Clamshell

How an Online Mental Therapy App Support Recovery for People with Mental illness

UI & UX Designer

2020.02- 2020.07

Project Background

Clamshell is a volunteer project sparked by a group of young therapists, inspired by their volunteer experiences tackling sexual harassment. I joined this project because I am a great advocate for gender equality and I always pay serious attention about such subject. The team decided to create an internal support solution that connects victims and therapists by using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to facilitate related treatments to help patients recover from their traumatic experiences.

What I did as UI/UX in this project

User Researcher
I conducted secondary research and design user interview draft. I also presented the findings and insights according to the research.
UX Design
I designed the user flow and journey map to identity the opportunity from the research. I also created wireframes to present with the team to help the team engage with the design
UI Design
I designed the mood board and some icons for the pages to ensure the visual hierarchy is match with the goal of the product.

Challenge-

Design Consideration for Highly Complex User Profile

The target users are the survivors from sexual abuse. When I designed the interview questions, I spent extra time with my team to design the interview questions and did some research to understand the situation before directly having conversation with the users. I learned that sympathy is not empathy. As a designer, I shouldn't feel sorry for the users' situation, but need to keep myself neutral and find the opportunities from the pain points.

Secondary Research

Due to the complexity of the users, I conducted the secondary research to understand the demographic situation of our users and the treatment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, few findings of the research as below:

More than 70% of the survivors did not seek out legal action and only 7% contacted specialized agencies for assistance (sourced by International Violence Against Women Survey)
The result of the sexual abuse experience may result in embarrassment, fear, or guilt which leads to severe mental illness such as depression and anxiety or impact toward behavior such as self-harm, trust issues, and paranoid.
Digital CBT has been increasingly relevant for the treatment of depressive disorder. ( cited from Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L., Rzayeva, U., Völkel, L. et al. A systematic review of digital and face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy for depression.). However, face-to-face therapy is still required to increase patient's engagement and treatment effectivenness.

Other than the above information, I also found a statistic chart from YouGov in 2019, which noted that the major reason people refused to report such crimes is because of embarrassment, which I believe this is one of the pain point I can address in the later design process.

User Interview

From the research, a lot of users mentioned they didn't report to the authority due to the fear of the public shame.However, I would like to get some deeper insights from the interviewers so I made the interview scripts focus on the three topic as below:

I believe these questions are able to help me to identify the pain points and find the opportunities of the solution. I interviewed 5 users from the NGO the team worked with. I highlighted some key finding statements from the users.

I was worried about going to do a therapy session as I needed to go out to face people and talk about this experience. I started to do journal writing to help me move on my life with this experience.

I was so scared when things happened. I tried to look for a face-to-face therapist after the accident, but I felt embarrassed to tell this thing as I am a guy...

I didn't take any process or do anything because I didn't feel safe and ashamed to tell such things to anyone. I think the most effective way for me is I have been doing lots of meditation which engaged myself both mentally and physically.

Let's target the pain points

After doing lots of research, the key insights of the solution can be categorize as below :

Security

Users' sense of security is the key for them to open up and start the healing process. Achieving this security means they should feel unafraid and unembarrassed about potential judgments. It's crucial to create an environment where users feel safe to share their feelings.

Personalization

Users prefer to engage in specific activities to help their recovery rather than openly sharing their trauma, primarily due to a fear of embarrassment. Motivating users hinges on fostering a sense of self-growth and self-help. Recognizing and tailoring the experience to individual preferences is key for user engagement.

Gender Neutrality

The users' responses to the incident and their healing processes showed no direct correlation with their gender. Therefore, the solution should prioritize maintaining gender neutrality to prevent from the risk of perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Customer Journey Map

Based on research insights and analysis, I believe the core focus of the flow and information architecture should center around personalization and engagement. I developed a comprehensive customer journey map, facilitating a clearer understanding of the potential opportunities within the solution and shared to the team about the information.

UI Direction

In crafting the UI design, I prioritized simplicity and calmness to target at persona's pain point, which I hope . Adopting a gender-neutral approach, I utilized cold color palette, such as green and blue, to evoke a sense of tranquility and neutrality throughout the interface.

Solution-

A Secure Digital Platform for Personal Emotional Healing and Trauma Support

Clamshell is dedicated to facilitating users' recovery from traumatic experiences by employing simple and accessible mental health activities and connecting users with engaged therapists who guide them through these activities, providing personalized support and encouragement along the way.

Easy personalized dashboard and premium features

Users can know their activity progress and provide the relevant premium activity treatment to the activities. It also provide the trial for the users before they subscribe the premium features.

Ideal therapists to accompany the healing journey

Users can find a dedicated therapist during their activity which gives them an opportunity or support if they require some mental help during the process.

Personalized journal & mood tracker to document the growth

Journal keeping is one of the treatments of CBT treatment that helps the users to have self-realization and increase their motivation to continue the treatment.

Reflection

This project was my first design endeavor after graduating from an online bootcamp, and it remains one of my most cherished case studies. I vividly recall the mix of excitement and nervousness as I embarked on this journey with the team. Every time I reflect on this experience, I'm reminded of our collective determination to turn the seemingly impossible into reality. Although the app ultimately didn't launch due to funding issues, the process was incredibly fulfilling. Working alongside such talented and inspiring individuals was a privilege. As we often said during the project, 'Like a clamshell emerging from the ocean, we capture and treasure every moment, believing that these memories will forever be a part of us.'