Link App - A Self Help and Goal App
Description of product: An app designed to help individuals manage Anxiety, through giving advice, relaxing methods and a small companion named “Zue”.
I aim to achieve with this product
I am to help those with Anxiety that do not have many people there for them, or when they are alone, and they need their self-confidence building and be eased. My goal is to fill an empty hole in the user's heart and give them a new companion that understands them and does its best to care for them and their needs.
“Problem”
The problem we are tackling is Anxiety. Anxiety affects millions of people around the world. Anxiety can affect anyone. Individuals with difficult experiences are likely to develop anxiety. Anxiety has many symptoms that affect daily life, ranging from constant worry to sleepless nights. People who have anxiety can also experience physical pain such as headaches and stomach aches. This information has been gathered from the NHS website for reference, and contains much more information about the many symptoms.
The App I describe will be designed mainly to help users with the mentally inflicting part of Anxiety, while offering advice on how to reduce pains caused by it. The app can be used anywhere as it does not require an internet connection for most of its usages. The app will Soley be digital as it is much easier to access this way and will be a lot cheaper for both us and the users.
Why should this problem be solved, or at least be eased? As I have said previously, many people suffer with anxiety, affecting their day-to-day lives and mental health. Some seek professional help while others just “live with it”. With this app I aim to help as many people as possible, at least a little. I hope to give their minds ease and relaxation, as it is impossible to completely rid a mental illness with an App.
How will the App help its Users?
This app will be designed to assist users and give them information. This information will include links to medical pages, possible symptoms of anxiety, and a list of professional help locations in a user's area.
How will the App assist Users?
The app will contain stress relieving games, will include guides to help deal with anxiety and possible changes in daily life to help reduce it and motivational, caring and interactive companion. This app will also contain a chat room for users to talk to each other about their issues. On that note this app will keep its users anonymous.
My Apps Do's and Don’t
Do:
- Help any users understand anxiety
- Give user stress free activities
- Use calm relaxing music
- Give the users links to useful articles and websites
- Make the users feel at home
Don’t
- Be demanding on the user
- Force the user to do anything (like seek medical help)
- Directed at just “Anxiety”
- Take any personal information
- Make users uncomfortable
when making an App for mental health
Home page design
While this is bare bone, this gives me insight to where different graphics are gonna be present on my App's home screen. Each of the buttons will have a graphic instead of text to show what the lead to, for example, settings will have a cog as this is staple, many other apps use a cog too. I wanted to use graphics that are widely know so that users will have an easy time traversing the app without having to learn where each one goes. The empty white space will be a changeable wallpaper come with some presets, but the users will be able to add there own through settings.
Home page Colour
Zue Designs
ere is Zue, this image shows the design of Zue and what can be changed about Zue's appearance to make it more unique. The first Zue is the base Zue, everyone who installs the app will start of with the base Zue. The second Zue shows what colors of the base Zue can be swapped, and the last Zue shows that accessories can be added to it. I wanted to make the design very simple. This makes it easier to add content to it and people really love simplistic characters, including myself.
Zue Talking
Here is my Zue showing how dialogue would appear on the screen, Zue will ask questions, which you could answer, or it will provide you with some things you could do on the app. Zue will only ever ask questions about the users mood, but not anything personal, this is so Zue can give the correct responses and help the users needs. If some users don't take a fancy in Zue, it can be disabled in the settings.
Pact Analysis
Communication - Through the app you can communicate with others using the app, you can also communicate with health specialists. Communication through the app is done on a first name basis, no other information about the user will be used unless they give it. This communication will require bots and moderators to protect the users and keep chats on relevant, positive topics.
Music - No copyrighted, royalty free music will be used throughout the app, also licensed music will be used. Music will play a big factor in the app as music has a power to relax the human mind.
Games - Games will be an option on the app. these range from simple word searches to games like candy crush. Games are known to take the human mind into a state of relaxation, and I though this would be a good feature for the app.
Reading - There are many informative articles and exercises in the app that can help one understand anxiety and how they can better live with it.
Playing with Zue - Zue is the interactive companion of the app that will check on you and try to boost your mood, tapping on Zue will initiate play time in which you can play some simple games with Zue like catch, or just give it a pat on the head.
Technologies needed - Making an app requires a PC and a place to write code, which isn't too hard to achieve. However, since the app will be using a chat room based feature, there are going to be server in which Link will have to host for these functions to work.
Context - People can use the app anytime anywhere, as long as they have a smartphone. Apps are amazing to make as they can be accessed anywhere as a lot of the population owns a smartphone, meaning they can access Link anytime they would need or feel like using it.
Future developments - If the app is used by a good majority, there could be more content added, for example, story's to read, more games, more music ETC.
User story
This user story is created to demonstrate the one of the intended uses of the app.
"Another day stuck inside, another thing on my mind. I feel a series of problems caged up in my head, clawing to be set free, but I am unable to do that. Not right now anyway. My head just gets heavier and heavier. A pandemic, a loss of jobs, that's all we needed right now. I need to relax, I need to think. I heard that "Link" app has something that might be able to help. Music, relaxing music, a tap of the button and it comes on. Quite convenient. Now to rest my head and calmly plan a path to a small fortune. Things seem a little clearer now."
Logo Design
