| Timeline: 1 year | Team: Therapists, Psychiatrists, Software Engineers, Marketing Team, PMs | My Role as a Product Designer: Led research, interaction design, prototyping, and testing to reimagine a mental health app |

Mental Health Tracking App

In 2017, depression affected 3–5% of Taiwan’s population—approximately 700,000 to 1.2 million people—with the real number likely higher because of underreporting. To tackle this issue, our team aimed to create an app that combines medical sensor data while enhancing usability, aesthetics, and engagement. As a UI/UX designer, my objective was to redesign the experience to be more intuitive, supportive, and accessible for patients, caregivers, and medical professionals.

Design Goal

To improve the quality of life for individuals living with depression by:

• Enhancing therapy adherence

• Easing caregiver burden

• Strengthening patient–therapist–family communication

• Fostering peace of mind and continuity of care

  
  

Step 1: Empathizing with Users

User Interviews & Personas
We conducted in-depth interviews with ten families, including individuals with depression, their caregivers, and psychiatrists. Insights from these conversations helped us create personas that reflected diverse needs and pain points.

To protect participant privacy, all data was anonymized, while preserving critical insights for the design process.

User Journeys
In the original version of the app, patients wore a smartwatch that tracked emotional states and triggered alerts for timely interventions. While useful, the design felt stressful and unintuitive, prompting disengagement.

Step 2: Defining Design Challenges

Challenges

• Color schemes and emotional indicators felt overwhelming, increasing stress

• Accessibility issues made navigation difficult for older adults and color-blind users

• Lack of engaging features reduced long-term adoption

• Confusing navigation made even core functions hard to find

Step 3: Designing Solutions

Soothing Visual Design
Refined the color palette and emotional cues to create a calmer, more reassuring experience.

Simplified Navigation
Streamlined key functions and restructured the interface to be more intuitive and accessible.

Companion Character & Game Tasks
Introduced a virtual companion and daily tasks to encourage consistent engagement without social pressure.

Information Simplification
Replaced dense text with clear data visualizations and organized functions into four intuitive areas.

UX Writing
Applied supportive, positive language across the app to foster encouragement and trust.

Caregiver Tools
Designed an easy-to-read contact page, giving caregivers and psychiatrists quick access to patient updates and emotional status.

Step 4: Prototype & Testing

We refined the app through iterative user testing, A/B tests, and stakeholder feedback. This process highlighted opportunities to enhance clarity, usability, and emotional support, ensuring the app could be integrated into real-world care routines.

Takeaways

This project taught me that great design goes beyond usability and aesthetics—it must also build safety, trust, and reliability. As a product designer in a start-up, I learned the importance of asking the right questions, structuring sensitive data responsibly, and designing interactions that feel secure as well as supportive.

The project was suspended due to funding shifts, which reinforced a lasting lesson: a well-designed product not only creates a seamless user experience but also instills confidence through a strong foundation of empathy, privacy, and technological stability.