Solution

Mid-Fi

Test

Hi-Fi Prototype

Reflection

My Role:

Research & Interaction UX Design Co-Lead, 2nd Point of Contact

Project Scope:

Myself and 3 other UX designers, 3 weeks

Responsibilities:

User interviews, Affinity Mapping, Competitive & Comparative (C&C) Analysis, Journey Mapping, Persona, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Co-workshop Facilitation, Presentation

Tools:

Figma, Illustrator, Notion, Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack

What is HERE?

HERE is a social enterprise that combines neuroscience insights with healing modalities to provide interactive relaxation exercises. Their platform is tailored for corporate wellness programs.

Opportunity:

Over-the-Road (OTR) Truck drivers face unique challenges in maintaining their well-being due to their demanding schedules and limited access to traditional wellness programs.

HERE is partnering with TrueNorth, a leading US benefits company for the transport industry, to develop a new and innovative solution that caters specifically to the needs and preferences of this hard-to-reach demographic.

The current app may not resonate with truck drivers, our team has the chance to design a new digital interactive experience that functions as a form of digital therapy to relieve stress and anxiety while on the road.

Develop a new wellness experience that integrates HERE’s modalities and philosophies for the trucking industry.

RESEARCH

User Interviews - starting with their attitudes and behaviors towards mental wellness:

Goals:

Determined the attitudes and behaviors of truck drivers regarding mental wellness.
Identify whether truck drivers are a viable new population for HERE to target.

Scope:

We conducted 6 interviews with 5 OTR drivers and 1 Less-than-Truckload (LTL) driver within the age bracket of 41 to 60 years old.

Lack of human connection

Communicate less due to the distraction of phones and unreliable cellular data.

Recognize that mental health is an issue but personally don’t feel the need to seek help.
Often associate mental health as mental illness.

Avoid seeking help

Best stress relief = Talking to someone

Rely on family as support system.
Family is someone they can trust the most.

Full of challenges in the beginning:

The journey into these interviews was not easy; we had to overcome many challenges, ranging from logistical and resource constraints, to the driver’s reluctance to participate.

Putting Truck Drivers in the Driver's Seat:

We found 2 types of users from our research: a younger driver that’s more open-minded, and an older driver that’s more stubborn.
While they both have different beliefs around the subject of mental health, they share the same need in the end: the need to stay connected with their loved ones. This shared need will be invaluable as we define our problem statement later on.

Where are the touchpoints?

Truck drivers constantly deal with microstressors, from unpredictable weather and heavy traffic to demanding schedules and concerns about family back home.
While this journey map might seem exaggerated to us; to Chuck, these incidents are nothing new.
When faced with stressors like these, Chuck's mind immediately turns to his family. However, the harsh reality of being far from home leaves him feeling disconnected and lonely.

When ready to ideate, we should consider including ways for Chuck to connect with his family, especially during his downtime after a stressful workday.

PROBLEM

Our research on OTR truck drivers, who spend significant time away from home, revealed a crucial challenge: they rely heavily on family and loved ones for support during long trips.

When faced with microstressors, they often choose to temporarily alleviate them by setting them aside and taking deep breaths.

Combining the persona pain points and desired outcome along with the journey map touchpoints and existing actions taken, it gives us a more holistic view of our problem.

Drivers need a way to remain connected with their loved ones while on the road because they want to be able to disassociate from micro-stressors induced by stressful work environments.

Need = to remain connected with their loved ones.
Goal = to disassociate from micro-stressors.

DESIGN

How Might We (HMW):

When developing HMWs, we noticed many involve Chuck connecting with himself. Although self-reflection is important for Chuck, our output should prioritize fostering connections with his loved ones.
Informed by the problem statement, we utilize the 2 overarching themes of connection and stress relief to shape our HMW questions.

Finding solutions for Chuck:

After developing the user flow individually and reconvening as a group, we were still missing elements to make this product cohesive.
We realized in order to produce a truly innovative solution, there are several factors we must consider.
We used the IDEO Trifecta to guide us in creating an end-to-end experience that's desirable, feasible, and viable.

After Many reiterations to answer: How will Chuck use the app?

PIVOTAL DESIGN SOLUTION

Journeys:

The pivotal solution in solving our problem occurs within the Journey.

Journey encompasses of 4 activities:

Initiate: warming up with a simple and fun question or mission.
Pause: practicing mental health exercise using HERE healing modalities.
Reflect: learning to self-love and self-appreciate.
Engage: deepening connection with loved ones by viewing and responding to each other's answers from previous activities.

Other Key Design Decisions:

Create real-time animated progress tracker featuring a translucent truck representing loved ones, enhancing the interactive experience.
Educate users on the concept of themes, how we are implementing it, and how they will interact with it.
Provide users with the ability to personalize their focus areas, giving them a greater sense of control.
Integrate HERE's existing design elements and terminology to align with their business model and branding.

Mid-Fi Prototype:

OR try the hi-fi prototype I made based on the usability test findings.

Hi-Fi Prototype

This prototype involves the following phases:

Completing onboarding process
Personalizing your journey
Inviting your loved ones / friends
Embarking on group journey
Participating in solo journey

DELIVER

Moderated Usability Study:

Challenges:

Duration of the usability study is estimated to take over an hour.
Difficulty in sourcing drivers for the test from the client's contacts.

Solution:

Shorten the usability study to prioritize key tasks that are most relevant to addressing the problem.
Iterate the prototype to simplify the flow while maintaining cohesion.
Contact truck drivers from the user interviews.
Find a similar user group that also yearns for human connection, such as military personnel that are often away from loved ones.

Findings:

In the end, we were able to conduct usability study with 4 truck drivers and 4 other participants (2 military personnel and 2 citizens).

Glows

Valued the Engage activity as the most impactful in deepening connections with loved ones, ultimately achieving our goal.
Enjoyed the variety of themes available for personalizing a journey.
Preferred to complete a journey with a co-driver to feel more connected and less lonely.
Appreciated the interactive progress tracker, as well as the ability to see the co-driver progress
Postcard prompt task received a lot of high praise.

Grows

Found the onboarding experience lackluster due to missing context
Confused by the definition of "themes," mistakenly equating it with "activities."
Needed reminder that their responses will be shared with the co-driver when participating in a group journey.
While postcard was a favorite, many users expressed a desire to upload a live photo instead of selecting from predefined options.

Priority was given to updates that best address the needs of our solutions:

Mid-Fi Vs Hi-Fi:

Hi-Fi Prototype:

Based on the test findings, the majority of users preferred completing a journey with a co-driver. Therefore, this hi-fi prototype will focus on group journeys rather than solo ones.
‍
This prototype involves the following phases:

Completing onboarding process
Personalizing your journey
Inviting your loved ones / friends
Embarking on group journey

Next Steps:

While we would love to solve all the problems, due to the limited time we have for this sprint, we have to allocate some tasks for future steps.

Here's a list of items that will need attention for the next iteration:

Adjust Activity Flow: start with a Pause then increase activity effort gradually, so it can provide a smoother transition for our users.
Engage: split responses into two sections, so users can focus on reacting one at a time and give a warmer response.
Express Journey: allow selection of specific activities, so users has more control over their preferred activities.
Emotional Check-in and Journey Rating: provide backend insights into the most popular activities, allowing for future expansions.
Skip Functionality Limits: compel users to step out of their comfort zone and give honest responses.

REFLECTION

What have I learned?

Working with Client:
It's important to revisit project plan together at regular intervals. This not only allows transparency of the project expectations and progress, it builds trust between each other s well. While keeping open-minded, we also had to be assertive and know when to protect the scope of the project based on the research we've conducted.

Be Adaptative:
This project highlighted the crucial role of adaptability and creative problem solving skills. While leveraging available resources is essential, unexpected challenges may arise. By embracing a flexible mindset and thinking outside the box, we successfully overcame the hurdle of user sourcing, demonstrating the value of this approach in achieving project goals.

Priority and Reiteration:
Sometimes, project deadlines mean we have to let go of a few things, but that's just part of the process. However, this is where the value of reiteration comes into play. Revisiting and refining the project continuously allows for ongoing improvement.

What am I proud of?

Bridging the Gap Between Research and Design:
As the co-lead for Research & Interaction, a key aspect of my role involves ensuring a seamless connection between research findings and design decisions, especially crucial during synthesis.
During the project, I noticed the team veering towards product ideation and functionality, potentially overlooking our core goal: enhancing engagement for our persona and their loved ones. By steering our efforts back to the central problem and goal, we developed a design solution that effectively meets user needs while aligning with our broader objectives. This experience highlighted the importance of maintaining focus on our goals to achieve impactful outcomes.

Figma Prototyping Skills:
I took charge of developing the Journey stages, some of which required more intensive animation efforts. Despite the tight deadline and the challenges it posed, I delved into extensive research to overcome them. While it was initially daunting, the effort was rewarding as it allowed me to refine my skills in prototyping.

HERE Mobile App

Stimulating engagements between truck drivers on the road and their loved ones