Product Designer / Brand Designer
FeelQ App
Your Emotional DictionaryRole: Product Designer, UI, UX Resercher
Timeline: 2024
Tools: Affinity Diagram, Empathy Map, Mood Board, High-fidelity Wireframes, Prototyping, Product Design, User Testing
Problem Statement
Journaling offers significant therapeutic benefits, but many individuals, like our user persona Sasha, struggle with the initial step of expressing their thoughts and emotions. Sasha, a reflective individual who often feels blocked when trying to find the right words, represents the typical user who could benefit from a more supportive journaling process. My goal was to design a solution that simplifies journaling, making it more accessible and supportive for users like Sasha.
Research ProcessObjective: To gain a deep understanding of users' relationships with journaling, including their frustrations, motivations, and expectations.
I began with a comprehensive research phase that included market analysis, user surveys, heuristic evaluations of competing products, and interviews with experts in psychology and personal growth. This multi-faceted approach provided a rich understanding of the current landscape and user needs.
These insights helped me identify user frustrations, expectations, and the benefits they sought from journaling, which in turn guided the development of a detailed user persona.
User PersonaThe user persona, Sasha, was developed as a direct result of the research findings. Sasha is a 35-year-old product marketing manager who uses journaling as a means of self-discovery and emotional clarity. Despite recognizing the benefits, Sasha often feels blocked when trying to start journaling, particularly in finding the right words to describe her emotions. This persona became a focal point in the design process, ensuring that the app would meet the specific needs of users who share similar struggles.
Drawing from this insight, I developed several potential solutions aimed at easing the journaling process. The primary focus was on creating features that would guide users through emotional expression in a more intuitive and less intimidating manner.
Feature PrioritizationThe next step involved working on feature prioritization, which was closely tied to extracting the user flow we wanted to focus on. In the first round of prioritization, I identified key features that would address the users' primary needs:
- A comprehensive list of words that users can select based on their current emotional state.
- An app that provides prompts through a quick questionnaire.
- An emotion scale to help users articulate their feelings.
- A widget to measure overall emotion before and after journaling.
Feature Re-PrioritizationBy refining the user flow, I gained a deeper understanding of where users often felt frustrated. This insight was crucial in re-prioritizing the features to better align with users' needs. The revised prioritization gave the product a clear, unique character:
- Emotion Scale: Empowering users to express their emotions with precision.
- Word Selection: Offering a tailored list of words that resonate with users' emotional states.
With these adjustments, the app is now better positioned to create a safe and seamless journaling experience, ensuring both usability and a visually comforting environment.
These adjustments allowed me to create a more responsive and supportive journaling experience that better met user needs.
Visual unfoldingMy design approach centered on creating a visually comforting and engaging environment. The foundation of our brand identity lay in color coding research, utilizing the Emotional Color Wheel to visually represent a wide range of emotions, from Anger to Happiness. This tool was crucial in selecting colors that resonate with the emotions users would express in their journals.
Usability Testing: To validate the design, I conducted extensive desirability and usability tests, focusing on how users interacted with the app and their emotional responses to the design.
Users consistently praised the app’s intuitive navigation and aesthetically pleasing design. They found it easy to explore their emotions, which validated the effectiveness of the features and the overall design strategy. However, the testing also revealed opportunities for improvement, such as enhancing the mood tracking features and integrating environmental factors like location and weather into the emotional journaling process.
Results & Impact Outcome: The FeelQ app successfully addresses the core challenges identified during the research phase. By simplifying the process of emotional expression and providing a supportive environment, the app encourages consistent journaling and helps users like Sasha better understand and manage their emotional well-being. The positive feedback from usability testing confirmed the app’s potential to make a meaningful impact on users’ lives.
Key Learnings & Future StepsThroughout the development of FeelQ, several key learnings emerged:
- Personalization: Users highly value the ability to add custom words to their mood tracker, which allows for a more personalized and meaningful journaling experience.
- Contextual Insights: There’s significant interest in connecting mood tracking to external factors like location and weather, offering users deeper insights into how their environment influences their emotions.
- Next Steps: Moving forward, I will focus on implementing these insights to enhance the user experience further. The priority will be on expanding personalization features and integrating contextual factors into the mood tracking process. By continuously iterating the design based on user feedback, I aim to create an even more intuitive, engaging, and empowering platform for users.
Previous Case Study