Project Overview
Unwind is a wellness app designed to help users manage their mental and physical well-being with ease. By offering personalized features, an intuitive interface, and options for community engagement and therapy bookings, Unwind delivers a user-centric experience.
Role: Solo UX/UI Designer | Duration: 13 weeks | Year: 2024 | Process: Design Thinking | Tools: Figma
Project goals
Design a user-centric experience: Create an app that truly reflects and meets the needs and goals of users, ensuring every feature and interaction is relevant and valuable.
Create seamless functionality & usability: Ensure the app is intuitive, easy to navigate, and free of unnecessary complexity
Promote user engagement: Create engaging features and resources that cater to users' interests, encouraging long-term use and interaction with the app
Create a calming and visually appealing Interface: Design an aesthetically pleasing, calm, and organized interface that creates a sense of tranquility and focus for users
From concept to creation: The Process
Throughout this project, I followed the Design Thinking process, moving through each phase of Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. I started by deeply understanding user needs, then defined the core problems to solve. I generated ideas, created prototypes, and iterated based on user testing and feedback, ensuring that the final design was user-centered and effective
Why Unwind? - Empathize phase
My interest in health and psychology drove me to explore the rising mental and physical challenges people face. To better understand users, I conducted guerrilla testing through surveys, interviews, and observations, complemented by market research for deeper insights
Defining the challenges - Define phase
After collecting research data, I could finally detect and define the user pain-points. Users face challenges such as limited access to free features, limited personalized content and features, complex and non-intuitive navigation, and minimal opportunities for meaningful human interaction. These pain-points prevent users from fully benefiting from their wellness journey, leading to frustration and disengagement
Who are the users?
Where does Unwind stand in the wellness space?
In a crowded wellness app market, Unwind distinguishes itself by addressing key user pain-points that other platforms like Headspace, BetterHelp, Daylio, and Smiling Mind have not fully resolved
What are the possible solutions? - Ideation Phase
After brainstorming and sketching multiple ideas, I prioritized the possible solutions and chose the most effective options for the app
Creating wireframes - Prototype Phase
After designing the high-fidelity prototypes, I completed the crucial final step of usability testing to gather user feedback. I then made several iterations based on the feedback and finalized the design
Lo-fi wireframes
Hi-fi wireframes
Usability testing & iterations - Test phase
After designing the high-fidelity prototypes, I completed the crucial final step of usability testing to gather user feedback. I then made several iterations based on the feedback and finalized the design
Conclusion & Takeaways
As a designer, I faced several challenges during this project. Finding participants for user interviews was tough, but I persisted by reaching out to friends and posting in various online groups until I succeeded. Balancing user needs with business objectives was another challenge. I had to address key pain points like the lack of free features and high costs. I chose to make the app free, generating revenue through ads, videos, courses, and therapy sessions, ensuring both user satisfaction and business success.
Finally, I learned that empathy, problem-solving, and consistency are crucial qualities for any designer to overcome obstacles and complete a project successfully.Nma Hamid