Strexa App

Mental health is a significant concern for many individuals, particularly those in healthcare, who face challenges most of us may never encounter in our lifetimes. My solution aims to offer an experience that supports mental health. With Strexa, I strive to bring enjoyment and relaxation to everyone. By gamifying meditation, we can help people ease their minds and find relaxation when they get the chance.

 

The Idea

My vision for Strexa is to gamify meditation and reward users for completing sessions. With Strexa, you set a timer and stay off your phone during that period by either meditating or relaxing in any way you prefer. Once the timer ends, you accumulate Honey droplets, which can be used to feed your bee hives!
- Slideshow: Strexa slideshow.
- In-depth Research: Strexa Research

Questions Throughout Research

• What were the issues among healthcare workers?
  - Healthcare workers had an increased amount of stress and depression due to Covid-19.
• what were some other causes of stress with the medical profession?
  - Under-staffing, overwhelming patient loads, and fluctuating schedule
• How would people find time to themselves during these stressful times?
  - Most of the time people would either relax on their lunch break either by being on their phones, or taking a nap.
• how would Strexa provide relief?
  - By utilizing that break time to help medical personal relax through meditating and rewarding them for it.
• What makes Strexa different from other app such as Headspace and others?
  - By gamifying meditation, users simply set a timer on the app and refrain from using their phones. They can choose to sleep, meditate, or relieve stress in any manner they prefer. Once the timer ends, they are rewarded for their efforts by accumulating honey droplets, which they can then use to feed their bee hives.

Ideation and Prototyping:

Strexas goal is to help users deal with their pain thorugh gamificaiton. While making the design for this app I wanted to make sure the idea I have is bieng represented to the users effectively. Using bees since they can be calming to watch and honey combs as a Home for the bees. The Honey droplets acts as a currency. Once peopole start their timers they must put the phone down and take relief in any way they choose to. Once the timer finishes they can go back and see what they have accomplished! Over time someone will accumilate enough droplets and their hives will grow then they can move on to the next give and so on.

• Conceived Strexa as a relaxation app for mental well-being.
• Suggested features like meditation timers and stress relief during breaks.
• Proposed an ad-based monetization strategy for sustainability.
• Advocated integrating meditation principles into the app's development.
• Emphasized the potential benefits of meditation, particularly for healthcare workers.

Prototyping

For the prototyping phase I used Figma to create the wireframes and design of the app. I wanted to make sure the design was calming and easy to use. I used design principles from Apple and Google Material Design. I also made sure to follow accessibility guidelines. The color scheme is based on calming colors such as light blues, yellows, and whites. The font is Noto Sans which is easy to read and looks clean. The overall design is meant to be simple and easy to navigate.

Research

Through my research on healthcare, I found that healthcare workers experienced significant stress, depression, and compromised mental and physical health due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key factors contributing to these issues included understaffing, leading to patient overload, exposure to traumatic events, and erratic schedules. These conditions, compounded by insufficient staffing, resulted in sleep problems and further mental and physical health concerns. For a summarized version of my research, you can view the slideshow presentation here:
Strexa slideshow
Strexa Research

 

Key points for the Design

• Leveraged design principles from Apple and Google's Material Design, incorporating accessibility guidelines for enhanced user experience.
• Described the app's interface, focusing on user-friendly design.
• Considered the preferences and needs of healthcare workers, aligning with their break time activities.
• Emphasized the importance of a calming design to facilitate relaxation.

Opening Pages - Login / Sign Up

When the user opens the app they will see the first screen "Get Started". They either Sign up or Login in from there.

Main Pages

The main page of Strexa features the Honey Timer, where users can set a timer and begin their meditation. Once the session ends, they can review their progress and see how many honey droplets they have earned.

• The Timer Page tracks progress, displaying earned droplets. When a session is completed, a pop-up appears, showing the total droplets accumulated.
• The Hive Page showcases the user's hives, which grow as they accumulate droplets. Users can feed their bees with the droplets they earn, fostering a sense of accomplishment.

This gamified experience encourages consistency in meditation while making relaxation an engaging and rewarding habit.

Final Outcome

This Capstone Project was presented to my major's board of professors for evaluation. I was honored to receive outstanding feedback, despite a few critiques. Strexa holds personal significance for me as it was developed during the live threat of Covid, a time of considerable risk and loss. My goal is to transform this prototype into a functional app to aid people in relieving mental stress.