Catalyst 2021: UI/UX Designathon, hosted by Boston University (BU) Forge Design Studios
Submission for the Health & Wellness Track: 1st Place (Experienced Project)
Revamped case study, December 2021
Original project submission in March 2021
Role(s): UX Researcher/Writer
Task: Health & Wellness + College Life
Technology is in a critical position to improve the quality and accessibility of health and wellness. How can we design applications to improve the health, either physical or mental, of individual people and groups?
Inspiration
For our inspiration, we researched and referenced a variety of related and non-related applications such as calendar management, productivity, self-care, and mental health; for example, Stoic, Co-Star, Headspace, Picky, and Flo. We wanted to understand how users interacted with these apps, how it integrates into their daily lives, and how they are innovative and stand out from the rest.
What you learned?
As students from different universities, locations, and areas of expertise, we learned how to compensate for what the other lacks as well as getting out of our comfort zone in trying new things. Communication and trust was key to completing this project as some of us were from a different time zone. With this project, we were able to learn from each other under the pressure of time; some of us were able to learn how to do user flows and hi-fi prototyping on Figma for the first time, and others were able to learn new short cuts on Figma.
How we built it?
Before starting our hi-fi prototype, we spent a lot of time on general and user research. We discussed and shared how we would like to approach the concept of health and wellness for college students. We conversed on whether to focus on physical or mental health, who is our main user(s), how to survey them, and what features will stand out with this app in particular. We brainstormed ideas, personas, and user flow(s) on Miro, surveyed college students via Instagram Polls, made a digital sketch via Adobe Illustrator, created the prototype app via Figma, and organized a presentation via Google Slides.
Challenges we faced
Besides the differences in time zones, some challenges we faced as a team was that we had no designated roles, no real solid plan in the face of unexpected occurrences, and our personal well being (i.e a teammate had other events going on in their life, and another teammate joined the designathon after finishing their exams).
