Problem Summary

Up to 30% of people from Seattle suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD); which is characterized by feelings of depression during the fall and winter months. During the winter months on campus, my team and I tangibly felt the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder on campus morale and within our granular communities. In response, we asked ourselves this question: How might we provide support to students struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder on campus?

Context

Intellectual Foundations of Information (INFO 200)*

Role

UX Research, UI Design, Usability Testing

Timeline

Spring 2021 (5 weeks)

Final Design

Our project culminated into a functional interactive mobile application prototype. Our mobile application gives students easy access to a campus community, on-campus counseling, and upcoming on-campus events.

Team

Isha Narayanan, Megan Skorbut, Josh Yasuoka  

Expand for a better view of the prototype!

User Research

We conducted two unstructured user interviews and a google survey receiving 27 responses. Our target users were University of Washington Students who have a personal connection to Seasonal Affective Disorder; we tried to interview people of a broad range of ages and majors. Through the survey, we aimed to collect demographic information and understand how many people considered themselves to have Seasonal Affective Disorder. Through our interviewees, we aimed to understand the affects of Seasonal Affective Disorder on their lives on campus, their opinions on the University of Washington counseling center, and what they would like to see in a prospective solution.

Key Research Insights

1) Winter Quarter Feels Unengaging

2) Students are not aware of the resources that the Counseling Center offers

3) Being part of a community and human connection is a popular coping mechanism

“….. I just felt like there wasn’t much to do during the winter months on campus” – Junior in Psychology

“They don't have a lot of visibility; nothing has really caught my eye. I know it's out there I feel like they could be more visible” – Junior in Psychology

“I just never thought of it first off” – Freshman in Computer Science

“I think their coping mechanisms are to try to be around friends and generally be around people” – Junior in Psychology

“I try to turn more lights on and call my friends” – Freshman in Computer Science

User Personas 

Next, we translated our user needs into two personas. Kate Williams is an in-state Junior who has friends affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. Steven Yamasaki is an out-of-state freshman who has mood irregularities and is susceptible to a vitamin-D deficiency in Washington as he is originally from California. 

*Note: From this point forward, everything displayed was individually created by me as I iteratively redesigned our solution after the class ended

Interface Sketches

Before moving on to wireframing and developing an Information Architecture, I wanted to design the basic interface layout of screens. Due to later user feedback, some of the page names were changed. 

Lo-Fidelity Prototype

For the Lo-Fidelity prototype, I created basic wireframes to address our user needs. Below are the user research findings and the corresponding application features. 

Winter Quarter Feels Unengaging

Connect (later renamed) – Allows users to search and register for upcoming on-campus events

Students are not aware of the resources that the Counseling Center offers

Help – Provides an intuitive and fast method to book an appointment with the University of Washington counseling center

Being part of a community and human connection is a popular coping mechanism

Home – A forum-styled page that allows users to ask questions related to Seasonal Affective Disorder to the University of Washington student community

Message – Allows students struggling with similar issues to connect

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Usability testing 

After completing basic wireframes, I moved on to user testing. My target users were University of Washington Students who have a personal connection to Seasonal Affective Disorder. I tasked the interviewees with: 

1) Create an account and sign in to the application

2) Book an individual therapy appointment with the University of Washington counseling center

3) Navigate to a peer profile and message them

4) Book an on-campus event on the 20th of April

Based on these interviews I had 4 main findings:

Information Architecture

Next, I created an information architecture to give structure to the application. 

Design System 

Through the user interview process, I got a suggestion to make the final application matcha-green. I felt that a muted green color scheme would give the application a feeling of comfort and professionalism. 

Final high-fidelity screens

Our project culminated in a functional interactive mobile application prototype. Our mobile application gives students easy access to a campus community, on-campus counseling, and upcoming on-campus events. 

Expand for a better view of the prototype!

Reflection

The importance of initial User Interviews

This was my first user-centered design project, I had not conducted user interviews before this class. In retrospect, I realize that I could have cultivated more valuable information from the user interviews if I had used a semi-structured interview protocol rather than an unstructured one. After this project, I chose to use a semi-structured interview approach on all other projects.

The Importance of Choosing a Design System before Designing a High-Fidelity Prototype

In our initial High-Fidelity prototype, my team members and I did not decide on a Design System before prototyping. This led to a lot of wasted time during the High-Fidelity prototyping process.

The design process is not always Linear

Through the redesign of the initial application design, I have realized the value of iteration. After the redesign, I feel that the application much better addresses user needs and frustrations.