Designing for Students with Depression

Poster link: https://bit.ly/2vr4vNJ (bit.ly is a url shortener)

Justification:

I chose to represent do’s/don’ts for students that have depression, and though it is not a physical disability it is a mental one that can sometimes affect users physically by simply being uninterested. In an article i’ve read, “Attempting to Make an App for Depressed People and Failing,” Amit Shukla attempted to make an app for depressed people and details  his failings. In a poll he asks users  if they were interested in an App that would help them fight depression. Only 10% answer yes in their depressive state while 60% answer yes in a happy state. So this small poll shows us how difficult this audience can be to design for.

I have chosen some do’s and don’ts that may help when designing and I will go through each one to explain my reasoning. Starting with Do’s, the avoidance of grey and loud colors Is something I know from experience as anyone would that grey colors can be dreary and give off a tired and sad vibe. The loud colors I mention have the opposite effect. Really bright colors can be annoying  and unpleasing to the eye, So I decided to go with something in the middle and made my poster out of light and cool colors that have a synergy with each other. Keeping the website simple and organized is something that a designer designing for any audience should follow, but especially for someone with depression because it can help encourage the user to stay on the website and not get lost.  Creating a sense of community is important because it can help eliminate feelings of loneliness and isolation. Building trust and familiarity can increase the benefits users gain from your design even if a forum or chat group isn’t part of your digital product(How to Design for Users Struggling with Mental Health | Clutch.Co). Next is choosing your words wisely. It is important that designers watch out for trigger words that map be on their website and give warnings for them. An empathy map can help with this process. Using the empathy map to work with users will help designers understand the language they use to describe their experiences and be able to integrate it into their design.

The last thing I mentioned under ‘ Do’ is Display realistic images of the users that are neutral and non-exaggerated. This is better explained when knowing the reason of not displaying realistic or neutral images. Images that represent sadness or exaggerated happiness can be stress inducing or, in the case of an exaggerated happy photo, can be seen as fake to users. The next point, ‘Don’t make navigation too complex,’ is a direct comment to the navigation bar on the Greenspring Review that has a long drop down menu for the Issues tab that branches off into 3 other categories.  By eliminating some of the redundancy designers can avoid cognitive overload (John Sweller and Howard Soloman). Excluding mobile design is something I thought designers should not do, and though Greenspring review doesn’t do that, their mobile design is lacking compared to the webpage. I believe both designs should be up to date to maximize the possible encounters and keep users coming back. The information on both mobile and the webpage tend to have walls of text and that can push users away. Finding walls to space information out and use some white space can help the page look less condensed and more inviting to read. Lastly, similar to the first ‘don’t’ the constant reminder of positive/get help messages or hotline numbers can also either annoy or hurt some users with depression. 7/10 people that commented on Amit’s poll when asked about how they felt about seeing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at the top of the homepage said,  it
“made them feel like a loser”(Shukla).

Aesthetically I chose to have the poster look soft and light. The shapes I chose are used to give off a natural handmade and artsy look. Art therapy is a great way to express emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief (Cohen). I tried not to include too many pictures to clutter the poster because it is already full. I also did not want to include images that broke the rule I was describing like showing sad images or over exaggerated happy images.