Project Overview
Duration: 2 weeks.
Skills/Tools: Research (User, Business/Competitive, Technical), Project Planning, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Visual Design.
Sketch, Omnigraffle, Hype.
Team Members: Ankit Gupta, Tess Yardney.
Want to see it live? Please click HERE to view an interactive prototype.
The Opportunity
Although many busy professionals practice activities aimed at minimizing stress, it can be very difficult to find time for regular self-care. In recent years, meditation has become increasingly popular within the business world, with major corporations such as Goldman Sachs and General Motors investing in mindfulness programs for their employees. This trend is supported by research suggesting that meditation can reduce stress while enhancing creativity and focus, particularly when deadlines are involved.
American Express is highly regarded not only for their financial services but also for their efforts to improve customers’ lives. Examples include travel services, purchase protection, roadside assistance, and small business counseling. We were inspired in part by the company’s OPEN Forum (see below), which offers tips and advice to small business owners.
Our business and technical research led to the creation of OPEN Mind, a lifestyle/wellness app for mobile that would allow users of all skill levels to practice mindfulness in short increments throughout the day.
Research & Synthesis
After analyzing our competitors (Lark, Stop Breathe & Think, Headspace) for features and overall usability, we sent out a short screener survey asking users about their stress levels and daily habits. After performing seven interviews, we found that our primary user was intent on lowering stress but would often prioritize work over other activities. In addition, these individuals tended to be unfamiliar with the specifics of meditation.
Primary (left) and Secondary (right) User Personas
Next, we used a Journey Map to trace our primary persona's daily schedule and corresponding emotional experiences. From this exercise, we decided to prioritize three key features: guided exercises, smart notifications, and wearable integration. Users would initiate meditation based on their current mood and availability or alternatively receive prompts based on calendar and biometric data.
Design & Iteration
Our design process included several rounds of sketching, wireframing, and most importantly, usability testing. Each iteration was directly informed by user feedback , particularly that surrounding the onboarding and sign-up process. Because we intended to target novice users, it was especially important that these early screens be easy to navigate while clearly illustrating the app’s core features. The initial onboarding screen, meant to span three pages, was replaced with an interactive demo and eventually merged with the sign-up screen, giving users an incentive to make an account and enable calendar integration.
On the other hand, users responded very positively to our Apple Watch screens, even those who reported little interest in wearable technology. A particular favorite among testers was the Heart Rate monitor notification, which could prompt the user to engage in a short mindfulness exercise without requiring interaction.
Conclusion
In contrast to most of my previous work, this project required the identifcation of a unique problem as well as in-depth business and technical research. At times, the broad scope was rather challenging, especially when choosing our initial idea and prioritizing features. On the other hand, this freedom has led us to what I believe is a truly viable concept that meets a very real need among the working population.
Given the target audience of busy professionals with limited time and meditation experience, usability testing was perhaps the most important step of our design process. Between our paper prototype and final iterations, users went from questioning the purpose of our app to praising its simplicity and utility. By testing at a low fidelity, we were able to embrace an agile process and better respond to the needs of our users before it was too late.
Of course, several key steps remain. In the short term, we need to continue with usability testing to validate our most recent iterations. In addition, we should consider tighter integration with the American Express brand, whose name or logo does not currently appear anywhere within our prototype.
In the long term, I would like to explore a detailed progress screen as well as elements of gamification. During our interviews, several users noted that positive feedback and competition help them stick to a new routine, which aligns with our goal of enabling regular meditation.
For more details about this project and my design process, please refer to my project retrospective.
