WeMeditate
A group focused mobile meditation app with event listings
Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
6 weeks
Tools
Figma, Miro, Canva
Overview
WeMeditate a student passion project. I spent about 6 weeks designing a group focused meditation mobile app from scratch.
Meditation has changed my life and I wanted to create a mobile meditation app that would help fill the gap of what’s missing in popular meditation apps today.
The Challenge
Meditation app users would like to see a couple more things:
1.) Meditators want more engaging group meditations because a group environment helps with focus.
2.) Users find it difficult to sign up for meditation events because the over-saturation of events listed online causes users to spend too much time browsing for the "right event."
The Goal
1.) Provide the user with the opportunity to share their experience with others during and after group sessions
2.) Provide users with a centralized listing in which they can easily find and sign up for meditation events that cater towards their meditation preferences.
My Process
Research
Synthesize
Ideate
Design
Test
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User Interviews
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Affinity Mapping
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User Personas
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Feature Analysis
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User Flows
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HMW
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Lo-Fi Sketches
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Style Guide
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Hi-Fi Prototype
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Usability Testing
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Redesign
Research
I interviewed 10 meditation app users to find out what the peaks and pits in the experience of meditation apps are. The interviews were also used to find out behavioral patterns around meditation apps, such as motivation and barriers.
Asking the right questions
"Meditating by myself is great, but I feel like I learn the most when I'm in a group environment."
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"I wish there was a way I could ask questions after the session."
"There's just so many events online. I don't know where to look."
"I can't find the right type of class for me."
Understanding the problem
I gathered the qualitative data and grouped them into similar themes. The affinity map below shows the 3 most common pain points observed by meditation app users.
01.
93% of users valued a variety of meditation methods
02.
80% of users found group meditation helpful, but wished it was more interactive
03.
73% of users had issues signing up for meditation events
Who are our users?
Using all the information I gathered during the research phase, I decided to create a user persona that encapsulates the needs, goals, and behaviors of our target user.
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What do other meditation apps feature?
I conducted a feature analysis for five of the most popular meditation apps on the market. I wanted to see what features are included in most apps today and which features are missing. I found that most apps lacked group meditation options and ways to search for meditation events in the user's area.
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How are users currently using meditation apps for group classes?
I decided to create a user flow of how users attend group meditation classes because I wanted to understand when exactly the user is faced with frustrations when participating in group sessions.
What I found was that there's no way for users to ask questions and share thoughts with instructors and group members. Users are forced to look for other platforms to share their insights and experiences.
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How do users currently find in-person meditation events?
I created a user flow of how users find in-person meditation events because I wanted to understand what methods the users are using to find these events and when in the process the users come across pain points.
What I found was that when users are searching for events online, they are presented with too many options. Users are bombarded with so many events that they are stuck in an endless browsing loophole, most of the time, resulting in failing to sign up for an event.
Click to enlarge
Key insights from research
There's a lack of variety in meditation methods
Users want more than just the typical individual meditation lessons offered by popular apps.
Group meditation isn't interactive enough online
Users want to share their experiences with other meditators after group sessions.
It's difficult to find meditation events
Users are interested in meditation events in their area, but find it difficult to search because of the overwhelming number of events online.
01
02
03
Synthesize
Ideate
Brainstorming, sketching lo-fi
I started brainstorming the layout of the meditation app. To narrow down the scope, I focused on two features: live group meditation and an event listing.
Home
Easily accessible classes and lessons that are personalized for you.
Live Group Meditation
Instructor's video feed can be enlarged or minimized
Group members video feeds, making it as similar to an in-person group meditation session as possible
Users can ask questions and share thoughts via live chat
Group Meditation
Filters on top to find group sessions that match your preferences
Live classes happening right now
Upcoming classes you can bookmark
Most popular classes on the app
Event Listing
Filters on top to find events that match your preferences
Date, title, description, and picture of event
How might we provide more interactive group meditation sessions and, also, give users an easier way to find in-person meditation events?
After thinking of ways to solve for the users' frustrations,
I thought of two solutions.
Solution 1:
Provide the user with the opportunity to share their experiences with others during and after group sessions through video chat or group messaging. The meditation instructor will also guide post-session reflections by prompting questions.
Solution 2:
Provide users with a centralized listing in which they can easily find and sign up for meditation events that cater towards their meditation preferences.
Design
Creating a style guide
Before jumping into hi-fi designs, I wanted to create a style guide that would make sense for a meditation app. Establishing the color scheme, UI components, and typography made designing the content of the app a lot easier.
Color Scheme
The color blue is known to have tremendous power to manage stress and reduce anxiety. It is peaceful, calm, and gentle.
Violet signifies strength and peace. It is known to bring balance and growth.
We blended these two colors and used it as our background color to create a sense of calm and empowerment for the user.
Components
Header
Bottom Navigation
Curved the edges for a softer and less rigid feel.
Navigation Icons
We also used active icons by filling them in with white in order to make it clear to the user which page they are on.
Buttons
Contained; Primary call to action
We used contained and outlined buttons in order to differentiate the primary call to action button and a secondary action button.
Outlined; Secondary action
Typography
We went with Proxima Nova which is friendly and flexible.
Usability testing and improvements
After creating a hi-fi prototype, I usability tested 5 meditation app users of various experience and skill levels to test the functionality and ease of navigation of my designs. After testing, it was clear that two improvements needed to be made.
Improvement 1
Original
A question that came up frequently was,
"Are the events listed online or in-person?"
Improved
So I added a filter that differentiates between online and in-person events.
Improvement 2
Test
Original
The homepage lacked direction and visual hierarchy, confusing the users where to look first.
Improved
I created larger cards for the Daily sessions. This change would guide the user's eyes to the most important section of the homepage.
WeMeditate
The final design.
Group Meditation
1. Group video call to simulate in-person group meditation session.
2. Instructor can prompt questions after the session to facilitate group reflection.
3. Group members can interact with each other through chat room or video call after the group session is over.
Event Finder
1. User can filter meditation events based on preferences, providing more personalized results.
2. Description page with details about time, date, location, pricing, and reviews.
3. User can bookmark events and revisit them later.
Link to prototype
My final thoughts
By providing users with an opportunity to ask questions and share thoughts with other users and instructors, it allows for users to learn from others’ experiences, resulting in a much more meaningful meditation session.
Also, by providing users an events listing with detailed filters, users can find meditation events that cater toward their needs without spending too much time searching for one.
If I had more time,
I would...
1.) Add a friend list so that users can personally message other users and instructors and create their own ‘circles.’
2.) Add push notifications that alert the user of bookmarked upcoming group sessions.
3.) Make the app more accessible by reiterating on color schemes and adding audio descriptions and captioning.
What I learned
It was very apparent early on during the project that my preconceptions of what issues I thought users would have with meditation apps were very different from the actual pain points discovered through research.
I learned that as a designer, I should proceed with a completely open mind and not let my biases and opinions hinder the process.