The app starts the user out on a home screen based on a three-dimensional space. User research showed that a feeling of overwhelming or lack of clear direction was a key hindrance to use of this app or others like it. We had to balance a set of clear options that let the user know what they could do, while not presenting a sense of urgency on any of them. Any must-dos were already pushed to the user, so the user needed to be assured that, absent any such notifications, they were free of obligation.
The app had two mains ways of gathering information, both of which were equally important. One was push notifications through SMS or the app itself. This kept people on a schedule, filling in requisite information regularly, without which the program would not work. The other was the user actively entering information as it occurred to them. Perhaps, during initial evaluations, the user forgot about an intermittent symptom and it occurred to them later on to add it. We needed to be able to capture that insight before they lost it. Therefore, we needed as many points of access as possible. Being able to add information directly into the app rather than through chat gave a user the reassurance of control.
User daily evaluations
While users could fill out evaluations via text (which would be joint monitored by lightweight AI and the human staff), it is more convenient to click buttons on the native app. Using the semi-transparent modal, we made it clear the user's spatial relationship to the rest of the app. As always, reassurance and clarity were central, as it should be to any UX, but especially those catering to those with mental health issues.
Hybrid human-AI chat
The chat system was designed to be accessed via a number of platforms. We used SMS, WhatsApp, and the app itself. Facebook was briefly considered but the lack of security made it a non-starter. The chat would be monitored by the company's human support staff as well as the AI. The intent was for the AI to slowly take over as technology became widely available and affordable (as is now the case).
Clarity for user data
Continuing the theme of physical metaphors and the reassurance conferred by control, the user's data was stored on virtual "cards" that contained their symptom history. It provided a transparency that their data was safe from either loss or distortion, and allowed someone to conceivably reconstruct how their insights (coming up in a few) were obtained, thus increasing trust in them.
Data visualization to communicate the inner workings
Tracking the user's progress was a challenge. Ultimately, we opted for a push system of simpler visualizations to show major improvements, or areas of concern, but to communicate the sense of complexity of the data being collected, (as well as to appeal to the love of details and stats in people with OCD, funny enough), we had this visualization that tracked the totality of a user's inputs and outputs over time. While a data literate person can read it, the main purpose is to provide a sense of the workings under the hood that would otherwise be abstract and invisible.
Reward "cards" provide motivation
When the system obtained enough information to make a meaningful recommendation to the user, they would receive an "insight" card. Once again, it used a physical metaphor to appeal to the same collecting drive that motivates people to collect baseball cards or rare Pokemons. At the same time, it served the dual purpose of communicating the system's findings in a rewarding, dopamine-stimulating way. The collection of these cards was one method we used to keep users motivated throughout the course of the program.
Ultimately, during the trial of the program, we discovered that the app and chat experience increased supplement regimen experience by 35% but also product purchases by a whopping 350%!
The not-so-happy ending to this project was that a combination of rising costs and regulatory hurdles that inhibited the true potential of app-driven quasi-diagnosis terminated this project. But the numbers speak for themselves. A properly designed "digital pill" is a powerful part of a modern treatment plan.