Hi, my name’s Rachel, a UX/UI Designer living and working in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I am a passionate, empathetic and user-centred digital designer, dedicated to creating a positive user experience through elegant digital solutions.
I am currently working at MPS Data, a sports analytics startup working on a range of scouting and analysis based products targeted toward professional and college-level players.
For my final year project, I decided to create a remote and personalised mental health service for everyone, everywhere.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, mental health issues have increased in the UK by 8%. It is estimated that in the next 3-5 years, 10 million of us will require some form of mental health support as a result of Covid. Due to increased pressure on NHS services; many people are simply unable to receive support for their mental health issues. This is where Solace steps in.
Solace is a mobile-based application that provides a personalised approach to mental health care. By working around each user’s individual needs and budget, the app aims to make private therapy and mental health support a viable option for everyone. Solace aims to help users to manage their mental health in the long term, using a combination of weekly assessments and mindfulness exercises to help users stay on track outside of remote sessions.
When designing my final year project, I wanted to ensure that the end product thoroughly considered the individual needs of each user. In order to learn more about my target market- I conducted a number of interviews and conducted user surveys. From this research, I was able to build a much clearer picture of my users’ goals, ambitions and frustrations when seeking mental health support. I also analysed some key competitors in the remote therapy industry; including Amwell, Betterhelp and Talkspace in order to identify key strengths as well as areas of improvement.
When it came to branding, I wanted to be able to clearly communicate transparency, hopefulness, personal growth and safety to my users. That’s when I came up with the name Solace; since the word ‘sol’ means sun (which is a symbol of hope/ growth) and the general name Solace, meaning “safe space”. I wanted to further integrate this idea of hope and growth into my visual mark; which was why I went with the design of a newly sprouting plant with sun rays behind it.
In order to design my mobile application, I worked on a number of different design tools; including Miro, InVision and Figma in order to come up with a finalised product. I started off with in-depth user flows in order to get a general sense of flow before moving into wireframing. Once I had an idea of the way that Solace would navigate and behave, I began to translate my user flows into wireframes; integrating my branding and colour palette as I refined my work.
As a whole, I’m really proud of how Solace turned out. It was an incredibly research-heavy product to create, but also incredibly rewarding to watch slowly evolve over the last nine months. As a whole, I think Solace really helps to solve the issues associated with private mental health services.
As a whole, I’m really proud of how Solace turned out. It was an incredibly research-heavy product to create, but also incredibly rewarding to watch slowly evolve over the last nine months. As a whole, I think Solace really helps to solve the issues associated with private mental health services.
Solace is now available to view via my project repo onFigma