Our team shared a common goal: to improve mental healthcare for people in their 20s and 30s. While existing meditation apps were widely accepted for relieving mental stress, users frequently struggled to find suitable contents due to an overwhelming number of choices.

Our team initially wanted to focus on improving the user experience of current meditation apps. I hypothesized that users in the meditation app would benefit from an automated recommendation system based on their current emotions, which could reduce the time to go through the contents manually, simplifying meditation practices.

I conducted competitive analysis with current meditation apps, by actually testing several apps as well as looking over Google Play and Appstore reviews. I have found that users encountered dissatisfaction particularly regarding the contents. The primary challenge was finding personalized and suitable contents among overwhelming contents available.

Rather than conducting user interviews, our team aimed to gather extensive data to deepen our understanding of people’s meditation habits and emotions. This approach yielded 48 responses.
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I designed a survey targeting users in their 20s and 30s who had meditated at least once but who failed to meditate consistently. I tried to understand their meditation behaviors and challenges with current digital tools.
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The survey explored meditation habits, such as motivation, duration, and routines, while also covering key conditions for meditation and common reasons for irregular practice. To further understand specific user experiences, I asked open-ended questions about using digital meditation apps.

Over 50% of respondents answered that they started meditation to relieve mental or physical stress. They cited personal motivation and a conducive environment as essential to effective meditation.
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However, the primary challenge was finding personalized content that encouraged regular use. The abundance of choices within meditation apps led to cognitive overload, ironically adding more stress rather than relieving it, eventually preventing users from fully unwinding.

Initially, we explored improving mental health through better meditation app experiences. However, we questioned whether this truly addressed the well-being of users in their 20s and 30s. Meditation helps manage stress, but it doesn’t tackle its root causes.
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Through further research, we found that digital consumption, particularly social media, contributes significantly to mental fatigue. While often used for relief, it can also unconsciously increase stress. This led us to shift our focus from meditation to mitigating the negative impact of social media.

I proposed a revised hypothesis: If we nudge users to reduce mental fatigue caused by excessive social media use, we could improve their overall mental well-being. This shift guided our next steps in designing interventions for healthier digital habits.

Users could experience relaxing time without having to feel restricted or banned from phone usage.

- Gentle Nudging: Incorporated friendly reminders to nudge users to take short and relaxing breaks.

- Friendly UX Writing: Used friendly language to enhance the comfort from the app’s guidance.

This feature would minimize time spent selecting contents, and reduce cognitive load.
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- Simplified User Flow: Designed a seamless journey that gently prompts users to take breaks without overwhelming choices.

This requirement would increase the likelihood of consistent use of mobile app.
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- Mental Cleaning as Room Cleaning: To reinforce the concept of clearing mental "clutter," we framed disconnecting from the phone as a cleaning activity—where users remove "dirt" (distractions) to restore mental clarity.

‍- Reward System: Added gamification to keep users engaged through a system where they uncover “lost items” while “cleaning,” promoting consistent use without adding stress.

This project taught me the importance of looking beyond surface-level solutions to address the root of user needs. Refining our hypothesis reinforced that the iterative process is not a detour but a necessary step toward a clearer, more effective design solution.

Although a fully functional prototype wasn’t developed, I designed a usability testing framework to validate core design elements.
- Participants: 20-30s generation who find the need to disconnect from stressful stimuli but consistently fail to do so
- User testing methods: Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthroughs, Think-aloud method
- Possible Metrics: Qualitative feedback (understanding the metaphor, engagement, relaxation benefits), Quantitative feedback (app retention rate, access frequency, task completion rate, task completion time (=relaxation time))