Mobile App Name: Homeroom
Project Summary
Educators are the foundational leaders of knowledge in our country. Though they deserve to feel celebrated, many are feeling overwhelmed, unappreciated, and burnt out. Our team felt compelled to help with some of the issues.
We believe a mobile app that enables educators to build community will help create an environment of support, mitigate feelings of isolation, and positively impact their overall well-being.
My Responsibilities
Timeline & Team
4 weeks from start to finish, with a UX team of 6.
What's The Problem?
Educators are overwhelmed and burnt out, and are often left searching for mental health resources and support.
The Goal
A mobile app that enables educators to build community will help create an environment of support, mitigate feelings of isolation, and positively impact their overall well-being.
"Do you feel your mental health has been impacted by your profession?"
95.5% of 67 participants voted YES – they're mental health has been impacted by their profession.
"Do you feel that you have access to quality mental health resources?"
53.7% of 67 participants voted NO – they do not feel they have access to quality mental healt resources.
Input From Educators Across the U.S.
We reached out to educators who were willing to talk about their experience dealing with mental health. Their testimonies were very humbling and eye-opening:
“Teaching is hard, and there’s never an opportunity to process things. I feel like I have no one to talk to, and that can be very isolating.”
“I’ve developed such bad anxiety, sometimes it feels like I can’t breathe.”
“I’m a person who needs help and support. I just can’t do it all, alone. It’s too heavy.”
What Features To Include?
Prioritized App Features:
Buddy Matching
Daily Affirmations
Buddy Chat
Mental Health Resources & Activities
What Were Competitors Missing?
And what could we learn from them?
NO BUDDY SYSTEM
The competition had no buddy system for creating community and improving mental health amongst educators.
But, they did have these:
Who Is the Target User?
Tara Belle
“How can I support my students when I can’t even support myself?”
Age: 32
Occupation: 3rd Grade Teacher
Location: San Francisco, CA
Traits: Ambitious, Organized, Empathetic, Perfectionist, Anxious, Active
Needs
Community to make her feel supported and less alone.
Coping strategies for exhaustion, burnout, and stress.
Virtual mental health resources that are easily accessible.
Goals
Find curated mental health resources.
Create connections with educators online.
Make time for mental and physical health.
Pain Points
Lack of support from administration.
Wish they had more connection with educators.
Demanding schedule restricts time to find resources.
Potential Solutions
Virtual platform for educators to connect.
Reminders for physical health.
Mental health resource library.
User Journey
SCENARIO
Tara is a 32-year old third grade teacher who has taught at the same school site for nine years. She is feeling overwhelmed by the responsibilities of her job, and is looking for a way to connect with other educators in a meaningful way that eliminates the feeling of isolation.
EXPECTATIONS
- A virtual platform that enables her to connect with empathetic, like-minded - educators.
- Personalized and curated mental health resources.
- Easy to use and simple to manage and navigate.
AWARENESS
1. She realizes the new pressures and responsibilities at work have increased her anxiety.
2. Decides she wants to find resources and support for her mental well-being.
DISCOVERY
3. Does a google search for mental health resources and feels overwhelmed by the amount of options. Discouraged, she quits her online search.
4. Hears about the Homeroom app from a teammate, and is intrigued by idea of building a community online.
EXPLORATION
5. Downloads the mobile app and fills out her buddy-matching preferences.
6. Gets matched with a buddy and begins using the app. After messaging with her buddy, she feels less isolated and alone.
RETENTION
7. Checks in every day to log mood and search for teaching-specific resources.
8. Looks forward to connecting with her buddy to share experiences from their days teaching.
This user flow was introduced including the prioritized features to ensure an intuitive experience.
Iteration from Low Fidelity to Mid Fidelity wireframes and translating design concepts into tangible and testable artifacts.
I conducted usability tests on low and mid-fi prototypes to understand how users interact with the design and what changes to implement based on results.
High Priority Changes
Remove mood tracking button.
Make emoji buttons clickable in the mood tracker.
"Quick Reply" option for new connections.
Mid Priority Changes
Add whitespace on homepage and resources tab.
Remove "Dailies" from homescreen.
Low Priority Changes
Consider keeping tab bar on resources pages.
For High Fidelity, revisions were implemented from usability testing results and a soothing color palette is applied.
As an advocate for accessibility, I want to make sure my designs meet WCAG standards, with AA compliance as the goal. Websites with 100% accessibility isn't realistic, but I do what I can to ensure that those who use assistive technologies do not encounter frustrating experiences. These assistive technologies need to be able to read, understand, and operate the pages.
Target Sizes
I don't want the user to have to hunt when attempting to click on buttons or other call-to-action elements, so we make these target sizes at least 44x44px.
Contrast Checking
Checking the legibility of colors placed in and around each other is vital. This applies to not only text, but icons and other input elements.
The two animations I tackled for this project were for Homeroom’s splash screen and Buddy Tree interactive visual. Both created in Figma.
Homeroom Splash Screen Animation
Homeroom Buddy Tree Animation
The final product of the project is our clickable High Fidelity Prototype. It shows how we listened to educators, prioritized their needs, and delivered a product we believe in.
Interactive High Fidelity Prototye
What Did I Do?
The overall project involved, but not limited to, the following:
Takeaways
When we began this project, we were moved by the overwhelming number of educators who were struggling with their mental health as a result of their work. We wanted to change that.
Throughout the design process, we went on a journey with our user persona, Tara Belle. From uncovering her pain points during the user research phase, to final rounds of usability testing using a high-fidelity prototype, we believe we successfully met the needs of Tara Belle by creating an impactful, user-centered product.
Our final product, Homeroom, enables educators to build meaningful connections and offers curated mental health resources all in one place. Our goal was to help educators like Tara Belle, who are the foundational leaders of our country, by providing the utmost accessible forms of care and support.
We are excited to see how Homeroom can positively impact the future of mental wellness amongst the educational community. We hope we can help build a world where support and community come first.
