My mission: Designing mobile experience to wholeheartedly support students on their path to improved mental well-being.
Tackling burnout at a university level
Overview
“I'm only running forward, lighting up the dark within”
As someone who has personally struggled with burnout, it can be very daunting to be in an environment where conversations about mental health are still taboo. When I saw my peers suffer from the same, I asked myself what I would need to take charge of my mental well-being and reduce burnout, and how I could implement all these needs in one cohesive mobile app. My user-centered design process aimed to make students feel truly heard, seen, and supported. I carefully crafted personalized features including assessments, coping tools, therapeutic support, and peer communities to empower students to build resilience, prioritize self-care, and rediscover their passion.
Product Researcher and Designer
Role
2 months (Oct 2022 - Dec 2022)
Timeline
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Generative Research, Data Synthesis
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Ideation & Brainstorming
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Concept evaluation, Wireframing
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UI Design, User Testing
Deliverables
5
Team Members
Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment. It's a response to chronic workplace stress that leads to decreased effectiveness and an inability to cope. What makes burnout unique is that it manifests mentally and physically. Mentally, people experience a lack of motivation, increased cynicism, and reduced productivity. Physically, it can show up as fatigue, insomnia, and impaired cognitive functions.
What is Burnout?
Burnout lies in an erosion of engagement - what began as important, meaningful, and challenging work becomes unpleasant, unfulfilling, and meaningless when exhaustion sets in.
Defining the Problem Area
University students face unique pressures that can lead to burnout and impaired well-being, yet stigma and lack of tailored solutions prevent them from getting the support they need.
1. Stigma surrounding mental health issues poses a significant barrier to students seeking help on campus. Many don't utilize counseling services due to shame, privacy concerns, lack of time, or waitlists.
2. Burnout can have long-term consequences if untreated, impacting students' well-being and performance in the moment as well as their mental health post-graduation.
3. The stresses faced by students are unique and can't be addressed through a one-size-fits-all approach. Heavy workloads, financial burdens, competition, career uncertainty, and more require nuanced support catered to the academic context.
Why did I design for this audience?
Motivated by the growing mental health challenges our peers and I were facing on campus, we were driven to support our fellow students who were grappling with the overwhelming pressures of academics and personal issues.
From challenging courseloads to financial burdens, competition with peers to career uncertainty, students today face a host of complex stressors. While resources like counseling exist, the stigma around mental health issues creates barriers to students seeking help. There is a culture of silence and shame, with many falsely believing they just need to “power through” the exhaustion, detachment, and reduced accomplishment. I aim to address this by creating an accessible, judgment-free tool that meets students where they are. Beyond supporting students now, I hope to equip them with healthy coping strategies that mitigate burnout throughout their lives. By emphasizing self-care and work-life balance from this early stage, I believe we can make a meaningful impact on students’ lifelong mental health and well-being. This issue is deeply personal to me, and I am committed to tackling it with compassion.
Problem Statement
How can we assist students in tackling burnout at the university level?
Solution Direction
Voice AI-assisted recovery with an intervention of clinical psychologists/therapists.
Why AI-assisted recovery with voice-controlled interface?
1. We learned that people are reluctant to speak to close friends and family members because they don't want to bother and burden them. In this case, Voice assistance makes the experience more conversational and interactive. Students can verbally process thoughts and feelings with the AI in a judgment-free way.
2. Voice interaction creates a sense of companionship with the AI and simulates talking therapy techniques. The AI can pick up on keywords and adjust guidance accordingly with clinical psychologists/ therapists.
Every project has challenges; this one, in particular, had us deeply empathizing with students suffering from burnout, exhaustion, and losing passion for their academics. We challenged ourselves to think about how to make the app workflow intuitive enough to promote mental well-being. This meant balancing evidence-based approaches like iCBT & CBT with the flexibility and personalization students needed.
Data drove the new design ✨
Time to design & deliver
Onboarding is the first step, during which the user logs into Clara and answers questions inbuilt with a voice-assisted AI. Afterward, the user is required to complete the CBI Questionnaire to detect the burnout level and select a therapist for Clara for consultation.
Onboarding stage
The user is requested to complete the given recovery task with the help of voice-assisted AI and the user will be given the option to perform the task again or explore other exercises in the application.
Performing a task with AI
When the day comes to meet with the therapist, the AI will make sure that the user's recovery task data is provided to the therapist before the consulation.
Meeting the therapist
I see Clara as the one who not only represents but also addresses more than just a yawn that arises from my inadequacy; she addresses a silent cry for exhaustion that runs deeper than words can express. Our final visual screens radiate our inner strength, lighting the way with unwavering determination.
Presenting Clara: Like the Yawn That Conceals Burnout's Toll.
Visual Screens
Back in 2022, that was the time when the Elemental trailer was released, and I loved how it talked about being different elements and having their own colors, and personalities. I felt that it explores the complex and nuanced themes of burnout and resilience. The characters' visuals and colors are inextricably linked to their emotional journeys, and they help the audience understand and connect with the film's powerful message. I felt there wouldn't be a better color scheme than the characters themselves for our Clara
What inspired me choose to this color scheme?
Visual Color Guide
This app which usually started off as an academic project, became much bigger in scale to be a part of a university counselling center. As a part of our university research and testing, we found out that 80% reported feeling less alone in their struggles, and seeing signups spike during exam periods proved we created a reliable app from academic stress. There's more work ahead to tackle burnout at the university level. For now, I think knowing that we helped students feel heard makes the challenging journey worthwhile.
A glimse into our growth ✨
Impact & Outcome
2x
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
80
SYSTEM USABILITY SCORE
87%
OF PAIN POINTS WERE ADDRESSED
1. Further develop the AI conversational capability and personality to be more natural and intuitive. More advanced natural language processing could enhance it.
2. Explore ways to make the therapist integration more seamless and on-demand. Look into reducing wait times and improving flexibility.
3. Dive deeper into accessibility considerations for diverse users. Evaluate features for those with disabilities.
If I had more time 🌩
Time to deliberate
Embracing iteration: Through quickly trying out concepts, gathering user input, and working through flaws, the iterative process really enriched the end result. I learned to critically reflect and allow each phase to build on the next.
Also, throughout this project, I learned the importance of fostering open dialogue and community in addressing mental health, while it was at times emotionally challenging to hear their stories and the difficulties they faced during this period, it allowed us to cultivate a deeper sense of empathy and better inform our project's development.
3. What I enjoyed the most 🎉
One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was the opportunity to positively impact students' lives by addressing mental health and burnout. It felt incredibly fulfilling to work on a project that aimed to empower and support individuals on their unique journeys towards better mental well-being. In the process, I learned the importance of proper research methods, as we engaged with university-level students in open conversations about burnout, despite it being a traditionally taboo topic.
Reflection
1. Something new I learned 📚
The most challenging aspect for me was navigating the technical and design complexities of creating an engaging mobile app with a compassionate AI assistant. Balancing accessibility, personalization, and usability while maintaining the human touch was no easy feat, but it was a worthwhile challenge to tackle.
2. My biggest challenge 🚀
You've reached the end of my case study, but don't hesitate to reach out if you'd like to know more about the project or my experience. I'm more than happy to engage in a conversation with you!
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Tackling burnout at the university level