Mental Health App
Clear Mind
Overview
Clear Mind is a mental health app built to empower users with personalized tools that adapt to their unique needs. Inspired by personal experience, I wanted to create an intuitive space for resources, support, and community. By talking directly to users, I designed an experience that feels less like a clinical tool and more like a supportive companion.
Team
Sole Designer
Responsibilities
User Research
Wireframing/Prototyping
UX/UI Design
Usability Testing
Duration
Aug 2023 - Sept 2024
Problem
Current mental health apps offer narrow, one-size-fits-all solutions, often focused on meditation. When people are struggling, a single generic tool isn't enough. As a result, users are forced to juggle multiple apps for meditation, journaling, and mood tracking because no single tool adapts to their needs, making it difficult to build meaningful, long-term mental health habits.
Solution
Clear Mind is a responsive mental health platform designed to adapt to a user's fluctuating emotional state. By integrating professional guidance, practical self-care tools, and a supportive community, the app provides a tailored experience for both daily wellness and immediate crisis support. This approach ensures that users have the right level of intervention exactly when they need it most.
Design Process
The project began by listening to how people manage their mental health, which showed that most tools feel too rigid during a real crisis. I moved quickly into prototyping and testing to see how the interface could shift and adapt based on a user's mood. This back-and-forth with users became the guide for the entire design, leading me to create a more responsive layout that balances professional support with a warm, calm space for daily self-care.
Interview Insights
I interviewed individuals currently battling mental health challenges in order to better understand the landscape of available resources, as well as how to best support users facing a wide range of challenges. This led to a last-minute suggestion to explore the app from the perspective of someone supporting a loved one, prompting additional interviews.
Competitive Analysis
I started by auditing the top-trending mental health apps, but I soon realized that focusing only on popularity didn't provide enough depth. By shifting my research toward apps ranked by specific "best for" categories, I was able to analyze a much broader range of specialized tools. This refined approach gave me a clearer understanding of the competitive landscape and helped me identify exactly where the current market was falling short.
Design System
Using Material Design as a foundation allowed me to build a system of components and interactions that feel both consistent and scalable. This framework guided my choices in typography, color, and iconography, ensuring every element was not only intuitive but also met high standards for accessibility. By leaning on these established principles, I was able to focus on creating a seamless, reliable experience that grows with the user.
I developed a purposeful color palette that draws directly from the visual language of mental health awareness. By integrating the specific tones of awareness ribbons into the UI, I created an intuitive system that uses color to guide the user and provide visual clarity. This choice ensures the interface feels both supportive and recognizable, grounding the entire experience in a familiar and meaningful palette.
How Might We
I used 'How Might We' questions to turn the frustrations I heard in my interviews into clear, actionable goals for the design. This allowed me to take real user pain points and flip them into opportunities to build something better. By reframing the challenges this way, I was able to move from simply identifying problems to creating targeted solutions that truly met people where they were.
User Flow
I used a user flow to map out the entire journey, which helped me spot gaps and test my assumptions before getting too deep into the design. By walking through every step a person would take, I was able to make sure the paths were intuitive and truly aligned with what people needed. This provided a clear roadmap for building solutions that directly addressed frustrations and made the experience feel seamless.
Sketches
Starting with pen and paper allowed me to map out the core features and interactions quickly and freely. Getting these ideas down physically helped me visualize the entire experience and gather feedback early on, before committing to digital screens. This phase was essential for exploring different layouts and ensuring the basic flow felt right before moving into more detailed design work.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
I built a low-fidelity prototype using higher-fidelity placeholders to test the core navigation while giving users enough visual context to provide meaningful feedback. This strategic approach allowed me to refine the interactive flow and structure while keeping the design flexible for necessary changes.
Usability Study
I conducted an unmoderated usability study to see exactly where the app felt supportive and where it felt like a hurdle, which helped me pinpoint the moments that needed more care. By testing different versions of key features, I was able to bridge the gap between my initial assumptions and the actual, lived needs of the people using the app.
Design Iteration
I used insights from my testing to strip away anything overwhelming, ensuring the most important tools are always within reach. These shifts transformed a complex set of features into a quiet, supportive space that feels more like a calm experience than a checklist.
After seeing that testers were struggling with the bottom sheet, I designed several variations of the 'Read a Book' screen to find a more natural way for people to interact. Giving users different options to try firsthand allowed me to move past the initial hurdle and land on a refined version that felt truly intuitive.
While testers liked the Daily Check-In, they found the screen a bit cold and suggested using more color to make it feel more engaging. Drawing inspiration from a designer’s use of gradients to represent emotions on a scale, I incorporated a similar approach to add warmth and better reflect a user's internal state. This shift turned a static interaction into a more vibrant experience that visually resonates with how a person is feeling.
I initially assumed users would be most interested in exploring the specific psychologists and advocates behind the content, but testing showed they cared much more about the topics being discussed. Once I realized people were looking for the subject matter first, I adjusted the design to include clear topic labels. This change provided the immediate context users needed to find the right support without any guesswork.
Final Design
Accessibility Considerations
Accessibility was a core part of the process, ensuring the experience worked for everyone from the start. My goal was to remove barriers so that navigating the tools felt natural and effortless. By designing with inclusion in mind, I created a space where any user can engage with the content with confidence.
Project Contraints
During research, a user suggested adding a "supporter" perspective so friends and family could better understand and assist their loved ones. While I recognized the value of this dual-sided experience, I needed to balance ideal functionality with project constraints. To keep the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) focused, I prioritized designing the primary users' interface and added the supporter version of the app to the app's future roadmap.
What I Learned
I didn’t realize how emotionally impactful the app would be for those I shared it with. It created a space where they felt comfortable enough to lower their guard. This allowed them to open up about their own mental health challenges. That’s when it truly became real for me.
Next Steps
