UPLIFT

Designing for Well-Being: Personalizing Mental Health Support Through Emotional Design, Habit-Building, and Trust

QUICK OVERVIEW

MY ROLE

  • UX Design

  • UI Design

  • UX Research

TOOLS

  • Figma

  • Procreate

  • Lookback User Testing

TIMELINE

  • 4 Weeks

Uplift is a mental health app designed to support users through personalized meditation and sleep content, daily mood tracking, and habit-building techniques. By leveraging emotional design, the app fosters trust with a vulnerable user base, offering tailored recommendations based on user input. A streak-based reward system motivates users to engage consistently, reinforcing positive mental health habits.

THE MISSION

Uplift’s mission is to provide a safe, supportive, and personalized space for users to improve their mental well-being. By integrating emotional design, habit-building techniques, and tailored meditation content, the app encourages users to check in with themselves regularly. Through trust-driven interactions and positive reinforcement, Uplift empowers individuals to build healthier routines, reduce stress, and enhance their overall emotional resilience.

DISCOVERY

THE PROBLEM

Many individuals struggling with stress, anxiety, and sleep issues find it difficult to establish consistent self-care routines. Existing mental health apps often feel impersonal, overwhelming, or fail to build trust, leading to low engagement and high churn rates. Uplift aims to enhance user retention and long-term engagement by leveraging emotional design, personalized content, and habit-forming techniques to create a supportive, engaging, and user-centered experience that encourages mental wellness while driving sustainable app usage.

THE RESEARCH

Before conducting my initial research, I first identified key psychological principles to guide my design decisions. I explored emotional design, gamification in UX, and user motivation, uncovering insights that shaped the foundation of this project. These findings influenced the overall tone and strategy, ensuring a more empathetic and user-centered experience.

“I really liked this book, recommend it, and one of the ways I keep up with my UX/UI skills.” #ripabookapart

EMOTIONAL DESIGN

  • Incorporating personality that is consistent throughout the product to create a memorable experience & foster an emotional connection with users

  • Optimizing positive stimuli to build engagement with users

  • Utilizing the element of surprise to create high contrast moments that strengthen associations in the users mind

GAMIFICATION

  • Reward systems and goal-setting mechanisms keep users coming back, reducing drop-off rates

  • Game-like elements such as points, badges, and streaks increase motivation and user retention

  • Features like streaks and weekly challenges leverage behavioral psychology to encourage consistent use

OBSTACLES AND PATHWAYS

AFFINITY MAPPING

THE COMPETITION

I analyzed Spotify, Calm, and Notion to explore how different industries approach personalization, engagement, and user experience. By comparing these platforms, I identified key strategies such as dynamic content recommendations, workspace customization, and gamification elements that drive user retention.

  • Goal-Based Recommendations - Tailors content based on user selected goals for sleep and mindfulness.

  • Highly Personalized, Calming Experience - Uses soothing visuals, gentle animations, and ambient sounds to create a relaxing atmosphere, while allowing users to customize their experience with preferred exercise styles and session length.

  • Workspace Templates Based On Goals - Offers pre-built templates tailored to different user needs, such as project management, habit tracking, and journalling, enabling a structured and goal-oriented workflow.

  • Intuitive Workspace Customization - Allows users to personalize their workspace with drag-and-drop elements, custom databases, and flexible layouts.

  • Dynamic Content Based On Behavior - Curates personalized playlists by analyzing listening habits, mood preferences, and engagement patterns to deliver a continuously evolving music experience.

  • Accurate Music Predictions, Large Catalog - Utilizes advanced algorithms and machine learning to recommend songs tailored to user preferences, drawing from its extensive library of tracks.

INTERVIEW TAKEAWAYS

I interviewed potential users to understand their mental wellness habits, motivations, and pain points when using mental health apps. The main goals were to identify the types of content users engage with most, uncover issues they faced with existing products, and understand the barriers preventing users from maintaining a regular mental wellness routine.

ON MENTAL WELL BEING

  • Time constraints and lack of motivation are common barriers to maintaining a mental wellness routine.

  • Users appreciate flexibility in their mental wellness activities rather than rigid, structured programs.

EXPERIENCE WITH SIMILAR PRODUCTS

  • Users value apps that feel supportive and approachable rather than clinical or too rigid, with an emphasis on positive reinforcement rather than pressure.

  • Many users have tried multiple mental health apps but often struggle to stick with them due to lack of personalization or overwhelming features.

PAIN POINTS

  • Users often feel overwhelmed by too many features or lengthy onboarding processes in mental health apps.

  • Some apps feel too generic or impersonal, lacking content tailored to individual needs.

  • Streaks and progress tracking can be motivating, but if too rigid, they can create pressure and guilt, leading to app abandonment.

USER JOURNEY

Once I identified my core users' needs, goals, and pain points, I mapped out the user journey to create a seamless and engaging experience. By pinpointing key touchpoints, emotions, and potential friction points, I refined the flow to encourage continued interaction with Uplift and support users in their mental wellness journey.

THE USER PERSPECTIVE

I created flow charts to further understand the user journey and identify the the highest priority screens to design. Below are three examples of user stories/flow charts.

OBJECTIVE

  • Understand user needs and goals through user flows

  • Outline core functionalities that help users reach their goals

PERSONALIZED CONTENT FLOW

MOOD CHECK-IN FLOW

MOOD TRACKING FLOW

ITERATE, TEST, REFINE

SKETCHES AND MID-FI WIREFRAMES

Once I identified the key features for Uplift, I began my initial sketching and then drafted low fidelity wireframes in Figma.

ONBOARDING SCREENS

TYPOGRAPHY

STYLE GUIDE

Inter is the primary typeface for Uplift, chosen for its modern, clean, and highly readable design. With its balanced letterforms and optimized spacing, Inter proved to be ideal for a wellness-focused app.

ICONS

Icons are used to enhance navigation and clarify actions. Each icon was chosen from the Iconify library to ensure a clean and consistent style.

COLOR PALETTE

The primary color in Uplift is a Forest Green, chosen to evoke a sense of calm, stability, and mental well-being. A very light beige is used for the background to create a soft & welcoming atmosphere while ensuring visibility.

ITERATIONS

Iteration is a key part of the user-centered design process, ensuring that the final product aligns with user needs and expectations. Based on usability testing and direct feedback, I refined the design to improve clarity, efficiency, and overall usability. Each revision focused on addressing pain points, streamlining interactions, and enhancing the ordering experience. By continuously testing and refining, I was able to create a more intuitive and seamless process for users.

FINAL SCREENS

SIGN UP/LOG IN

ONBOARDING FLOW

HOME SCREEN

  • Streak Display - Highlights the user's streak in bold to encourage continued engagement.

  • Personalized Recommendations - Users can scroll through suggested exercises tailored to their input and activity.

  • Encourages Mood Check-ins - Designed to motivate users to track their mood consistently.

PROFILE PAGE

  • Stats Overview - Displays key stats like completed exercises, streaks, and total check-ins.

  • Mood Tracking Graph - Visualizes emotional trends over a monthly period.

  • Achievements Section - Highlights earned badges and includes a progress bar for the "Mindful Explorer" challenge.

CHECK-IN SCREEN

  • Mood Check-in Dropdown - Allows users to quickly log their current mood with a simple selection.

  • Monthly Check-in Calendar - Displays completed mood check-ins, helping users track their emotional patterns over time.

PLAYBACK SCREEN

  • Playback Controls - Includes play/pause, rewind, and fast-forward buttons for easy use.

  • Duration Setting - A clock icon lets users choose the length of their session.

  • Video Details - Displays a brief description.

  • Why It Works - An expandable accordion providing academic sources and explanations behind the exercise's effectiveness.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Uplift App features a clean and minimalistic interface designed to provide a delightful experience that resonates with users. Key elements include a mood check-in feature for quickly logging emotions, personalized content based on user activity, a stats overview, a mood tracking graph displaying mood trends over time, an integrated calendar, and a streaks and rewards system to encourage engagement. By incorporating emotional design, habit-forming strategies, and personalized meditation content, the app motivates users to engage in regular self check-ins.

This project reinforced the importance of user feedback in refining the onboarding experience and personalizing content based on user needs. While initial designs focused on general user goals and pain points, testing with more targeted user groups - particularly those experienced with mental health apps - would provide valuable insights into usability, engagement and overall effectiveness. Through research and an analysis of competitors’ onboarding processes, I was able to structure the steps to minimize friction and encouraged users’ to complete the process.

PROJECT LEARNINGS

1. Emotional Design Strengthens User Connection

Integrating emotional design principles helped create a more engaging and supportive experience. By using calming visuals, encouraging microcopy, and interactive elements like the mood check-in feature, the app fosters a sense of comfort and motivation. This learning highlights how design can influence user emotions and build a deeper connection with the product.

2. Thoughtful Onboarding Improves SaaS Adoption

Researching SaaS onboarding strategies helped me create a structured and intentional onboarding flow. By carefully ordering steps and minimizing cognitive load, the app encourages users to complete the onboarding process, increasing retention and long-term engagement. This learning underscores the importance of a well-designed onboarding experience in driving user adoption.

3. Personalization Enhances Engagement

Incorporating features like mood tracking, personalized content recommendations, and a streaks/rewards system made the experience feel more tailored to individual users. This learning underscores how personalization can drive motivation, helping users build sustainable mental well-being habits.