check-box.
Iterative goals: Because some goals repeat, a goal will not be moved to "Accomplishments" until it has been 100% accomplished.
The Goal Solution
After several rounds of user testing and feedback, we came to our final designs of the Service Users' goals.
The Service User Goal Flow
While the primary goal screen is important, so is everything else in between.
Main Features
After rounds of testing and iterating, below is a breakdown of the primary features within the goal setting process.
Active and Accomplished Goals
Toggle between screens to view your current and past goals.
View Your Current Goals
To preview a goal, users simply click on it to directly edit.
Edit Goals
Editing goals is easier than ever, and reaches accessibility needs. You can change your icon, and all the details!
