Weekly.
A varied and bonding journaling experience
Context
Client: Master thesis at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design
Role: UI/UX, prototyping, research, service design
Duration: October to December 2019 (2 months)
Team: Individual project
Brief
I was free to choose a topic myself. I decided to look into conveying emotions in depression, as some of my close friends had been suffering from it, and I wanted to explore how interaction design can help.
Solution
Statistically seen, one in six adults will experience depression at some point in their lifetime. Those affected find it difficult to find a means of coping, while friends and family do not know how they can help.
That’s why I came up with Weekly, a varied journaling app that helps people with depression reflect on their thoughts and emotions and convey them to their journaling partners on a regular basis.
You start with selecting your journaling partner. This can be initiated by either the person experiencing difficulties or a friend. From my interviews, I learned that not everybody feels comfortable sharing their feelings with someone they know due to fear of judgment. For those, connecting with a stranger is a good alternative.
After choosing a journaling partner, each day comes with an engaging journaling activity that both of you fill out individually.
The activities are playful and varied to keep you engaged over time, and their complexity adapts to your mental state.
At the end of the week, you reflect together by going through your activities. This sparks meaningful conversations in a safe environment without judgement. When reaching a milestone, Weekly generates an album of your favourite creations to look back on your journey.
Weekly differentiates itself from common journaling apps in four ways, by being supportive, varied, smart and mutual.
Concept video
Results
With WEEKLY, I created a unique, expert-backed solution that addresses coping with depression more effectively than traditional journaling. During testing, participants valued the varied tasks and weekly sharing feature for fostering reflection and meaningful conversations. The participants' enthusiasm to continue using the prototype after the testing phase demonstrated its positive impact.
Process
1. Research
I started this project with in-depth desk research and then interviewed 7 people suffering from depression and 3 experts in mental health. The key learnings were:
People prefer using a digital journaling medium rather than a physical one for convenience and privacy reasons.
The traditional medium of journaling does not create intrinsic motivation due to its monotony and lack of direction.
People keep their feelings to themselves because they are afraid to reach out.
2. Concept development
I held a brainstorming session in which we ideated on two opportunity areas. I combined several ideas into 5 concepts and refined them in co-creation sessions.
The following two concepts were particularly well-received:
Re-create: A journaling app that helps people with depression edit poems and stories that can be accessed by friends and family to have a regular update on them.
Box of thoughts: A card game that helps people with depression share their emotions and thoughts with their friends or family by getting together occasionally.
The combination of the two concepts resulted in Weekly.
3. Experience prototyping
To receive early feedback on the concept, I created a low-fidelity prototype with Google Docs where I created 7 different activities. Two groups of close friends were asked to fill out an activity each day and share their journals together at the end of the week. Then they reported back to me what worked well and what needed to be improved. I also ran these activities through an expert in psychiatry to validate them from a scientific point of view.
To increase the engagement of the activities, I created a high-fidelity prototype with Origami Studio and ran another one-week test. The prototype was so well received that the participants wanted to continue journaling with Weekly after the test.
4. Presentation
I presented the project to a panel of industry experts and faculty and showcased it at the final exhibition of the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. It was very well received and sparked many touching conversations.
You can view the full presentation here.