description
Client
Amber Michal
Timeline
2024 | 3-week sprint
Role
Project Manager, UI Designer
Team
Eric Houng, Natalie Woo, Nolan Golden, & Yoon Han
Services
App Design, User Research, UI/UX Design
ENERGY ACCOUNTING DESIGNED FOR ACCESSIBILITY AND NEURODIVERSITY
In this mobile app case study, our client entrusted us with a visionary concept aimed at supporting adult neurodivergent users in preventing and recovering from burnout. The app is to teach both energy management and promote self-care. This case study showcases our thoughtful approach to designing an energy accounting app tailored for neurodivergent users, ensuring it is user-friendly and mindful of avoiding sensory overload. Join us on the journey from idea to a practical, impactful solution that supports and empowers its users.
How do we as neurotypical designers design an app for neurodivergent users? Our team gathered resources provided by our client and conducted further research to understand neurodiversity and accessible design. Understanding neurodiversity and sensory overload is a crucial part that goes into the app design, and that understanding requires a lot of research.
Spoon Theory
The core of our research revolved around the Christine Miserandino's Spoon Theory, a metaphor used to explain the limited energy or "spoons" that individuals with chronic illnesses or disabilities have each day. Each activity, even simples ones, consumes a spoon. It helps illustrate the need for energy conservation and planning in managing daily tasks for those with limited energy resources.
Accessibility
We also looked into the sensory overload, focusing specifically on the impact of color and space for neurodivergent users. Our research concluded that soft, muted colors work best while adhering to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). When it comes to spatial design, we need something that neither causes crowded discomfort nor provokes isolation.
But we needed to hear directly from the users, so we conducted 4 user interviews and utilized 6 responses from a survey. We asked our participants about current practices of energy accounting, energy gains & drains, healthy lifestyles & habits, and sensory overloads.
Based on our affinity mapping, some of the key trends revealed that our users:
want an efficient way to keep track of their energy.
want to be held accountable for managing their energy.
are intrinsically motivated.
can get overwhelmed by visuals.
We then created two personas to help identify Posi app's potential users.
Meet Alex and Jamie.
A neurodivergent, creative professional who often experiences burnout. Consistent burnout has resulted in minimal task completion for Alex, with energy levels fluctuating between exhaustion and moments of hyper-focus. Given their burnout state, they need tools to help them recover their energy so they can get back to enjoying their day-to-day.
Jamie Rodriguez, a 31-year-old professional, faces the challenge of preventing burnout while navigating a demanding career and seeks a solution that aligns with existing habits. She wants to prioritize energy regulation by gradually adapting habits that promote sustainable well-being practices.
Alex's Journey
Scenario: Alex is a professional in the creative space and finished their most recent project. They are now experiencing extreme burnout and are struggling to find the energy to do any more work.
Expectations:
Manage burnout without needing too many additional steps.
Find an easy interface that feels personalized to them.
Our team created a journey map to outline Alex's journey from the initial quest for energy regulation to discovering the solution. The journey ends with completing the onboarding within the app and commencing the path to recovery.
But a 3-week sprint is pretty short for this project scope, therefore our team discussed what features and functions should prioritized for this iteration. We focused on the must-have and should-have lists while the rest remain in the product backlog for future sprints. The critical issue was developer constraint: What do we design and what do we leave with placeholders for future branding and creative teams? Are there ideas that would not be feasible for a software developer to implement?
Therefore, we aimed to design the ideal app and document annotations throughout the process. We also discussed the following throughout this sprint:
How Do We Implement Spoon Theory?
Posi's core function is to help users measure their daily energy levels and regulate them for burnout prevention. The Spoon Theory underscores that individuals with chronic conditions possess a limited daily "spoon" count, with each activity consuming a unique number of spoons. How should we measure this energy in the app, and what are the pros and cons of letting users determine the energy cost for each activity?
How Do We Display User's Energy Visually?
Our team believed that a strong visual cue is necessary to reflect user's energy level and showcase the balance between daily drains and gains. This eliminates excess information on the screen that could overwhelm users with text & color sensitivity.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
While many apps use gamification to engage and reward users, successful implementation requires a deep understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Posi's users are likely intrinsically motivated to manage their energy, raising the question of whether extrinsic motivation is appropriate for someone experiencing burnout.
With these questions in mind, we conducted a competitive & comparative analysis to study self-care apps and identify key features & functions that align with our findings. There was huge emphasis on the specific needs and pain points of neurodivergent users, to ensure the app is useable and eliminates sensory overload.
We see a few of the initial mockups of Alex's journey through Posi's onboarding process here. The onboarding process is designed for a smooth, informative flow while minimizing sensory overload.
Jamie personifies the app's daily user, cultivating a positive routine of managing their energy levels. It's crucial for us to highlight the app's daily usage, illustrating how it empowers users to stay mindful of their energy consumption and effectively regulate their daily activities. Jamie's user flow begins with a daily check-in, select a suitable plan, reflect on their progress, and foster accountability with friends.
But our mockup wasn't perfect. There were a lot of recurring discussions about user needs and feasible implementations for this sprint. The 3 elements of our design that required iterations were the quantification of energy gains/drains, the previously mentioned visual cue for the user's energy, and the color palette.
We incorporated Spoon Theory into the app through Posi Points. The points assess the energy cost of an experience, representing the gains and drains of their daily activities. For instance, listening to favorite music adds positive points for energy gain, while being in a sensory overload setting deducts points for energy drains.
Visual Cue of User Energy
Our client was inspired by the flower petals representing Yoshi's Health Meter in the video game Yoshi's Story on the N64. From there, I played around in watercolor for a fluid visual concept. Nolan then utilized AI to finalize the aura design. The user's energy depletion is reflected in the color saturation.
Color Contrast
We collaborated with our client to choose a color palette. Soft, muted colors were chosen based on the combination of user surveys and research. But we also needed to make sure they achieve the highest possible conformance level in WCAG. Therefore we went through several iterations and utilized color contrast checker until we were satisfied.
In developing this MVP, we encountered several design and developer constraints but made strategic priorities within the scope of this sprint. Despite facing limitations, numerous ideas and implementations are possible but require additional time, research, and resources. This is especially true in the areas of neurodiversity and energy accounting. Future iterations could include:
Further research of the energy point system and energy accounting for optimization and accuracy.
Possible implementation of a reward system involves a nuanced understanding of intrinsic & extrinsic motivation and further discussions between the client and potential partners.
Integration of algorithm to track user data and behavior, providing accurate assessment and guidance for new users.
Improvement of accessibility by incorporating the OpenDyslexic font.
Exploration of a rest/pause function, because we recognize that individuals sometimes need to take a break from life without concern for app usage data and changes in behavioral trends.
