main squeeze
main squeeze
main squeeze
main squeeze
a safe space to explore your thoughts and feelings.
year
2022
duration
24 Hours
category
UI/UX
credits
Krishelle Diaz, Juliana Viado, Toan Le, and Jessica Mei
00
problem
problem
problem
problem
Many college students face stress with limited coping methods, which can lead to mental health issues like anxiety and depression. The stigma around mental health often discourages them from seeking help, leaving them feeling isolated.
solution
solution
solution
solution
Main Squeeze is an app designed to reduce the stigma around expressing thoughts and feelings, helping students improve their mental health. It offers a variety of therapist-led podcast channels and a prompt-based conversation feature, allowing users to comfortably share their thoughts and feelings.
01
Main Squeeze was designed with the intention of being exactly what the name implies: a friend or companion who is there when you need someone to talk to about your ups, downs, and everything in between.
Rice Design-a-thon: Level Up! is a nationwide design competition that challenges students to use design thinking and collaboration to solve modern problems. Our goal was to create an app that reduces the stigma around expressing thoughts and feelings by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health.
Our app was well-received by the judges, earning us first place in the Rice University Design-a-thon. We are grateful for the support of our team members, mentors, and sponsors.
We aimed to create an app that is both accessible and enjoyable, helping people feel less alone in their struggles.
The result is Main Squeeze, which combines therapeutic support with an engaging experience. The app features therapist-led podcast channels and a forum where users can share their thoughts and feelings anonymously.The Problem Statement
How might we create an app that reduces the stigma of expressing one's thoughts and feelings, by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health?
We often hear the phrase "I'm stressed" countless times a day. It's common for people to express their stress, but we seldom hear about how they cope with their experiences
Affinity Mapping: Brainstorming
To use my limited time effectively, I started the empathize phase by brainstorming health app ideas that address mental health stigma and that we would personally use. As a team, we ranked these ideas, and the concept of immersive podcast therapy was our top choice.
User Research
To understand our target users, I categorized questions based on the type of support system college students have. My goal was to address mental health stigma and fears, and determine if our app idea is feasible. Questions focused on:
01 Get to know the user
E.g. Age? Gender? Do you use mental health apps? (to understand the user's background)
02 Understand Behavior
E.g. Ranking how often they experience each mood, Do you express/ act upon your mood?
03 Environment
E.g. Do you have a support system? Have you tried to seek help before? Do you use any mental health apps?
Survey Findings
A total of 82 survey responses were received, and I conducted interviews with 8 students from different colleges to gain insight into the methods they use to cope with and address their mental health.
Only 21 people out of 82 have downloaded and used a mental health app.
41 students expressed feeling stressed quite often, with a low number of coping methods.
33 students felt intimidated to talk to someone when experiencing hard times.
From our research, I found that many college students experience stress and have low numbers of coping methods, which highlights the importance of developing mental health tools and resources that are accessible and can help alleviate stress.
Interview Findings
"It’s a bit daunting to admit and talk with a professional regarding things you are going through."
"I feel bad for sharing these negative feelings with friends and would rather avoid bringing down the mood."
"I do want to reach out, but I feel as though there is no one that I know that can understand what I feel."
Competitive Analysis
I then looked into Hapi and Sup - Support Group, two mental health apps that offer similar services.
Synthesis & Ideation
User Persona
After synthesizing the collected data, I created a user persona. This was done to assist in establishing empathy with potential users and to gain a deeper understanding of the target audience.
Solution Sketches
After defining the Problem Statement, we spent 20 minutes brainstorming different app formats and user flows that would meet user needs. Our collaboration led to the best ideas being implemented, with necessary compromises along the way.
User Flow Through Affinity Mapping
To guide the design of the prototype, my team used the affinity mapping method to organize our proposed user flow. Due to time constraints, I focused on ideating key features and categorizing them. This approach made our user flow more open-ended, which in turn made building the prototype smoother. It gave us a clear picture of which features were feasible to develop within a small amount of time.
Building the Foundation
With less than 10 hours left, I went through an accelerated sprint process when designing our prototypes. The prompts page went through multiple iterations before we settled on the final design.
Key Features: Accessibility
Before moving on to refining and polishing our prototypes, I made a list of our top priority features:
1. Included captions for all audiences to access and participate in the conversation.
2. Ability to type where it says “Share thoughts.”
3. Colored and grey buttons to direct attention to the next task.
4. Large buttons to easily tap.
The Design System
Color
🍋 Yellow represents our goal to help people turn their lemons (thoughts and feelings) into lemonade (daily voice prompts).
🌱 Green represents active participation and contribution to the community.
💜 Purple represents active listening, understanding, and empathy to others.
Typography
We used DM Sans as our primary typeface because of its simple, but friendly design.
Graphics
All graphics are made by the team and our own IP (Intellectual Property).
Nomel is our mascot who’s a lemon slice.
Graphics were made via Adobe Illustrator.
Rice Design-a-thon: Level Up! is a nationwide design competition that challenges students to use design thinking and collaboration to solve modern problems. Our goal was to create an app that reduces the stigma around expressing thoughts and feelings by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health.
Our app was well-received by the judges, earning us first place in the Rice University Design-a-thon. We are grateful for the support of our team members, mentors, and sponsors.
We aimed to create an app that is both accessible and enjoyable, helping people feel less alone in their struggles.
The result is Main Squeeze, which combines therapeutic support with an engaging experience. The app features therapist-led podcast channels and a forum where users can share their thoughts and feelings anonymously.The Problem Statement
How might we create an app that reduces the stigma of expressing one's thoughts and feelings, by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health?
We often hear the phrase "I'm stressed" countless times a day. It's common for people to express their stress, but we seldom hear about how they cope with their experiences
Affinity Mapping: Brainstorming
To use my limited time effectively, I started the empathize phase by brainstorming health app ideas that address mental health stigma and that we would personally use. As a team, we ranked these ideas, and the concept of immersive podcast therapy was our top choice.
User Research
To understand our target users, I categorized questions based on the type of support system college students have. My goal was to address mental health stigma and fears, and determine if our app idea is feasible. Questions focused on:
01 Get to know the user
E.g. Age? Gender? Do you use mental health apps? (to understand the user's background)
02 Understand Behavior
E.g. Ranking how often they experience each mood, Do you express/ act upon your mood?
03 Environment
E.g. Do you have a support system? Have you tried to seek help before? Do you use any mental health apps?
Survey Findings
A total of 82 survey responses were received, and I conducted interviews with 8 students from different colleges to gain insight into the methods they use to cope with and address their mental health.
Only 21 people out of 82 have downloaded and used a mental health app.
41 students expressed feeling stressed quite often, with a low number of coping methods.
33 students felt intimidated to talk to someone when experiencing hard times.
From our research, I found that many college students experience stress and have low numbers of coping methods, which highlights the importance of developing mental health tools and resources that are accessible and can help alleviate stress.
Interview Findings
"It’s a bit daunting to admit and talk with a professional regarding things you are going through."
"I feel bad for sharing these negative feelings with friends and would rather avoid bringing down the mood."
"I do want to reach out, but I feel as though there is no one that I know that can understand what I feel."
Competitive Analysis
I then looked into Hapi and Sup - Support Group, two mental health apps that offer similar services.
Synthesis & Ideation
User Persona
After synthesizing the collected data, I created a user persona. This was done to assist in establishing empathy with potential users and to gain a deeper understanding of the target audience.
Solution Sketches
After defining the Problem Statement, we spent 20 minutes brainstorming different app formats and user flows that would meet user needs. Our collaboration led to the best ideas being implemented, with necessary compromises along the way.
User Flow Through Affinity Mapping
To guide the design of the prototype, my team used the affinity mapping method to organize our proposed user flow. Due to time constraints, I focused on ideating key features and categorizing them. This approach made our user flow more open-ended, which in turn made building the prototype smoother. It gave us a clear picture of which features were feasible to develop within a small amount of time.
Building the Foundation
With less than 10 hours left, I went through an accelerated sprint process when designing our prototypes. The prompts page went through multiple iterations before we settled on the final design.
Key Features: Accessibility
Before moving on to refining and polishing our prototypes, I made a list of our top priority features:
1. Included captions for all audiences to access and participate in the conversation.
2. Ability to type where it says “Share thoughts.”
3. Colored and grey buttons to direct attention to the next task.
4. Large buttons to easily tap.
The Design System
Color
🍋 Yellow represents our goal to help people turn their lemons (thoughts and feelings) into lemonade (daily voice prompts).
🌱 Green represents active participation and contribution to the community.
💜 Purple represents active listening, understanding, and empathy to others.
Typography
We used DM Sans as our primary typeface because of its simple, but friendly design.
Graphics
All graphics are made by the team and our own IP (Intellectual Property).
Nomel is our mascot who’s a lemon slice.
Graphics were made via Adobe Illustrator.
Rice Design-a-thon: Level Up! is a nationwide design competition that challenges students to use design thinking and collaboration to solve modern problems. Our goal was to create an app that reduces the stigma around expressing thoughts and feelings by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health.
Our app was well-received by the judges, earning us first place in the Rice University Design-a-thon. We are grateful for the support of our team members, mentors, and sponsors.
We aimed to create an app that is both accessible and enjoyable, helping people feel less alone in their struggles.
The result is Main Squeeze, which combines therapeutic support with an engaging experience. The app features therapist-led podcast channels and a forum where users can share their thoughts and feelings anonymously.The Problem Statement
How might we create an app that reduces the stigma of expressing one's thoughts and feelings, by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health?
We often hear the phrase "I'm stressed" countless times a day. It's common for people to express their stress, but we seldom hear about how they cope with their experiences
Affinity Mapping: Brainstorming
To use my limited time effectively, I started the empathize phase by brainstorming health app ideas that address mental health stigma and that we would personally use. As a team, we ranked these ideas, and the concept of immersive podcast therapy was our top choice.
User Research
To understand our target users, I categorized questions based on the type of support system college students have. My goal was to address mental health stigma and fears, and determine if our app idea is feasible. Questions focused on:
01 Get to know the user
E.g. Age? Gender? Do you use mental health apps? (to understand the user's background)
02 Understand Behavior
E.g. Ranking how often they experience each mood, Do you express/ act upon your mood?
03 Environment
E.g. Do you have a support system? Have you tried to seek help before? Do you use any mental health apps?
Survey Findings
A total of 82 survey responses were received, and I conducted interviews with 8 students from different colleges to gain insight into the methods they use to cope with and address their mental health.
Only 21 people out of 82 have downloaded and used a mental health app.
41 students expressed feeling stressed quite often, with a low number of coping methods.
33 students felt intimidated to talk to someone when experiencing hard times.
From our research, I found that many college students experience stress and have low numbers of coping methods, which highlights the importance of developing mental health tools and resources that are accessible and can help alleviate stress.
Interview Findings
"It’s a bit daunting to admit and talk with a professional regarding things you are going through."
"I feel bad for sharing these negative feelings with friends and would rather avoid bringing down the mood."
"I do want to reach out, but I feel as though there is no one that I know that can understand what I feel."
Competitive Analysis
I then looked into Hapi and Sup - Support Group, two mental health apps that offer similar services.
Synthesis & Ideation
User Persona
After synthesizing the collected data, I created a user persona. This was done to assist in establishing empathy with potential users and to gain a deeper understanding of the target audience.
Solution Sketches
After defining the Problem Statement, we spent 20 minutes brainstorming different app formats and user flows that would meet user needs. Our collaboration led to the best ideas being implemented, with necessary compromises along the way.
User Flow Through Affinity Mapping
To guide the design of the prototype, my team used the affinity mapping method to organize our proposed user flow. Due to time constraints, I focused on ideating key features and categorizing them. This approach made our user flow more open-ended, which in turn made building the prototype smoother. It gave us a clear picture of which features were feasible to develop within a small amount of time.
Building the Foundation
With less than 10 hours left, I went through an accelerated sprint process when designing our prototypes. The prompts page went through multiple iterations before we settled on the final design.
Key Features: Accessibility
Before moving on to refining and polishing our prototypes, I made a list of our top priority features:
1. Included captions for all audiences to access and participate in the conversation.
2. Ability to type where it says “Share thoughts.”
3. Colored and grey buttons to direct attention to the next task.
4. Large buttons to easily tap.
The Design System
Color
🍋 Yellow represents our goal to help people turn their lemons (thoughts and feelings) into lemonade (daily voice prompts).
🌱 Green represents active participation and contribution to the community.
💜 Purple represents active listening, understanding, and empathy to others.
Typography
We used DM Sans as our primary typeface because of its simple, but friendly design.
Graphics
All graphics are made by the team and our own IP (Intellectual Property).
Nomel is our mascot who’s a lemon slice.
Graphics were made via Adobe Illustrator.
Rice Design-a-thon: Level Up! is a nationwide design competition that challenges students to use design thinking and collaboration to solve modern problems. Our goal was to create an app that reduces the stigma around expressing thoughts and feelings by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health.
Our app was well-received by the judges, earning us first place in the Rice University Design-a-thon. We are grateful for the support of our team members, mentors, and sponsors.
We aimed to create an app that is both accessible and enjoyable, helping people feel less alone in their struggles.
The result is Main Squeeze, which combines therapeutic support with an engaging experience. The app features therapist-led podcast channels and a forum where users can share their thoughts and feelings anonymously.The Problem Statement
How might we create an app that reduces the stigma of expressing one's thoughts and feelings, by encouraging enjoyable conversations to improve students' mental health?
We often hear the phrase "I'm stressed" countless times a day. It's common for people to express their stress, but we seldom hear about how they cope with their experiences
Affinity Mapping: Brainstorming
To use my limited time effectively, I started the empathize phase by brainstorming health app ideas that address mental health stigma and that we would personally use. As a team, we ranked these ideas, and the concept of immersive podcast therapy was our top choice.
User Research
To understand our target users, I categorized questions based on the type of support system college students have. My goal was to address mental health stigma and fears, and determine if our app idea is feasible. Questions focused on:
01 Get to know the user
E.g. Age? Gender? Do you use mental health apps? (to understand the user's background)
02 Understand Behavior
E.g. Ranking how often they experience each mood, Do you express/ act upon your mood?
03 Environment
E.g. Do you have a support system? Have you tried to seek help before? Do you use any mental health apps?
Survey Findings
A total of 82 survey responses were received, and I conducted interviews with 8 students from different colleges to gain insight into the methods they use to cope with and address their mental health.
Only 21 people out of 82 have downloaded and used a mental health app.
41 students expressed feeling stressed quite often, with a low number of coping methods.
33 students felt intimidated to talk to someone when experiencing hard times.
From our research, I found that many college students experience stress and have low numbers of coping methods, which highlights the importance of developing mental health tools and resources that are accessible and can help alleviate stress.
Interview Findings
"It’s a bit daunting to admit and talk with a professional regarding things you are going through."
"I feel bad for sharing these negative feelings with friends and would rather avoid bringing down the mood."
"I do want to reach out, but I feel as though there is no one that I know that can understand what I feel."
Competitive Analysis
I then looked into Hapi and Sup - Support Group, two mental health apps that offer similar services.
Synthesis & Ideation
User Persona
After synthesizing the collected data, I created a user persona. This was done to assist in establishing empathy with potential users and to gain a deeper understanding of the target audience.
Solution Sketches
After defining the Problem Statement, we spent 20 minutes brainstorming different app formats and user flows that would meet user needs. Our collaboration led to the best ideas being implemented, with necessary compromises along the way.
User Flow Through Affinity Mapping
To guide the design of the prototype, my team used the affinity mapping method to organize our proposed user flow. Due to time constraints, I focused on ideating key features and categorizing them. This approach made our user flow more open-ended, which in turn made building the prototype smoother. It gave us a clear picture of which features were feasible to develop within a small amount of time.
Building the Foundation
With less than 10 hours left, I went through an accelerated sprint process when designing our prototypes. The prompts page went through multiple iterations before we settled on the final design.
Key Features: Accessibility
Before moving on to refining and polishing our prototypes, I made a list of our top priority features:
1. Included captions for all audiences to access and participate in the conversation.
2. Ability to type where it says “Share thoughts.”
3. Colored and grey buttons to direct attention to the next task.
4. Large buttons to easily tap.
The Design System
Color
🍋 Yellow represents our goal to help people turn their lemons (thoughts and feelings) into lemonade (daily voice prompts).
🌱 Green represents active participation and contribution to the community.
💜 Purple represents active listening, understanding, and empathy to others.
Typography
We used DM Sans as our primary typeface because of its simple, but friendly design.
Graphics
All graphics are made by the team and our own IP (Intellectual Property).
Nomel is our mascot who’s a lemon slice.
Graphics were made via Adobe Illustrator.
02
03
We were pleased to win first place at Rice Design-a-thon with our app, Main Squeeze. We were able to create an app that addresses a real need in the college student community in less than 24 hours. We are grateful to the judges for their recognition, and we are excited to continue developing Main Squeeze.
© 2024 Krishelle Diaz
© 2024 Krishelle Diaz
© 2024 Krishelle Diaz
© 2024 Krishelle Diaz