LinkMate - A Well-being Messenger App

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✓  PRODUCT DESIGN

✓  UX/UI DESIGN

✓  HUMAN-CENTERED RESEARCH

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Objective:​​

To create a well-being messenger app that connects young Australians with trained peers who have lived similar experiences, fostering empathy and empowerment within the community. The goal was to streamline onboarding, encourage engagement, and develop a user-friendly UI for launch.

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Challenge:​

Young Australians needed a platform to connect with others who have similar lived experiences to support their mental health. There was a significant gap in engagement, with potential users unsure if their struggles were serious enough to seek help and intimidated by traditional therapy or helplines.

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Solution:​

​Build a messaging platform to connect peers to others to message and talk.

Specific Actions Taken:

 

• Organized and facilitated user interviews and surveys.

• Created empathy maps, personas, and user journey maps.

• Conducted ideation workshops to generate and refine solutions.

• Developed wireframes and prototypes, followed by user testing and iteration.

• Contacted companies for partnerships and incentives.

• Designed a seamless onboarding process and essential features for the app.

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Results:

• User Engagement: Successfully engaged young Australians, with increased participation and positive feedback.

• Feature Adoption: High adoption rates of key features like instant chat, mood tracker, and profile setup.

• User Satisfaction: Improved user satisfaction through targeted usability testing and iterative design improvements.

• Partnerships: Secured valuable partnerships offering discounts on education and software, enhancing the app's value proposition.

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Contextual Information:

Industry: Mental health support
Role: UX/ UI Designer
Team: Collaborated with the CEO and led the UX design team
Timeline: 1 month to get the product ready to launch in July 2021

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Specific Tools and Technologies Used:

Design: Figma for UI design
Prototyping: Figma for Low and medium-fidelity prototypes for user testing
Collaboration: Miro for empathy mapping and ideation workshops
Usability Testing: Remote testing via Zoom, Maze for additional testing

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Personal Contributions:​

Innovations:

• Peer Support Model: Developed a unique peer support model to foster empathy and empowerment.

• Seamless Onboarding: Created a seamless onboarding experience to ensure user retention.

Challenges Overcome:

• Stigma and Hesitation: Addressed the stigma around mental health by creating a safe, judgment-free platform.

• Stakeholder Alignment: Ensured continuous alignment with stakeholders through regular communication and involvement in key decisions.

Learning Outcomes:

• Sensitive Topic Handling: Learned to discuss and address sensitive topics with empathy and professionalism.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Improved skills in engaging and aligning with stakeholders' goals and expectations.

• User-Centric Design: Enhanced ability to translate user research into actionable design improvements, ensuring a user-centric approach.