Alive is an app that helps individuals with depression improve their mental health through CBT-based AI chatbot sessions, mood tracking, and regular mental health assessments. I built the app's structure and design from scratch, which served as the foundation for its future development and release.
timeline
Oct 2022 - Feb 2023
team
1 designer
3 developers
1 project lead
what i did
User research
UX/UI design
UX writing
tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
why alive?
adults experience depression at some point
of individuals with mental illnesses do not receive treatment
American adults are affected by depression yearly
the challenge
As the company wanted to break into the industry with its AI-driven technology, I was tasked to lead the design for a mental health app with a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based chat feature and other tools for support.
the solution
Our chatbot, trained on CBT principles, is accompanied with a friendly and approachable design to foster a safe space for users.
With a mood diary that aims to capture the context behind users' emotions and visualize salient patterns, users can act on informed decisions that improve their well-being.
Users can check their mental state through a standardized self-assessment test, with reminders for regular monitoring.
impact
The core elements I worked on set the tone and direction of the released version.
The design documentation process I initiated during the project led to a clearer understanding of design elements and reduced back-and-forth clarifications during development, highly received by developers in my team.
conceptualizing the app
Our leadership team had multiple ideas to accompany the chatbot feature, but we prioritized those that would be the most valuable to users to meet deadlines and avoid the risk of overwhelming users.
Aside from competitor research to understand gaps and opportunities in the market, I proposed that we conduct a a few in-depth interviews with individuals with depression to identify top features while validating our product idea.
bringing alive to life
As we wanted to convey to users that one feature was as important as the other for their mental health, a default "Overview" page that included shortcut cards to highlight each feature's purpose, consequently eliminating the need for tutorials – and accounting for scalability – was included.
Making a chatbot friendly is known to make users feel more comfortable, and this made all the difference for our feature. Incorporating inviting design elements such as calm, positive colors – which can be seen throughout the app – and warm imagery helps create a safe space for users to open up.
The mood diary's effectiveness lies in the insights it provides for self-reflection and action, so we set to gain as much context around tracked mood as possible. While optional for user agency, we also included more specific adjectives and the option to add location and activity at the time of tracking.
Tracked information was then translated into interactive graphs with summaries to help users reflect on their mood more proactively.
There was a wealth of statistically reliable mental health assessments available to choose from for the app, but ultimately we moved forward with the PHQ-9 questionnaire, commonly administered to individuals with depression, including reminders for users to check their mental state regularly.
guaranteeing an app grounded in empathy
Understanding the sensitivity of creating a mental health app, we collaborated with professionals in the mental health space.
We had regular discussions on app specifics from content and wording to visual elements throughout the project to ensure that everything worked toward a space full of empathy and openness for users.
takeaways
This was my first work design project, which made me realize how the textbook design thinking process doesn't always happen in "real life," and that being more intentional with your design decisions is what matters the most.
Your teammates are users too – creating clear, detailed documentation and maintaining an organized design file is important in team communication and ways of working.