MILES- Suicide Prevention
MILES- Suicide Prevention
Project Progression
UI/UX Design of Future Dutch Suicide Prevention App at the request of Miles
About
What is Miles?
Miles is an application created by Stichting Bestaanskracht for individuals struggling with mental deficiencies. It is designed on a smartwatch format (Samsung Galaxy) for the patients and mobile for their caregivers and mental care professionals to track their progress and general state of mind.
In this context, the client requested the implementation of a new application aiming towards suicide prevention of out-patients (outside mental care facilities). The design should be available on
smartwatches (Samsung Gallaxy)
mobile
Design Process
What steps did I take?
I followed a 4-step process that helped me create an efficient, usable and meaningful design for the target audience (out-patients and caregivers).
I started by researching the topic of mental health and suicide prevention based on which I defined the problem statement and solution. I then created user insights and a Design Direction that guided me towards an impactful ideation and user journey.
Based on the raw infrastructure and concept I built, I created the wireframes, finalising with the Hi-Fi Prototype (Final Design).
Suicidal individuals experience disassociation from reality which leads to a build-up of negative feelings and thoughts they want to escape from through suicide. We need to design a solution to suicide behaviour by implementing grounding techniques to train awareness as well as help the user communicate openly.
Problem
Helping the user get in control of their thoughts and emotions with the help of caretakers and grounding techniques to suppress suicidal behaviours.
Solution
01
Insights
Independence
The caregivers and professionals should view and treat the client as an equally capable, independent individual.
Communication
Engaging in open conversations and being listened to helps the client feel supported.
Grounding thechniques
Clients use grounding techniques and therapies to avoid disassociation and build awareness about their actions and their impact.
Crisis Plan
Clients use personalised crisis plans, which are systematic sets of actions to follow to gain control over adverse feelings and thoughts.
User Journey
02
I utilised the data I collected from desk research, surveys and expert interviews as well as the results of the ideation process (diverging and converging) to create a user journey that shows the complete navigation flow of the application.
Client App
Caregiver’s App
Wireframes
03
I created low-fidelity prototypes to layout the functionalities on pages by considering the needs of the target audience and the user journey.
Client App - Smart watch
Client App- Mobile
Caregiver’s App- Mobile
I created low-fidelity prototypes to layout the functionalities on pages by considering the needs of the target audience and the user journey.
Final Design
04
Client App- Smartwatch & Mobile
Caregiver’s App- Mobile
Style Guide
Typography
Color Palette
Final Thoughts
My Learnings
Through this project, I realised even more how much of a role a good plan of action has in realising a user-fitting design. Approaching this systematic approach in my UX/UI process offered me clear and suitable results implemented in my final design.
As presented before, my design process started with desk research, defining the problem statement and deciding on the course of my further research, which, in this case, consisted of qualitative surveys and expert interviews leading to essential insights for the later phases of creating the app design.
Possible Developments
The interactivity of the app can be improved to create more user engagement. Moreover, more research needs to be conducted in order to understand the best approach regarding the app functionalities and the users’s preferred interactions.