The first ever design focused hackathon known as Venture XPerience Protothon (VXP), held an online event that asked participating teams to find a solution and prototype their design within 24 hours. The main theme was looking at mental health practices and literacy after the pandemic with a focus on gamification.
Defining the Scope
Mental health literacy encompasses the knowledge, beliefs and abilities that enable the recognition, management or prevention of mental health problems. Since the pandemic, individuals’ wellbeing and a sense of togetherness have declined rapidly. Teams were asked to come up with a solution for this problem. The theme was meant to be broad in order for teams to decide on a direction to take. We first decided to brainstorm initial ideas in order to investigate further.
Brainstorm
User Research
Our findings and insights are based on primary and secondary research. We conducted 5 user interviews and looked at competitor research, market research and peer reviewed articles.
Insights
Insight 1 There are adequate resources for individuals seeking support for their mental health concerns however, for these resources to succeed they must be more widely discussed to reduce stigma and promote education on pre-existing resources.
Insight 2 When researching the topic of mental health and illnesses, interviewed individuals preferred to seek information from blogs and forums. They believe that this information is most relatable, honest, genuine and non-clinical.
Insight 3 Interviewed individuals are more willing to discuss mental health concerns with a trusted peer, friend or loved one. 5/5 individuals would prefer to talk about these concerns with a friend before seeking professional help.
User Persona
Problem
After conducting primary and secondary research and looking at all the insights, we brainstormed a
How can we provide the resources and tools necessary to create a safe environment for individuals to seek support from the ones they trust?
Pain Points
Wireframe
Prototype Landing Page
Resources
Journal + Mood Tracking
Next Steps
The Buddy side of things A support system, especially coming from the closest of friends, plays a huge role in mental health support of an individual. This is where mental health literacy plays a crucial role to enable and educate that person to play that part in the best manner possible.
Therefore, a separate user flow and prototypes will be created to recruit, onboard and educate the ‘buddy’.
Results + takeaways
This challenge was such an incredible learning experience, getting to work so closely with others for 24 hours non-stop. It was both excruciatingly stressful and tiring but exhilarating and rewarding seeing all our hard work pay off. We were rewarded 3rd place among 20+ groups.
