Resili - Learn

How can be build resiliency for informal caregivers to communicate with loved ones? In working at Supports Health, this was a project on their native app, Resili. The "Learn" section in Resili app consists of skill building gamified exercises based on the curriculum, Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT) for informal caregivers. Informal caregivers provide care to their loved ones, but are often exhausted and not cared for themselves. We designed activities to teach emotional regulation and communication skills to caregivers so they can improve their mental health which in return, provides better care for their loved ones.

Role: Sole product designer
Team: Developers, Mental health specialist, CEO
Platform: Mobile (Native)
Tools: Sketch, Adobe Photoshop & Illustration
Sector: Mental Health

RESEARCH

Will caregivers use this feature?

I was the only designer and was expected to wireframe right away. I was given 30 pages worth of existing DBT game ideas to design for the Learn section. With no user research, starting work only from assumptions didn't seem right. It was essential to understand our users and validate our direction before building the actual product. The chief mental health officer and I interviewed a few caregivers using a mixture of calls and in-person interviews to share their experiences with us.

Interview Insights

Silent Caregiver
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“I didn't want to tell anybody about it. I was ashamed and we were embarrassed.”
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Caregivers don't want to be identified. An important consideration of this app is to keep it discreet so that they're able to use it in public settings.

Belonging + Recognition
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“My father would praise me and I was recognized for being helpful. I focused on doing good and on helping other people."
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Caregivers gain energy from praise and validation.

Energy + Emotional Time
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“Your voice gets lost, your needs gets lost, and everything is focused on the well-being of your loved one. Your needs and whatever is bothering you never get discussed.”
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Caregivers commit a lot of emotional energy and time to their loved one, which can cause high stress and anxiety.
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Key user journey map

IDEATION

Design principles

Consistency is important to build familiarity and habit for the user. On the product development side, it helped the team to design and develop within tight time constraints. I defined design principles and frameworks to lay out the foundation for the product. There were games that had a longer time duration and more complexity than others. Each module had different amounts of games. Design principles defines general rules to organize all the games.‍

Modules need to be simple and clear since users are often cognitively overloaded
Must be time-efficient because majority of caregivers have another job and personal responsibilities
The games we design have to be challenging and not predictive to keep users engaged
They must see accumulative progress because they come to "Learn" feature with a goal to become resilient
The tone must show that we have caregiver centric minds and friendliness to represent the brand of our app

Paper prototyping existing content

Some ideas from the game content document seemed complicated for the user experience and product development. I created some fast paper prototypes to see if those ideas could work. Through feedback we learned that our games are too focused on fun and engagement and not on goal of learning through gamified exercises. This is when I remembered how important the MVP is —meeting the must before the could and should.

Paper Prototype

PROTOTYPE & EVALUATE

Wireframe

We focused on designing core interactions for learning since it is the MVP. Then I discussed with developer and mental health specialist on how to integrate the game content document into the layout. We set constraints to amount of characters per text box and how the user would interact with it. It was important for the developer to have structure for coding and for both of us to predict when we can accommodate business needs.

Wireframe of module & activity types

Sitemap

I mapped out how many games were in each module and record how long it takes to finish each game. By creating a sitemap, we could see a full view of the navigation within the learn feature and discuss from there. Now we can view the inconsistency in activities per module.

Sitemap of modules & activities

Design Validation & Success Metrics

With limited budget and time, I opt for some guerrilla usability testing by showing the app around a mall and in a hospital building. I have tested with 4 people in total. My goal was to test the navigation structure and language.
Users were able to navigate well through all the activities and understand concepts. Some issues were: They didn't know which skill they were practicing. The back button led them to the previous screen but they expected to exit the activity. We have changed the top bar header to the title of the skill rather than "Learn". The back button now exits to Learn homepage.

The success of this feature contributed to a user retention rate 3x the industry average.

SOLUTION

Definition

Short and easy to understand definitions of skills with small illustrations for visual learners. We believed it was important to know the definition of the skill before practicing it.

Quick exercises

With mental health specialist and a software engineer, we have designed various quick exercises. One of our priority was to make sure they're learning through each interaction.

Validation

After the exercise is completed, there is feedback on how to apply it in real life as well as validation and praise. This was important because caregivers receive energy through validation.

Made with ❤️ by Becky Zhang