MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGNER, STRATEGIST & STORYTELLER
Hackathon / Design Research / Service Design
A companion app for users to practice meaningful activities to promote good stress and a positive mindset.
Day2Day is a companion app where users can practice activities to promote good stress and a positive mindset. By providing a framework backed with positive psychology, our users can cope with stress through meaningful activities and intentionally spend their time.
Conducted fully remotely during the 2020 summer, we were unable to perform user testing during this stage and planned to do so after moving forward to the next round of the hackathon. The process included biweekly meetings, a mid-point pitch to a panel of industry professionals, and a final pitch to a different panel. The team’s mid-point pitch was Vital.
Skip to The Solution: Day2Day
Role: Co-Lead Designer
Team: Akshita Bawa, Lilian Yang, Chloe Choi
Industry: Health / Accessibility / Culture
Duration: Q3 2020
PROBLEM
Stress has become a growing concern, with the American Institute of Stress reporting alarming statistics:
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33% of people report extreme levels of stress
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77% of people experience stress that affects their physical health
- 73% experience stress that affects their mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic, along with socioeconomic factors like economic instability and lack of accessible healthcare, has further exacerbated stress levels. In response, our team sought to create a solution that would provide users with accessible tools to manage stress in their daily lives.
Initial Primary Research
To confirm high stress levels in our community and seek preliminary solutions to manage this stress, we sent out a 13 question survey. Please click here to see the list of questions. We received 100 respondents to this survey.
- 58% of our respondents indicated high levels of stress
- 68% subconsciously engage in their favorite activity to cope with their stress
This lead us to the question: how do we get more people to consciously and consistently engage in stress-relieving activities?
According to Martin Seligman, these are the 5 main factors that contribute to well-being. “PERMA is also a better predictor of psychological distress than previous reports of distress (Forgeard et al., 2011). This means that proactively working on the components of PERMA not only increases aspects of wellbeing, but also decreases psychological distress.”
One way to practice this method is by engaging in activities and interventions that support the pillars. Day2Day is using the three pillars: engagement, meaning, and accomplishments to promote good hormones, daily satisfactions, and stress relieving activities.
New & improved question: how to we provide a habit-forming system for users to practice PERMA and reduce stress?
HYPOTHESIS
A daily companion app grounded in positive psychology and designed to encourage mindful activities would help users manage their stress levels more effectively. By providing them with a gamified activity planner and a visually appealing reward system, users could cultivate a more positive mindset and reduce the negative effects of stress over time.
CONSTRAINTS
The project had a fixed timeline as part of the NYU x Microsoft Design Expo, which included biweekly meetings, a mid-point pitch, and a final presentation to a panel of industry experts.
Our team comprised four members in timezones across the globe, so we had to balance our roles and responsibilities while collaborating remotely due to the pandemic.
Our research was conducted remotely, which limited our ability to gather in-depth qualitative data in person and prevented further process like user testing until we passed this round.
SUCCESS METRICS
While user testing and measuring success would have happened if we passed this round, the team still discussed how we would define success for the potential product:
PROCESS OVERVIEW
- Secondary desk research and literature on stress statistics, mental health resources, and the impact of COVID-19 on stress levels
- Qualitative research, conducting surveys with community members
- Brainstormed various ideas for how to address the problem
- Competitive analysis
- Our goal was to create a solution that was both accessible and easy to integrate into daily routines
- Created wireframes and prototypes for the app
- Solidified brand values and features like Bloob, the AI companion
- Iterated on app features that guide users through stress-relief exercises and activities grounded in positive psychology
- Our initial idea Vital was presented at the mid-point presentation
- After pivoting to Day2Day, we gathered feedback on our initial prototypes and refined them based on user input and critiques
- Presented the final version of Day2Day at the NYU x Microsoft Design Expo, receiving positive feedback from the panel of experts
THE SOLUTION: DAY2DAY
Day2Day is a stress-management companion app that offers users a structured framework for practicing positive psychology techniques. Users are prompted to engage in meaningful activities daily that promote “good stress,” helping them to reframe stress as something manageable and constructive.
The app encourages engagement, meaning, and achievements through personalized activities that fit into the user’s routine.
Key features include:
- Daily Activities: Curated, small-scale tasks rooted in positive psychology that promote stress relief and a positive mindset.
- Personalized Routines: Customizable routines tailored to user’s stress levels and preferences.
- Progress Tracking: Users can track their mood and stress levels over time, providing a sense of progress and accomplishment.
Day2Day’s design prioritizes accessibility and ease of use, ensuring that the app can be integrated seamlessly into the user’s daily life, offering support when it’s needed most.
App Flow
KEY LEARNINGS