Mimu

wellness app

Having a baby is an emotional journey. We developed a wellness app that offers a safe space for mothers to check in on their well-being.

Methods

User Research, Interviews, Qualitative Analysis, Affinity Mapping, Persona, Comparative Analysis, Wireframing, UI Design, Hi-fidelity Prototyping, Usability Testing

Note: This project is a proof of concept to facilitate user research and buy-in.

View Prototype

Responsibility

Research, Strategy, Design

Tools

Figma, Google Forms

Duration

4 weeks

Team

Hadi Muhsin
Terri Lim

— The pregnancy journey

Brief

Pregnancy is laden with changes that can be stressful. Our brief is to provide a digital friend for mothers to reduce the risk of mental health issues during their pregnancy.

What are the emotions, concerns and pain points of their pregnancy?
How do mothers manage their mental health through this journey?
What would they appreciate to support them in times of need?

User Insights

Mothers research heavily to learn about the well-being of their baby but place their personal discomforts as trivial.

In between heartfelt conversations with six expatriate and local mothers who were pregnant in the past year, we learnt that they are more concerned for their baby than themselves and did little to address negative moods during pregnancy.

First-time mothers need more guidance.

It is trying for first-time mothers who struggle to cope with pregnancy changes, thus succumbing to anxiety. Experienced mothers are more prepared to manage their well-being in subsequent pregnancies.

Extensive research to prepare for the pregnancy causes stress.

The vast online resources may paint a perfect picture of motherhood that is hard to achieve or offer conflicting views. It may overwhelm and trigger unnecessary stress for mothers.

Empathy and support helped push them on.

Many turn to their partners, family and friends to wade through periods of low moods. They feel supported when paediatricians are attentive and emphatic to them. Connecting with mothers alike also helps.

Being a first-time mum is exciting, but it can get overwhelming as there are many things I don't know. The conflicting advice I've read isn't helping.

Comparison

Mothers are unable to find comprehensive physical and mental care in the app market during pregnancy.

We investigated the apps which mothers may use during pregnancy. It includes wellness trackers, pregnancy apps and meditation apps. We studied them to find out how to serve the needs of mothers more comprehensively.

— Inform • Encourage • Empower

Problem

A mother needs to be informed about her pregnancy and herself as the lack of experience and knowledge strains physical and mental well-being.

How might we inform a mother on her pregnancy and the state of her well-being?
How might we encourage a mother to stay positive through her journey?
How might we empower a mother to take charge of her well-being when necessary?

Solution

We can inform, encourage, and empower mothers with timely insights for better physical and mental well-being during pregnancy.

Inform

Moods and symptoms tracker

Delivery due date, moods and symptoms tracking can suggest guides to address pregnancy discomforts and alert specialist intervention if needed.

Timely tailored content

Depending on user inputs, the app can tailor content — video, audio and articles — that is informative but not overwhelming.

Encourage

Reflective journal entries

A mother can track observations and photos in a journal. The records of her pregnancy journey can motivate her to monitor her well-being diligently.

Insightful statistics

The records of moods and symptoms provide statistical insights over time, supporting a mother to take note of her well-being.

Empower

Professional support helplines

If the app records prolonged periods of poor moods and symptoms, it will guide her to helplines for professional support.

— Putting the pieces together

Prototype

Nuances count for an app that concerns moods.

The look and feel of the prototype would make or break the first impressions of our app. As the brief concerns how the product makes mothers feel, we needed a refined prototype to get valuable feedback.

View Prototype

Setting the tone

Colour palette and moods

We surveyed mothers to understand how they feel about different colours to develop a colour palette — testing it exhaustively to ensure that it matches the moods in the app.

Onboarding

Detailing the features and privacy options

Our solution is a first of its kind with tracking, browsing and journalling in one. We designed a thorough onboarding to acquaint users swiftly.

Setup

One-stop personalised content

The set-up will help to tailor content base on:

Pregnant or have given birth
Estimated date of delivery
Age range
Level of social support

Interviewees felt that these factors significantly impact the type of content mothers seek. They also provide context for the analysis of the moods and symptoms tracked in the app.

Tracker

Routined tracking reports well-being and improves content recommendation

We offered brief questions for mothers to record their well-being on the go, which included:

Moods
Sleep quality
Symptoms
Priorities of late
Journal

The screens for mood tracking, in particular, would change colour according to the answer. If a mother does not use the tracker, the app can still provide content based on her registered profile.

Home

Tailored based on moods and symptoms

The content on the home page is brief so as not to overwhelm mothers, which was a common stress point for interviewees.

Custom image header from the day's entry
Tracked moods, symptoms, and thoughts
Concise list of recommended content
Adaptable colour theme depending on the mood

Journal

Thoughts — Timeline of journal inputs

Mothers can scroll through their penned thoughts to reflect on their journey. They can export or archive their writings to consult a specialist if required.

Snaps — Automated image gallery from user uploads

Interviewees were excited about the image gallery, lamenting that they have been able to document their journey so neatly. It not only serves to preserve their pregnancy journey but also encourages them to use the app regularly.

Statistics

Mood Chart and Mood Cloud

Mothers can scroll the mood chart to view their weekly ups and downs; or capture their moods in the mood cloud, which our interviewees liked.

Motivating badges

We introduced beautiful postcard-like badges to collect to motivate mothers to browse the tailored content regularly.

Documentation to seek help

Mothers may download their tracked data to consult profesionals.

Support

Words of encouragement

We placed quotes throughout the app, which interviewees felt was comforting.

Helpline button

The button appears when the app detects long periods of heavy emotions, guiding mothers to seek support. It is coloured strategically in peach, different from the usual calming tones on the app.

Support channels

Mothers can reach out to support groups and healthcare professionals on concerns such as depression and breastfeeding. We formulated these through discussions with interviewees. Ideally, we seek to consult medical professionals to provide more comprehensive support.

Issues and iterations

How useful and relevant are the features and content?
What are their impressions on the look and feel?
Is the app easy to use regularly?

We used semantic differential scales to measure where our app stood when testing it with five mothers and applied affinity mapping to gather the insights we needed to improve the app.

Our proof of concept was well-received.

The mothers felt that the prototype was friendly and inviting. They were pleased to see all features integrated into one app. The proof of concept met their needs and provided a solid foundation to build on.

Unfriendly

Friendly

Improvements had to done.

As the app was considerably distinct from what is available in the market, interviewees needed some guidance to use it. With the aid of semantic differential scales, we received constructive feedback to make the app more intuitive.

View improvements

Onboarding was simple but too vague.

The process was too simple and raised privacy concerns. We introduced the app features and privacy terms with more detail, thereby providing better assurance and understanding to use the app.

Complex

Simple

Ask more questions in onboarding to tailor the content more.

The age of mothers and the level of social support they receive bring about differing challenges. Several mothers feedbacked that these factors may help to tailor the app experience even more.

Tracker input was almost effortless. It just needed a bit more information.

Some interviewees were unsure why it was necessary to record their moods and symptoms. We reworked the copywriting to clarify ambiguities and streamline the recording process for the tracker.

Tedious

Effortless

Tailored content was sufficient and well-organised, except for one thing.

Interviewees were confused by "Today's Read", which looked different from the list of tailored content, prompting us to simplify the list.

Overwhelming

Insufficient

Disorganised

Well-organised

Journal and stastistics were clear but navigating there was something else.

Interviewees felt that the statistical tracking of moods and symptoms was too clinical to be placed in the journal section and wanted to locate it more easily. Hence, we provided access via the main navigation.

Confusing

Clear

The helplines were not accessible.

The helpline was another feature that was difficult to reach, especially since the prompt card appeared unclickable. We redesigned it to look more like a button and included it on the main navigation.

Next Steps

Seek guidance from medical professionals to determine factors to track.

We developed the tracker based on the assumptions and feedback from our interviewees. We need medical expertise to advise what the app should track for mothers to reap the most from service.

Explore how to encourage mothers to use the app regularly.

Regular use impacts the tailoring of content and reporting of well-being. We were unable to draw conclusive results from interviewees as they indicated varying frequencies of use. We need to survey a larger pool of mothers to learn how to engage them more regularly on the app.

Learnings

Focus on what is most necessary.

We spent significant time deciphering what to track in the app without the expertise to confirm. Once we tested our proof of concept with interviewees, we realised that they were our best consultants. It was heartening that our clients and interviewees sincerely felt that the app would have helped them during their pregnancy. I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this meaningful project.