Momo

A CBT-Based Therapy mental health project for LGBTQ youth.

Project Type

Individual School Work Studio Foundations

My Role

UI design
User research
IllustrationIcon design

Tools

Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Figjam

Duration

2 weeks for research
2 weeks for ideation
4 weeks for design and iteration

Instuctor

Hongjiang Liu
Dai Yang
Sam Liu

BACKGROUND

01 What’s The

Problem?

LGBTQ youth mental health problem is nor-negligible nowadays.According to 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health:

Despite the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and suicide risk among LGBTQ youth, a majority could not access the mental health care they desired. So the design challenge will be:

How to improve the anxiety, depression and suicidality prevalent among LGBTQ youth and help them get the mental health care they want?

RESEARCH&
FINDINGS

01 Research

Secondary Research

After data collection and research, it is concluded that LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health care but were unable to get it cited the following top ten reasons:

User Interviews

I interviewed six LGBTQ youth through an online questionnaire. They all said that there was no good way to relieve mental health problem. They could only slowly heal themselves, but the recovery results were not good. They want to get help in a private, convenient & efficient way.

02 Findings

From the result of the survey. I have three findings:

Synthesis

01 Persona

In order to better understand the needs of the LGBTQ community and seek solutions, I have made persona.

Abigail

Isolated

Age : 17
Occupation : High Schooler
Status : SingleSexual
orientation: Lesbian
Location : New York, USA

I wish to find a safe space where I can talk about my feelings and fears without being judged.

Abigail is a high schooler and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, feels isolated in her journey of self-discovery. She yearns for a safe space to express her fears and feelings without judgment, seeking support that respects her privacy and understands her unique challenges.

02 Journey

MAp

In order to better understand users and find opportunities, I made a user experience map based on persona.

03 Find A Way

At this time, I found a theory of psychological healing called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT), which is a confiding form of healing.

I think CBT is perfect for healing the LGBTQ community with psychological issues, so I'm going to be using it later on for healing and some behavioral cognitive changes for users.

04 Competitive

Analysis

I have done some research on related products and found that similar products on the market cannot provide private communication channels and targeted healing solutions for such groups, and most of them are professionally healed through online doctors, which is expensive, which many people can't afford.

Opportunity

• Need to communicate with the person but need to have empathy and ensure privacy
• Need a cheap and easy solution

• Need recommendations for targeted programs
‍
• Need a better user experience

IDEATE

01 Concept

In order to create an affordable, accessible, inclusive, and supportive mental health service platform for LGBTQ+ youth. I designed an app that uses CBT's healing methodology, through AI intelligence and community mutual help to help them get out of the situation.

02 Key

Functions

AI chatbot

AI intelligent chatbot can provide women with confession needs anytime, anywhere, and can also analyze user's situation and make follow-up suggestions.

AI chatbot

AI intelligent chatbot can provide women with confession needs anytime, anywhere, and can also analyze user's situation and make follow-up suggestions.

AI chatbot

AI intelligent chatbot can provide women with confession needs anytime, anywhere, and can also analyze user's situation and make follow-up suggestions.

Design &
Iterate

02 User

Task Flow

Based on the above functions, I sorted it out and made a user task flow.

02 Wire

Frame

02 Usability

Testing

I found 12 users and tested the following 4 tasks:
1. Registration process
2. Have a conversation with AI chatbot
3.complete a CBT healing
4.Have a conversation with other users in the community

02 High-

Fidelity

AI chatbot

Users can feel heard by MOMO.
ONLINE MOMO 24 HOURS A DAY
MOMO will not disclose any privacy information of users.

CBT Healing

MOMO provides users with the most useful self-healing by analyzing their psychological trauma.
Provide animation /games /healing courses

Community

MOMO has a social media feed where users can view and share posts with friends.Users can also view anonymous posts from others.

02 Show

Video

REFLECTION&
NEXT STEPS

01 Reflection

The Necessity of Usability Testing

The Usability Testing was the most impactful part of designing this project for me, as it helped in verifying the accuracy and usability of my design assumptions. Through interactions with real users, I discovered which design elements were effective and which needed improvement. Many aspects of the design turned out to be different from my initial expectations, leading me to think from the users' perspective and ensuring that the service adapts to their needs.

01 NEXT STEPS

Multimodal Interactions

Considering the introduction of multimodal interactions to enrich user experience, such as augmented reality (AR), haptic feedback, and others, to significantly enhance the intuitiveness and appeal of the service, thereby improving the effectiveness and potential of therapeutic outcomes. Integrating these advanced technologies not only makes the service more engaging but also provides users with a more immersive and interactive experience. For instance, AR can be used to create visual representations of mental health concepts, making them easier to understand. Haptic feedback, on the other hand, can provide physical sensations associated with therapeutic activities, adding a new dimension to the healing process.