Introducing KAYU, my UX / UI first project
M y very first project as UX / UI design student was to create a hypothetical wellness app for the National Wellness Institute. I had 4 weeks to work on the UX and UI parts besides another design group project.
User research to narrow down the topic
Wellness is a very broad subject. As I didn’t know where to start with, I begun with a very broad survey and interviews. It allowed me to define my users’ needs. I found out that 79% of the respondents were concerned about their mental wellness. Moreover, more than 50% of them were interested by a wellness app that would include content such as exercises and activities.
This was a great base to start with!
User Experience Design Thinking
This is when things started to get even more serious. From Lean UX Canvas to User Journeys, I had to think about the type of service people interested in mental wellness — my respondents — would really need.
I came up with a lot of ideas based on my user research that I classified in a mind map.
Then came the moment to define a persona and point out a few user stories like the following one:
As a urban citizen, I want to find a way to take care of my mental health so that I can relieve my stress.
The main acceptance criteria with this one was that it has to give motivation since 62,2% of the survey respondents feel like they need to be supported when they take resolutions.
What kind of app do I came up with?
My idea was to create a healthy mind app that would offer a daily personalized meditation program. It should have a kind and calm interface to relax the user.
After creating a site map, I had to focus on one user flow — that describes a user’s path on the app in order to complete a task — that I would focus on for the rest of the project.
Prototyping and testing
After defining how my app should be, I made a paper prototype to test it with real users.
The results were surprising as the testers were enthusiastic about the onboarding process and with the way my paper prototype was built. However, the bottom menu icons and the home page weren’t well understood. Quite a problematic issue, right?
Iteration & Mid-fid prototype
I changed the main page and added text under the bottom menu icons to make it understandable.
If the testers understood my app and found the concept useful, I was asked how my app was different from other competitors.
My features were approved by the testers but the design and the concept were yet to be defined.
Competitor research
How would I make my app stand out among other meditation and zen apps ?
I analyzed 9 other popular apps on the Play Store (logic as I own an Android phone) such as Headspace, Calm, Petit Bambou or Imagine Clarity. Their designs are different from each other but I found out that some of these apps’ features are pretty much the same. Sometimes it focuses on content. Sometimes it focuses on activities and meditation/relaxation programs. Exactly like my app.
Finding a concept and adding value to my app
While I was reviewing my user research and interviews, I found something interesting. Some of the respondents said that they were playing games to relax. When I tried to find a real zen app with a game concept, I couldn’t find any. There was my opening to improve my concept! Should I try adding gamification?
Since my teenage years, I have been influenced by Asian cultures that I am very interested with. Some ideas don’t come alone. Your background and your environment play a big part in your thinking process. So I remembered some popular Japanese games I enjoyed playing like Neko Atsume. This game has literally no main aim but to collect cats in your garden. You feed them, you give them items to play with. They come and they reward you. Then you can get more items and more food. The garden is customizable as you can choose the decor and the items layout. This is unexpectedly… addictive. You want to come back to the app.
And this is the kind of feeling I wanted to create for my app. How would I make users like the app and not delete it after a few uses? What would make it different and appealing?
KAYU’s birth
Why not adding a character that would be a cute and personalized coach? Should I turn it into a cute animal? A cat? Or dog? Should I give the choice to the user if they don’t like these animals?
Then I remembered one UX / UI mantra: “keep it simple.”
And the character turned into a small stone, “caillou” in French. It’s neutral, doesn’t need to be fed and never dies (no stress keeping it alive, it’s not a Tamagochi). I drew an egg shape with a cute face on a piece of paper. Kayu was born.
According UI to 2 concepts: challenge accepted!
I am more used to work on websites. Mobile app is a first time for me so it was quite challenging. I had to pay attention to the negative space and to the usability. The colors were also important as I wanted to keep the relaxing atmosphere while adding the cute concept. Which is more difficult than I thought.
After testing several colors and patterns, I chose to make it as pure (but still cute) as possible so I can keep it relaxing to the eye.
UI & gamification changes
You can notice that the bottom menu has changed, I added some features like the the Garden where you can get item and goodies for the app with credits earned after completing an exercise. The Zen library is where the user can access all the content freely. The main feature — the daily program — is placed in the center and indicated by a hand on the first use. The decorate button on the top allows the user to change the look of the main screen and to customize Kayu with items from the Garden.
Imagine Kayu with cat ears or a flower hat :)
Variations
I tried punchier colors that the user would be able to get in the Garden section.
Animations with Flinto
The final touch was to add Flinto animations to give some personality to the app.
The final KAYU, an app designed towards humans
I first thought that I’d design the app as a Zen mental wellness coaching program. The final result includes this basic feature but is embellished with a cute concept.
KAYU has its own personality. It’s more than just a mental wellness app. It’s a buddy that you can keep in your pocket (smartphone to be precise.) You can consult it whenever you feel like you want to relax. KAYU’s purpose is to help you to better focus on yourself. It will learn about you as you keep doing the exercises and empathize with you when you tell him your mood. You’ll be able to suit it to your taste since it’s customizable with the rewards you get from completing the activities.
I think that machine learning would be a great asset to add to the app’s features. This way, KAYU would be able to adapt better to its user.
Brand Universe is important
I have a Business School background so I am keen on marketing my creations. When KAYU’s idea first came up, I started to think, along with the UX & UI design process, about how to create a consistent brand. This includes design and concept.
When is this app gonna be released?
My app didn’t provoke any “wow” effect among my testers before adding the character. Kayu added this great value to the app that made people ask me when the app would be available. My objective ended up successfully! The character does its job and provokes a sense of attachement for the testers.
I realized that good features alone are sometimes not enough. You need to dress up your product to make it appealing to the user.
You can see the App description here on Behance or try the demo directly here on InVision.