My Oasis

Overview

Role

UX Designer
This was a conceptual project through the Google UX Design Professional Certificate course

Duration

March - June 2023

Background

My Oasis is a social platform that connects adolescents with mental health resources tailored to their interests. The platform aims to provide information on mental health conditions and various methods of help.

Introduction

Click above to jump ahead to the Final Prototype ⤴

Mental health problems in adolescents are a significant public health concern worldwide. One of the contributing factors is social media, with multiple studies showing strong links between social media usage and negative mental health conditions. Due to various circumstances, many young people lack access to mental health resources and information on mental health conditions.

With most of the youth being social media users, there is a need for an online social platform that connects adolescents with mental health resources tailored to their interests.

  • I have a love-hate relationship with social media. While I use it daily and certainly see the benefits of it, I also easily see the negative impact it can have on people, especially the youth. I wanted to take on a project that dealt with social media and speak to some of its negative effects on society. I narrowed it down to the impact on adolescents’ mental health since we are further into the technology era, with more children growing up using cell phones and computers from a younger age. There are too many instances of young people with mental health issues harming themselves or others. These stories deeply affect me, and I wanted to try coming up with a solution to that problem.

    While I have not had many experiences with mental health issues, I have learned and experienced it from others close to me. Watching them struggle at times and searching for answers impacts me and makes me seek out assistance to try and help. I would research to learn about the conditions and explore different methods of help.

    These are the experiences that shaped my desire to tackle this project objective and why I chose this project.

1. Empathize

Background Research
User Research
(Competitive Analysis & App Reviews)

2. Define

Problem Statement
User Personas
Challenges & Goals

3. Ideate

Information Architecture
Sketches
Wireframes

4. Prototype

Low-Fidelity Prototype
Design System
Final Prototype

Empathize

The research for this project consisted of two parts.

Part 1 was background research for myself to learn about mental health, statistics, trends, and data both at a broader scale and focused on adolescents in America.
Part 2 consisted of user interviews, competitive analysis, and online reviews of existing apps. Overall, this research allowed me to understand the pain points of users and learn what users were looking for. I've learned that many teens don't know where to look for help and finding resources that fit their interests is pivotal. Also, many adolescents are social media users and would like a social community within their mental health journeys.

Part 1: Background Research

Statistics

The statistics provided show the significance of mental health to adolescents in America as well as showing the impact of the pandemic in 2020 on mental health. This proves the need and importance of reliable access to mental health resources for adolescents.

“While most Americans do try to seek out treatment, there also is a large portion of the population who have wanted to but did not seek treatment for themselves or loved ones (29%)– in part due to not knowing where to go if they needed this service”.

“Furthermore, younger Americans (i.e., Gen Z and Millennials) are less sure about resources for mental health services, compared to older generations. This younger generation was also more likely to find it too hard to figure out legitimate resources online. Instead, many turned to unreliable resources for information, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.”

Impact of Social Media

While social media offers many positives in terms of staying connected with others, negative effects can develop with heavy usage.

Depression & Anxiety

  • With more emphasis on social media interactions over human interactions, people run the risk of developing anxiety or depression.

Isolation/Loneliness

  • Studies have shown that high social media usage increases feelings of loneliness. 

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

  • What is shown on social sites is typically an exaggerated sense of reality, in terms of people's lives appearing perfect. Viewing this and feeling like you're missing out can trigger mental health issues and lead to an addiction. 

Cyberbullying

  • It’s reported that about 10% of teens are bullied on social media ranging from hurtful comments and rumors to lies spread about others.

Part 2: User Research

Competitive Analysis

I explored a few websites that provided mental health resources and did an analysis. I found that there was an apparent gap in the market for a website tailored to fitting what teens would look for in mental health help. None of the websites studied had any social features, and some resource categories were not provided at all. As a result of this analysis, it’s clear there is an opportunity to create a platform to address users’ needs.

Existing App Reviews

While doing my competitive analysis research, I was also introduced to some mobile apps targeted at helping people cope with mental illnesses. I browsed a few of them and took a look at some reviews from users, primarily those who gave less than 5 stars in order to see areas of improvement.

Define

Define the Problem Statement

Following the research gathered, the next step was to identify and frame the problem at hand. The result would be the problem statement.

Problem Statement

Mental health problems in adolescents are a significant public health concern and high social media usage is an additional contributing factor. Many young people lack access to viable mental health resources and with most of the youth being social media users, there is a need for an online social platform that connects adolescents with mental health resources tailored to their interests.

Insights

After gathering the data from research and defining the problem at hand based on the user personas I’ve discovered some of the main challenges for adolescents having access to mental health resources.

  • Lack of Awareness

  • Legitimate Resources

  • Stigma Attached to Mental Health

User Personas

With all of the data and information I was able to gather from previous research, it was time to generate personas to encompass the primary type of users for the My Oasis platform.

With these challenges identified, I set out to achieve the following goals with the My Oasis platform

  • Create a Social Community

  • Educate and Explain

  • Reliability

  • Tailored Help

Challenges

CHALLENGE #1

Negativity of Social Media

According to reports, nearly two-thirds of teenagers use social media every day, and a third use it “almost constantly.” Spending so much time on social media can make you feel lonely and isolated from the real world, potentially leading to mental health problems, “FOMO,” self-doubt about your appearance, and more.

CHALLENGE #2

Lack of Awareness

Without a proper understanding of mental health issues, adolescents may struggle to understand their symptoms and what they're feeling. Lack of awareness can also result in limited knowledge for adolescents about the necessary mental health resources available to them.

CHALLENGE #3

Legitimate Resources

As a result of not knowing where to look for help, many young people find it difficult to find legitimate resources. This leads many to turn to what they know best, social media, and often find unreliable sources of information there.

Goals

GOAL #1

Create a Social Community

Creating a social community of users who go through mental health issues and seeking help would be of benefit and not leave many feeling alone and isolated. Providing adolescents with a digital environment to feel welcome and supported in receiving help would be important.

GOAL #2

Educate and Explain

Teach and inform adolescents about mental health conditions and the symptoms involved. Furthermore, highlight different resources that can help with the conditions and explain what makes this a great resource of help.

GOAL #3

Reliability

To steer young people clear of unreliable sources of information on other social media sites, create a centralized platform describing mental health and resources of help. Also, explain why the resources are beneficial to give more validity to why they are listed.

GOAL #4

Tailored Help

Categorize resources and methods of help in order for users to better search through what they feel would work for them the best. Users can browse categories that interest them and find methods of help for their conditions.

Information Structure

With the user problem defined and goals established, I created site maps to lay out the overall structure of the My Oasis platform.

Ideate

Mobile App

Website

Sketches

I did a crazy 8s exercise for the mobile app to come up with different layout options for how users can view different resources for their condition. The focus was on the efficiency for finding preferred methods of help for the user.

Paper Wireframes

I started sketching some low-fidelity paper wireframes to visualize the main user flow better, then proceeded to generate low-fidelity digital prototypes.

Prototype

Low-Fidelity Prototype

I created low-fidelity prototypes for both the mobile app and website that represented the main user flow of selecting what mental health condition you’re feeling and ending off with viewing your mental health resources.

Mobile App

Desktop Website

“a social platform for teens to find mental health resources tailored to their interests”

Responsive Website Design

In addition to being a mobile app, My Oasis was designed as a responsive website. I had to create optimized screen layouts and functions for mobile, tablet, and desktop website screens.

Final Thoughts

Working on this project was a rewarding and eye-opening experience for me. I learned so much about the importance of mental health and how difficult it can be for some people to get the necessary help. From the statistics involved and circumstances that make it more difficult for some than others, working on a project like this is inspiring to learn about the why and put the necessary effort in to help attempt to “solve” the problem. As stated earlier, while explaining why I chose this project, although I have not had many experiences with mental health issues, others close to me have. Working through creating a platform like this inspires me to approach helping others in a similar matter, exploring different resources to align with their interests.

Some users saw the potential for this app and website to have a positive effect on their lives and help them manage their mental health problems. One quote that stuck with me was “This is so helpful! I know a few young kids who would benefit so much from this type of site.”

Mental Health is Important!

Check on your family. Check on your friends. Check on whoever you think is struggling.

Thank you!

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