SoberSteps.
SoberSteps.
Overview
The Challenge
Red Thread Innovations (RTI) is a community-focused group of designers and researchers dedicated to developing technological solutions for social challenges. Our team was challenged by RTI, to create a new tool that targets the social issue of addiction, offering access to resources that help identify, support, and encourage those who may require external intervention.
My Roles
UX/UI design
My Team
Justin Bakker,
Cole Beattie,
Will Boyd,
Anushka Adwani
Tools
Figma, Mural
Duration
3 months
Our Design Solution
Sober Steps is an app that supports addiction recovery by fostering connection, engagement, and privacy. Features include sobriety tracking log, daily affirmations, and activities to strengthen the bond between recovering addicts and their supporters. The app also includes a messaging system that highlights phrases to prevent enabling behaviour.
DISCOVER
Market Research
Aligning the market research with the client
Our early research identifies a gap in the addiction recovery market for individuals close to those struggling with addiction. The clear lack of assistance for enablers and helpers aligns with Red Thread Innovations mission in a growing market. This research encouraged our team to develop a platform that equips supporters with essential resources for effective intervention.
Competitor Analysis
Understanding the competitive landscape
The following competitive analysis chart provides a comprehensive comparison of both direct and indirect competitors in the sobriety and wellness space. By examining key features, we can pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of each app. This analysis serves as a foundation for developing a user-centric sobriety app that meets the unique needs of individuals on their recovery journey, ensuring it stands out in a crowded market.
Summary of Opportunities
- Enhance Community Features: Build a strong, supportive community with diverse interaction options.
- Prioritize Anonymity and Privacy: Develop robust privacy features to address user concerns and differentiate from competitors.
- Incorporate Daily Motivation: Integrate compelling and varied daily motivational content to keep users engaged.
- Offer Professional Support: Provide access to professional resources and support options.
- Expand Customization: Allow for extensive personalization to cater to individual user needs and preferences.
- Focus on UX/UI: Design a highly user-friendly and intuitive interface to enhance user experience and satisfaction.
Expert Interview
Discovering our area of opportunity
During the early stages of our research, my team and I connected with a substance abuse counselor with over five years of experience at an addiction treatment center. We discussed the challenges they face in their work and explored areas where they wished for better solutions. I prepared detailed questions to gain a deeper understanding of their pain points and identify potential opportunities for improvement.
Identifying the pain points to curate a focus area
After conducting our research, we identified the key pain points and established our focus area. By clearly defining our design goal, we narrowed the scope of the problem space for our final design. This focus helped us avoid unnecessary features, ensuring we remained aligned with the core issues we aimed to address. Streamlining our design objective also facilitated a more efficient execution as we approached the final pitch deadline.
DEFINE
Personas
Defining the user relationship of our target audience
Our app targets two key audiences and their relationships: the ‘Supporter/Enabler’ and the ‘Addict.’ The support system of an addict, which often includes accidental enablers, plays a critical role in the success of the recovery journey. By designing for both demographics, we broaden the app’s reach and impact, offering valuable resources to both parties as they navigate the challenges of addiction recovery together.
Supporter/Enabler
Addict
User Journey Map
Visualizing the user behaviour for supporters
We focused our attention on the ‘Supporters’ journey because this type of user would likely the one that would first discover, explore and introduce the app to the ‘Addict’. As the facilitator, it is important for the ‘Supporter’ to be swayed into using the app and encourage long term use for both them and the addict.
DEVELOP
Wireframes
Parallel Prototyping
The app design involves two different onboarding and information display depending on the users role. First we have the ‘Supporter’ viewpoint, followed by the ‘Addicts’ perspective.
While creating our wireframes, we recognized the importance of ensuring privacy and security for the recovering addict user. Initially, we considered allowing a supporter’s account to view the addict’s activity, live updates, and overall status within the app. However, considering the user’s perspective, we concluded that this could discourage their willingness to engage with the app.
First Iteration
Presenting a medium fidelity prototype for review
Our first iteration is a mid-fidelity prototype that closely replicated our wireframes. There were a few concerns that came up and changes that needed to be made for the final design. Due to time constraints, we were limited to the type of testing we could conduct but we gathered a substantial amount of data through peer feedback and from the team at RTI during our check-in meeting with them.
During this phase of the design process, I kept thinking back to this quote…
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Hoffman
Key Feedback
- Onboarding screens need to be coherent with the rest of the app. It was recommended to either add or remove gradience the entire design.
- Consider both perspectives/roles in the design. How will the screens differ from ‘Addict’ to ‘Supporter’.
- Consider how features will further boost user engagement, and longevity of the app.
- Ensure the navigation icons should be clear to the user.
User Flowchart
Balancing complexity and simplicity in app navigation
Based on the feedback from our previous iteration, we restructured some of the user flow, considering both roles, the Addict and the supporter, and how each would navigate the app. We enhanced feature complexity to boost user engagement and potential revenue, while simplifying the navigation bar to four primary screens, eliminating redundant buttons that led to the same destinations.
Final Design
Onboarding
A simple and welcoming onboarding experience. During sign up, new users specify their role in the app: Addict or Supporter. Addicts are prompted to invite members of their support system, while supporters are encouraged to invite the recovering addict they are helping.
Navigation Bar Screens
The bottom navigation bar provides quick access to essential screens, including the main homepage, the user’s profile for a summarized view of app activity, messages from their support system, and app settings for customization and configuration.
Key Features
Sobriety Tracker
Tracking the journey of the addict while encouraging self reflection and privacy.
Daily Affirmations
Words of affirmation to encourage a healthy and positive mindset through the recovery process for both the addicts and supporters.
App Activities
Activities to reunite and strengthen the relationship between the addict and their supporters along with educational resources.
Chat Filtering
Messages highlight and suggest responses for supporters to prevent accidental enabling with the recovering addict.
Branding
Typeface and Color Pallet
We decided to go with a light mode themed interface because it promotes a sense of transparency and optimism, which aligns with the supportive mindset needed for addiction recovery. It also allows use bright colours, conveying positivity and warmth. In addition, using light mode enhances readability for bother supports and addicts. This design approach can provide users with ease through their recovery journey.
Business Model Canvas
Key Components linking the design to business success
Once we identified the key touchpoints of our target users at various stages of interaction with the product, we developed a structured business strategy. This approach strengthened our design concept and provided robust support for our pitch to the client during this project phase.
Client Pitch
Bringing everything together for a final reveal
Takeaway
Working on this project was extremely rewarding. This was a problem space I quickly became passionate about and I made sure to carry that passion with me throughout the entire design process. I enjoyed working alongside my team and with the design leaders at Red Thread Innovations. Hearing continuous feedback through our progress and recognition for our hard work made the design process all the more fulfilling.
My team and I challenged ourselves by designing an app that catered to different user roles. While both types of users used the same app, their experiences were tailored to their specific needs, yet ultimately worked toward the same goals. Although this made the development phase trickier, when faced with difficult design decisions, we consistently referred back to our ‘How Might We’ project statement for guidance. Overall, I’m very satisfied with both the experience and the final outcome of this project.
