MOBILE
APP DESIGN
COMPANY
UI
MY ROLE
TOOLS
DURATION
3 WEEKS
PROJECT SUMMARY
A platform for nurses to connect and create community for self-care, healing, and growth.
What I Did
Equiped with ThriveRN’s research and target audience, I designed and prototyped the following screens: Home, Wellness Circles, Practice, Connect (formally “Community”) and Learn (formally “Knowledge”). I also recommended options for brand colors and fonts.
The
Challenge
Nurses need urgent resources, so they can provide care for patients in the present and evolve the profession into a future that supports healing.
Nursing Statistics Overview
Rampant stress, exhaustion, and burnout among Nurses has disastrous ripple effects – to patients and the healthcare system at large. However, there are considerable barriers to resolving this issue.
There are almost 4.2 million nurses in the United States, & 20.7 million nurses worldwide.
Nursing careers make up the
largest portion of America’s healthcare professions.
98% of hospital nurses reported their work is mentally & physically demanding.
63% of nurses report that their work has resulted in nurse burnout.
The RN workforce is:
81% Caucasian
7.2% Asian
6% Black
5.6% Hispanic
Pandemic Impact
High numbers of nurses reported feelings of being overwhelmed (51%), anxious (48%), and irritable(48%) in the midst of the pandemic.
A recent study showed that nurses suffered the highest death count among U.S. healthcare workers.
In a survey by American Nurse Journal, 85% of nurses said they do not plan to change careers because of the pandemic.
Nurses were less likely
to receive emotional support to deal with the stresses of COVID-19 than other healthcare workers.
In a recent survey,
41% of nurses reported experiencing high exposure to COVID-19.
In an ANA survey during the pandemic, 3 out of 5 nurses reported difficulty sleeping.
Heightened Risks
In 2016,
40.8% of injuries
and illnesses
sustained by nurses were
caused by patients.
In 2019,
RNs experienced 20,150 incidences of nonfatal injuries
or illnesses.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nov. 2020
The most common occupational injury
(45.6%) for nurses is
overexertion & bodily reaction.
A Digital Space for Nurses to Heal, Recharge, and Connect
For the founders of ThriveRN, caring for nurses is an economic and moral necessity that requires new solutions to sustain human caring, healing, and health for all.
ThriveRN’s Core Features
Wellness Circles: User-led groups where nurses can support one another.
Practice: Music and video streaming, evidence-based mindfulness techniques.
Connect: Live events, user content, community connections.
Learn: Crowdsourced content, medical publications, studies and journals.
Thrive RN’s features were developed around the idea of the wellness circle – a comprehensive, community-based lens for understanding and generating wellness.
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"Wellness Circles" are meant to bring people, content, and practices together and provide easy paths for deeper levels of engagement.
Bellow we can visualize how each persona will enter the app. Since "The Caring Social" and "The Millennial" both have extroverted personalities and are social, they will first enter the app through "Connect". There they will connect with other nurses, watch live events, and participate in wellness activities. "The Nurse Leader" is very familiar with holistic healing approaches and therefore she will be more likely to enter the app through "Practice" and jump straight to breathing practices, visualization exercises among others. "The Pragmatic Skeptic" will enter/be introduced to the app through the "Learn" flow. There he'll be able to read scientific journals and medical publications on the the benefits of holistic healing practices.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
The Pragmatic Skeptic
Traits
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Career focused, hardworking, seeking promotion.
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Expects to help support parents once they retire.
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Is aware of mindfulness concepts, but does not practice and is skeptical of their purported benefits.
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Relies on science and western medicine.
Frustrations
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Believes he is unfairly being passed over for promotion.
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Although not overly social to begin with, feels more isolated then ever due to quarantining through the pandemic.
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Increasingly, has trouble sleeping through the night due to stress.
Demographics
Age: 34
Education: RN
Occupation: Cardiac Cath Lab
Location: Orange County, CA
The Caring Social Butterfly
Traits
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Trying to balance career and family.
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Being an active & engaged parent are the most important to her.
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Has one daughter (7) & one son (9). Son has been diagnosed with ADHD.
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She is a member of kids PTA & volunteers at school functions.
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Has an active social network of family, friends, colleagues, and alumni.
Frustrations
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Has had mixed results with various ADHD pharmaceutical treatments for her son, and is beginning to research alternative options.
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Wishes she had more time to focus on her own health, but job and family consume all her time and energy.
Demographics
Age: 37
Education: BS - Nursing
Occupation: Critical Care Unit
Location: Chicago, IL
Frustrations
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Global warming and lack of progress by government to pass more progressive environmental protection policies.
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Feels stagnant in current job of 3 years and is actively seeking employment elsewhere.
Traits
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Socially and environmentally conscious.
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Health conscious, primarily eats a plant based diet, and avoids fast food.
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Likes to travel abroad.
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Is in all social media platforms.
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Understands mindfulness and is open/eager to further explore deeper connections to self.
Demographics
Age: 28
Education: BS - Nursing
Occupation: Pediatrics
Location: Portland, OR
The Millennial
Nurse Leader/Part Time Monk
Traits
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Well educated, successful nurse leader.
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Is a member of numerous nurse advisory boards and councils.
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Raised within an eastern religion philosophy and is active in their community.
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Is a believer in and practices mindfulness / meditation on a daily / weekly basis.
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Likes to share thoughts and ideas with others and is often sought out to provide advice or guidance.
Demographics
Age: 43
Education: Master's – Nursing Administration
Occupation: Patient Care Director
Location: Boston, MA
Frustrations
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Sees firsthand the challenges within todays healthcare industry (i.e. staffing shortages, high turnover, high contractor costs, slow moving institutional bureaucracy).
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Believes that western medicine and related health systems do not recognize the benefits of traditional views on mind/body/spirit, and is an advocate for more inclusive, holistic healing approaches.
DESIGN
Inspiration
The Enso Circle is a KEY concept of Thrive RN and it was requested that the circle should be present in the overall design.
Enso (formerly spelled ensō) is a sacred symbol in Zen Buddhism meaning circle, or sometimes, circle of togetherness. It is traditionally drawn using only one brushstroke as a meditative practice in letting go of the mind and allowing the body to create, as the singular brushstroke allows for no modifications. While at first glance, the enso symbol appears no more than a misshapen circle, it symbolizes many things: the beauty in imperfection, the art of letting go of expectations, the circle of life, and connection. The enso is a manifestation of the artist at the moment of creation and the acceptance of our innermost self. It symbolizes strength, elegance, and one-mindedness. Read more here.
I drew a lot of inspiration from the enso circle. From including a variation of the circle in the logo as well as the main icon in the apps nav bar. The calmness and soft watercolor aspects of the circles are also seen in the splash screen and home screen.
Watercolor inspired paintings or drawings are also used as banners for each audio or video in the “Practice” screen.
Nature inspired color palette.
Home
The home screen displays an overview of everything users can do on the app.
Practice: Instantly play music/healing exercise audios.
Discover: Search for wellness circles.
Connect: Tune into a 10-minute guided breathing session.
Articles: Jump to articles, scientific journals.
Your Wellness Circles
Since a wellness circle is where everything happens I wanted to display that right in the center.
Users will find here every wellness circle that they are a part of. Each wellness circle card displays a snapshot of:
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How many exercises on that subject are available
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How many articles/scientific journals on that subject are available
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How many members are currently participating in that wellness circle
Wellness Circles you belong to.
# of exercises available on that specific subject.
# of articles/scientific journals available on that specific subject.
# of members currently participating in that specific wellness circle.
Anxiety Wellness Circle
When a user selects a wellness circle, they are taken to that wellness circle screen. There they will have 3 options:
# of members currently participating in that specific wellness circle.
Practice - Expert-led content.
Connect - With community members in guided group exercises.
Learn - To keep abreast of the latest science, discovery, and health related studies.
Practice
Here users will find several options to practice mindfulness, i.e.: Breathing exercises, relaxing music, meditations.
Each wellness circle offers a navigation bar at the top, so users can easily explore what is offered without needing to return to the previous screen.
Practice badges.
Thumbnails for next practices, and how many people are currently listening.
Explanation on what the "Practice" screen offers.
Connect
Users can access community events and connect with other nurses from around the world. Here users can access talks, group exercises, meditations and more.
Wellness circle navigational bar.
Upcoming events:
Live, expert-led guided journeys with group discussion. It supports both scheduled and impromptu transmissive sessions.
Learn
Since this user is part of the “Anxiety Wellness Circle”. She will access scientific publications on Anxiety. Each article and/or scientific journal will have been vetted from professionals in the field before being available in the app. Each article and scientific journal offer links and/or more information on that subject.
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Wellness circle nav. bar.
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Article expanded screen.
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Articles.
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Link to full-length article.
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Scientific journals.
Explore Prototype
Although ThriveRN loved my designs, our differing schedules didn't allow us to keep iterating on these designs.