Take Notice - Saku Mind
OVERVIEW
SUMMARY
Saku is a wellbeing app that connects users to nature via the 5 ways to wellbeing: Be Active | Connect | Give | Keep Learning | Take Notice
The Be Active section was launched for the MVP stage and now the focus will be on the Take Notice scection.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Role: UX|UI Designer
Platform: IOS | Android
Tools: Adobe XD | Illustartor | Photoshop | Zoom | Trello | Airtable
Deliverables: Information Architecture | Copywriting | UX Design | UI Design | Prototyping | Usability Testing
AUTHOR AND STAKEHOLDERS
Indigo Goss - Product Lead / co-founder
Ros Mann - Researcher / co-founder
Lara Varjabedian - Business Lead / co-founder
Juan Francisco Espinosa - Marketing / co-founder
Ramapriya Parthasarathy - Partnerships / co-founder
Common VC - Venture Capitalist / Investors
Ecover - Investors
SCOPE AND FOCUS
Research Goals
To find out what taking notice really means in the 5 ways to wellbeing and to our Saku customers, and how we can help improve their wellbeing.
Research Objectives
- Scientific research to better understand the field and create a meaningful experience for our users.
- Find out how customers currently take notice of their mental wellbeing, what it means to them, and how it helps them.
- Find out what motivates users and what their goals are for their mental health.
Methodologies
- Customer Survey - to help understand what would benefit them.
- Customer interviews with existing and potential customers.
THE PROCESS
DISCOVERY AND RESEARCH
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
To better understand the field and create a meaningful experience for our users.
The 5 Ways to Wellbeing - Take Notice : From our research it showed there were a few different versions of what ‘Taking Notice’ could mean when practicing the 5 Ways to wellbeing, some companies suggest that you should take notice of your surrounding, however as we already have a meditation practice in ‘Be Active’ for that, we felt that taking notice of yourself and your feelings would be more beneficial, as recommended by Mind charity.
Mind: Taking Notice is a step towards strengthening and widening our self-awareness. By developing a better connection to ourselves (intrapersonal), where we are more aware of our needs, values and interests, we can begin exploring and choosing behaviours that are consistent with these things. The idea for this is supported by a psychological theory called self-determination theory, which suggests that an open awareness is particularly valuable for those choosing behaviours that are consistent with our intrinsic motivations. This ability to self-regulate our behaviours is thought to be important for our wellbeing and mental health (New Economics Foundation, 2008).
Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.
Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". Mindfulness can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.
There are a number of ways to conduct self-awareness and to take notice of oneself. We looked around at some of the most popular mindfulness and self-awareness techniques, and then found the scientific research to back up why they helped boost mental wellbeing.
Gratitude:
In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways.
Check In Questions:
Starting with 4 base questions that are commonly used by therapists and certified in the UK by the NHS and phycologists to get the customer into the mindset of taking notice of themself.
Journaling:
Journaling about your feelings is linked to decreased mental distress. In a study, researchers found that those with various medical conditions and anxiety who wrote online for 15 minutes three days a week over a 12-week period had increased feelings of well-being and fewer depressive symptoms after one month.
Self Awareness:
Questions that we have found based on self awareness from a number of different sources when conducting primary research. Although we could not find any scientific research to back up why these were beneficial, we felt that they would help us as individuals, and therefore may also benefit our customers. We will conduct our own research to see how they resonate with them.
PRIMARY SURVEY:
This survey was conducted to find out what type of self awareness our current and potential customers practiced, and which new practices might be of interest to them to help enhance their mental wellbeing.
COPYWRITING
It is important to set the right tone in the Take notice section, while still staying on brand for Saku.
Branding recap:
The Explorer: Promote freedom and discovery, encouraging individual excitement and growth.
The Caregiver: Protect and care for others. Offering protection, safety and support for customers.
Drawing in more from the caregiver archetype for this section of the app will allow the customers to feel calm and safe, having the space to reflect and process their feelings.
Question 1 - Check In:
(Check in - these questions have been taken from: NHS and are widely used by psychologists)
Intro: It’s important to take time to really think about how you are feeling and remember, there are no right or wrong answers.
1. Overall how satisfied are you with your life right now?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
2. Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
3. Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
4. Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
Question 2 - Gratitude:
Intro: Improving self esteem, increasing mental strength, happiness and reducing stress. The practice of gratitude helps you refocus on what you have.
1. Write down up to 4 things that made you smile today.
2. Write down up to 4 things that you physically like about yourself.
3. Write down up to 4 personality traits that you like about yourself.
4. Write down up to 4 people that you are grateful to have in your life
Questions 3 - Self Awareness:
Intro: The ability to notice our thoughts and feelings and see how they influence our behaviour. Our ability to understand and develop ourselves.
1. Write down up to 4 of your core values.
2. How often do you listen to your body?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
3. How can you redesign your life or environment to emphasise your strengths?
4. How often are you able to express what you need from the people in your life?
- Not at all
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
Journal :
Intro: Helping the brain to regulate and process emotions, journaling is a great tool for self confidence, self identity and letting go.
AUDIO // TYPE - (Journaling will allow the user to express their own thoughts and feelings.)
USER PERSONA:
From our research above, and talking to some of our existing customers, I put together a user persona, someone who would really benefit and love using this section of the app in-particular.
EMPATHY MAP:
I then went a step further and created an empathy map, in order to drive deeper into the users thoughts and feelings, to step into their shoes and understand why this app would be befinal and how they might use the app in their everyday lives.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
EXPERINCE MAP:
I interviewed 4 Saku Customers, to see how they felt when answering the questions in the Take Notice section. I then put the results in an Experience Map, which helped me to tweak the questions slightly before the final prototype was created.
ITERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
WIREFRAMES:
After finalising the questions, I went on to create the wireframes and prototype of the Take Notice section, because we already had an in depth style guide for Saku and some of the hi fi wireframes for take notice had already be designed, I was able to quite quickly progress from lofi wireframes into the hi fi wireframes version, as you can see below.
LOW FI WIREFRAMES:
HI FI WIREFRAMES:
USABILITY TESTING
AFFINITY MAP
After creating the wireframes above I conducted some users testing (results shown in the usability testing affinity map below). The main purpose of these tests were to find out how the users felt before and after answering these questions, how much time it took them, if this was something they would be able to do on a regular basis and of course how easy it was to navigate. The overall feedback was great, I think this was mainly because I did so much user testing before creating the wireframes. I summarised my findings into an affinity map below, and I created a priorities 1 and 2 list as well as some overall notes, to identify which issues needed immediate updates, however from the testing and feedback I didn't think that any immediate changes were needed, but I did list some things in priority 2 and in the notes section to refer back to at a later stage. (If you would like a full copy of the questions and answers, pleaes drop me an email)
PROTOTYPE:
MY TAKAWAYS:
This was my 3rd project with Saku Mind, I feel as though I know the customers really well at this point, this has helped me to clarify what the customers both wanted and needed. I also conducted a lot more primary research in this case study, including user feedback on all of the copywriting before it was created into a working prototype, this really helped to define the take notice section. I was really pleased that this meant that the final feedback was so positive from the Saku customers.
As the take notice section is slightly different to the other sections that make up Saku, I have asked 6 customers track and feedback their usage, pain points and gains from using the Take Notice Section over the next 6 months, as I think the feedback might be different overtime, and we need to make sure that this will benefit Saku users in the long term and consistently, not just as a one off.
