Meditation Mates
Conceptual app design
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Project Overview
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic began in 2020 mindfulness and meditation have been on the rise and are quickly becoming a part of our everyday vocabulary. There has been a digital shift seeing meditation move from an ethereal concept to right at our fingertips. Together both Calm and Headspace accrued 39 million installs in the first 11 months of 2020. Despite the successes of these platforms, users need more - connectivity.
With lonliness on the rise I was interested in creating a digital product (app) for groups, friends and loved ones who want to share and go on their meditation journey together. The design solution allows meditators to schedule and complete the same meditation with a friend at the same time no matter what country or space they are in.
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I completed this project throughout my UX Design course with Udacity between April - Nov 2021. I was the sole researcher and designer of Meditation Mates and have since started to redesign my original design solution based on the skills and knowledge I have gained through my continued learning.
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The Problem
The COVID pandemic took the world by storm, altering our daily lives as we know them. Isolation, quarantine, social distancing and restrictions are words and measures that have become normalised in a bid to protect and maintain public health and safety.
Unfortunately during the pandemic due to these measures, the prevalence of severe loneliness increased by 15% in a sample of people living across 101 different countries.
Despite the increasing downloads of mindfulness and meditation apps such as Calm and Headspace, there was still a deficiency in targeting the loneliness that is felt by millions all around the world.
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The Goals
User: Take control and autonomy over their own meditation and mindfulness practices, choosing how to meditate, when to meditate and who to meditate with.
Business: Provide users with an application that caters and responds to their needs in this changing world.
Product: A clean interface which implores simplicity not only in it’s design but in its available content.
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Step one: Discover
Understanding the target audience
WHO
Have you ever downloaded a meditation app?
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The current trends and data for meditation reveal that the popularity of the practice is actually quite widespread across all age groups:
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13% of adults aged 18 - 44 meditate
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16% of adults aged 45 - 64 meditate
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13% adults aged 65+ meditate
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Within these age groups the trend shows that 4% more women meditate than men with:
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16% of females performing meditation compared with;
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12% of males ​
Understanding the market
WHY
Users are seeking a 'point of peace' during these global times of uncertainty where rates of mental health issues and loneliness are skyrocketing. They are taking their health into their own hands and are finding their own ways to deal with stress and the pressures of daily life.
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Understanding 'why' users seek to download a meditation app is crucial to understanding what the user wants and is looking for.
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76%
of users started meditating for general wellness
60%
of users started meditating to improve energy
29%
of users started meditating for anxiety relief
18%
of users started meditating for depression relief
US users invest 63% of their total time on InsightTimer a competitor of Calm and Headspacebecause there is an ACTIVE COMMUNITY offered on the app.
Further Market Insights
WHAT
What are users looking for?
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A study conducted that surveys 12 000 paying subscribers of the Calm app sheds some further light on the issue of connectivity. One finding in this study suggests that almost half of the sample had friends and family who also used Calm and these users would engage in conversations about Calm with their friends and relatives. This shows a great opportunity to create a platform where each user can connect with their loved ones through the app itself.
On top of this, the study highlights that individuals with mental health problems are increasingly turning to these online to these meditation apps. As this group of users increases a strong correlation is found between mental and physical diagnosis and the desire to be connected to other Calm users.
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Conducting User Research
SURVEYS
What did we want to learn?
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I wanted to identify further findings and insights that would assist in the development of a new meditation app focused on connectivity through asking questions about personal motivations, reasons for retaining the app, personal pain points, the app's key features and its usability.
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Step two: Define
Understanding the data
ANALYSE
In order to analyse we must converge the data gathered in the discovery phase and define the user and business goals and specify user needs.
It is the intersection of these goals and needs that provide a crucial insight into the most important features and content needed for the solution. The distinction between goals and needs is defined by the following:
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Goals are easily definable states your users want to achieve.
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Needs are everything they need to achieve that state.
USER PERSONA
Jo Mathews represents a user that MeditationMates is hoping to help on her quest to share her meditation journey with loved ones.
Defining the problem
WHAT NOW?
Users are looking to take control of their own meditation practice.
At this stage, we know who our target audience is, what the market is offering, what users are looking for and the current pain points.
The problem can now be defined by shaping a solution.
This problem will be solved by creating a new meditation app with the purpose of meeting all the needs of both the user and the business with a special interest in the needs that overlap and intersect - the MUST-HAVES.
The must have's
HOW MIGHT WE?
Now we know what we are going to create it is all about knowing what content and features will be presented and how.
To start we will take the MUST-HAVES and use the simple activity of applying "How Might We" questions to these goals.
Step three: Develop
Exploring
Opportunities
STARTING TO IDEATE
The culmination of all the research and analysis completed is shown through these ideas and it is these ideas that are used to shape the basic content and features of the app.
The first step I took in creating these designs was to perform some Crazy 8 exercises. This allowed me to sketch out my ideas and take my designs to the next step.
Lo-Fi prototypes
USING FIGMA
The crazy 8's promted ideas for the initial lo-fi design still placing the most focus on the feature and content ideas.
High fidelity prototypes
ITERATE | ITERATE | ITERATE
As this was the first design project that I undertook, this development phase was long, however, a great learning process for me as a designer. As mentioned above, I did complete this project throughout my Udacity UX Design course and this led to my first design solution shown below. Beyond the course completion, I used this design concept to further my skills and continue my learning. The following iterations were products of learning and experimentation, which eventually led me to my final design solution.
I created many designs and experienced a lot of self doubt but I also learned that it is all a process. A great positive was being able to learn a lot about Figma and how to use the tool to my advantage. Below is a snapshot of all the designs I created leading up to my final design solution.
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Step four: Deliver
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Final Stages
DESIGN COMPLETION
After experimenting with the design concept I finally came to a design solution that I thought was both clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing to the user. It encompasses all of the must-have content and feature ideas which were prioritised through the analysis of my initial research. I am able to offer the user an app which is based on the concept of giving users more control over their own meditation practice. Not only does the platform aim to allow meditators to schedule and complete the same meditation with a friend at the same time no matter what country or space they are in - it also allows the user to perform their favourite meditations alone.
Next Steps
TESTING
Although there have been extensive iterations to get the design solution to this stage, there has not been sufficient usability testing undertaken. My next step would be to conduct usability tests using the platform Lookback which allows me to see what actions users are taking as well as hear what comments they make. I would ask the users to perform various tasks including those most important to the functionality of the app such as booking a schedule with a friend and sending messages.
The data taken from these testing sessions will allow me to make further adjustments and iterations to the design solution prompting further improvements.
Step four: Deliver
Final Stages
FINAL DESIGN CONCEPT
After experimenting with the design concept I finally came to a design solution that I thought was both clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing to the user. It encompasses all of the must-have content and feature ideas which were prioritised through the analysis of my initial research. I am able to offer the user an app which is based on the concept of giving users more control over their own meditation practice. Not only does the platform aim to allow meditators to schedule and complete the same meditation with a friend at the same time no matter what country or space they are in - it also allows the user to perform their favourite meditations alone.
Next Steps
TESTING
Although there have been extensive iterations to get the design solution to this stage, there has not been sufficient usability testing undertaken. My next step would be to conduct usability tests using the platform Lookback which allows me to see what actions users are taking as well as hear what comments they make. I would ask the users to perform various tasks including those most important to the functionality of the app such as booking a schedule with a friend and sending messages.
The data taken from these testing sessions will allow me to make further adjustments and iterations to the design solution prompting further improvements.
What have I learned?
TAKEAWAYS
As this was the first project I ever completed there were more takeaways and lessons to count. It was a great learning experience as I made many mistakes turning to google for help at all stages.
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Use inspiration - as this was my first design project, I was so caught up in the process that I did not seek design or UI inspiration before designing. In hindsight, this was a major setback, and I spent a lot of time designing and re-designing. I have now realised that it is not about reinventing the wheel, but about how to cater to your own target market of users. I have learned also that this ties in closely with a ‘law of UX’ called ‘Jakobs Law’ whereas users prefer your interface to work the same as all other interfaces they already know.
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Test, test, test - throughout this project the lack of testing allowed me to be critical of my own designs and provided a great opportunity to learn and grow as a designer. Despite this, however, it became increasingly obvious how important usability testing is during the development phase. I was missing the opportunity to gain feedback and insight from a 3rd party which again in hindsight was a major setback. Experiencing this made me more appreciative of the role of testing and what it can do to better and improve one's designs.
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Learn Figma - as you can see throughout this project I designed and re-designed this concept many times. One thing that really helped me was to look online and learn how to use Figma as a tool more efficiently and effectively. This really helped me over time and is something I will definitely take with me on to future projects.
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I had help
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Statistics
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Vector designs used in the final prototype:
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