Company:
Google UX Design Professional Certification
Year:
July 2024 - October 2024
Duration:
3 Months
Overview
Mind Space is an app prototype created as a part of Google's UX Design Professional Certification that is designed to support individuals (students in particular) in managing their mental health. The app provides personalized tools, resources and support to create positive habits and selfcare routines. By promoting mindfulness and emotional awareness, Mind Space aims to help users create a balanced and fulfilling life.
Click to view - Figma Prototype
The Goal
Mind Space is designed to help students take control of their mental health by offering quick, simple, and engaging self care tools. The goal is to reduce stress and anxiety while building healthy habits that fit into busy student schedules. From mood tracking to journaling to personalized wellness goals, the app helps users become more self aware and stay motivated in their mental health journey.
Problem Statement
Many students struggle to manage their mental health due to academic pressures, social challenges, and a lack of time. While mental health resources exist, they’re often overwhelming or difficult to stick with. Mind Space addresses this by offering an easy to use app with tools specifically tailored to student needs, making mental self care feel doable and not like another assignment.
User Group
Mind Space focuses on students ages 14–25, from high school to grad school. This group often juggles coursework, exams, and social pressures, all while trying to maintain their well being. They want tools that are easy to use to not add more stress to their day.
User Research
I conducted interviews, surveys, and focus groups with students to better understand their mental health needs. At first, I assumed academic stress was the main challenge, but students shared a more layered experience. Many feel overwhelmed, anxious in social situations, or simply unsure how to care for their mental health. They said existing tools felt too complicated or time consuming, especially when life gets hectic.
The most requested features? Quick stress relief activities, personalized content, and simple journaling prompts. These insights directly shaped the design of Mind Space, helping me prioritize ease of use and emotional relevance.
Key Pain Points
Academic Overload: Stress from exams and deadlines causes anxiety and burnout. Students need calming tools that are easy to reach for during high stress moments.
No Time for Self Care: With packed schedules, many students skip mental wellness practices. They need short, effective activities that can fit into their day.
Social Anxiety: New environments and social pressures leave some students feeling isolated. A tool that builds confidence and supports emotional resilience can help.
Hard to Build Habits: It’s tough to stick to a routine. Mind Space focuses on gentle reminders and easy goal-setting to help users stay on track.
Personas
User Journey Map
Survey Results
I conducted a survey with 20 students from diverse ages, majors, and backgrounds to gather insights on the features they would like to see in the app.
Survey Insights
To better understand the needs of our users, I conducted a survey with young adults aged 18–24, primarily undergraduate students.
Key findings:
Stress is common: 60% of respondents experience stress on a daily basis, and 95% identified academic pressure as the top cause.
Most wanted features:
Mood tracking (84.2%)
Quick stress relief exercises (47.4%)
Journaling prompts (36.8%)
Self-care habits: While 80% already use exercise to manage stress, engagement with journaling (20%) and meditation (30%) is much lower.
Personalization is important: 60% want reminders tailored to their needs, indicating strong interest in personalized mental health tools.
Students were excited about the concept of the app and particularly appreciated the focus on mood tracking and simplicity.
Key App Features
Each feature was designed in response to specific feedback and needs expressed by students during the research process:
Mood Tracker: Allows students to log their emotions and view patterns over time to build self awareness.
Guided Stress Relief Exercises: Quick, practical tools such as breathing techniques and mindfulness activities that can be used anytime.
Journaling Prompts: Thoughtful, low effort prompts that help users reflect and process their thoughts in a supportive space.
Personalized Alerts: Gentle reminders to support consistent self care habits based on user preferences.
Accessibility Focused Design: Clear navigation, customizable content, and features that prioritize inclusive design for all users.
How MindSpace Stands Out
MindSpace is built specifically for students navigating the pressures of academic life. It’s not just a tool, it’s a mental health companion that understands the real challenges young adults face.
What sets it apart:
Tailored to student life: Designed with student specific stressors in mind, such as academic deadlines and social pressures.
Inclusive and accessible: The app is easy to navigate and customizable, ensuring that users of all backgrounds and abilities feel supported.
Informed by user research: Every feature was shaped by direct input from users, keeping the design grounded in real needs.
Engaging and credible: A clean, calming interface encourages frequent use while maintaining trust and professionalism.
Interview Insights
To deepen the research, I conducted a one on one interview with a 21 year old senior majoring in Marketing and Psychology at Purdue University.
Current mental health habits:
She regularly uses therapy, journaling, and mindfulness to stay grounded.
“I try to make time for journaling and mindfulness meditation each week. It helps me process what’s going on, especially when I’m stressed out with school work.”
Key challenges:
Managing stress while balancing classes, social life, and planning for the future.
“One of the hardest parts about being a student is juggling everything, assignments, social life, and planning for after graduation. It can feel like there’s no time for me.”
What she wants in an app:
Features that are personalized, simple, and help her stay consistent with small, manageable goals.
“For example, aiming to meditate for just five minutes a day can build consistency without feeling overwhelming.”
“I think having an app that knows you and gives personalized suggestions would make it more useful. Sometimes you don’t know what you need until it’s suggested to you.”
Feedback on MindSpace:
She liked the mood tracking and mindfulness features but suggested more interactivity and insights.
“I think the mood tracking is great, but it could be more engaging if it gave you feedback or showed trends over time.”
“It just needs to be easy to use. Students don’t have time to figure out something complicated, so the simpler, the better.”
These insights emphasized the importance of making the app highly intuitive, visually engaging, and responsive to users’ emotional patterns.
Conclusion
This research confirmed the need for a mental health app tailored to student life, one that is simple, supportive, and grounded in real experiences. Students want tools that help them manage stress and stay balanced without adding to their mental load.
MindSpace meets this need by combining personalized mental health tools with a calm, accessible design. With features like mood tracking, journaling, and stress relief exercises, it empowers users to build better habits and take control of their mental wellness in a way that works with their schedule, not against it.
Starting the Design
Paper Wireframe
Digital Wire Frame
Choice of Colors
The Mindspace app uses a calming yet vibrant color palette to enhance the user experience. It combines:
Soft Pink (#FDD1D1) for a sense of emotional warmth and comfort.
Coral (#F78970) to bring energy and positivity to the interface.
Cream (#FFEABD) as a neutral balance, creating an inviting and approachable feel.
Deep Navy (#171C4C) for trust and focus, grounding the user in a serene environment.
Muted Teal (#6E9291) to evoke calm and balance, reflecting tranquility and nature.This palette reflects relaxation and positivity, supporting the app's mental health goals.
Low Fidelity Mockup
Usability and feedback results
For the usability study, I asked participants who completed an initial survey to review my Mindspace app mockups and provide specific feedback on potential areas for improvement. This approach allowed me to gather insights directly from my target users, ensuring the feedback was relevant and aligned with their needs.
Personalization quiz: One participant expressed interest in a personalization quiz at sign up, noting that it would help tailor the app experience to their needs. They suggested that a quick quiz could customize content, like recommended meditations or mood tracking prompts, making the app feel more personalized and engaging right from the start.
“Daily Tip” or “Quick Mood Booster": One participant suggested adding a “Daily Tip” or “Quick Mood Booster” feature on the home screen. They felt that a small, uplifting message, wellness tip, or quick breathing exercise each day could enhance the app’s value and encourage them to engage more consistently.
Tracking Insights: One participant wanted more insights on their mood tracking data, such as a summary or trend analysis. They suggested adding a feature that highlights patterns over time (e.g., “You felt calm on 70% of days this month”) to help them better understand their emotional trends and progress
Text labels under each icon: One participant mentioned that the icon only navigation felt unclear at first and suggested adding text labels under each icon. They felt that labels would make it easier to understand the purpose of each section, especially for new users, and would improve overall navigation.
1. Personalization quiz addition
2. "Mood Booster" addition
3. Mood tracking insights
4. Text Lables
Final High Fidelity Mockup
Inclusivity and accessibility considerations
Text Labels for Navigation – Clear text labels accompany icons in the navigation bar, making it easy for all users, including those with cognitive disabilities, to understand and access the app's key features.
Inclusive Graphics – I incorporated diverse graphic representations of people with various skin tones and genders. This ensures that all users feel represented and can see themselves reflected within the app.
Positive and Motivating Language – The app uses encouraging, supportive language throughout, designed to uplift and motivate users, especially those who may be facing challenges.
Multi-Language Support – To make the app accessible to people who speak languages other than English I added a language section in settings.
Notification Customization – Understanding that everyone has unique preferences, I included options for customizing notifications. This allows users to decide how frequently they receive reminders, ensuring the app adapts to a variety of lifestyles.
Final Reflection
The MindSpace mockup has the potential to make a meaningful impact by offering students a supportive space for mental wellness and self care. With features like mood tracking, journaling, and guided meditations, the design encourages users to build healthy habits and engage in reflection in a simple, structured way.
By focusing on clarity, calm visuals, and intuitive navigation, the mockup makes these tools accessible to a broad audience. Every design decision, from layout to color palette, was made with the goal of reducing friction and helping users feel in control of their mental health. Ultimately, the MindSpace project shows how thoughtful, user centered design can empower individuals to prioritize mental well being in a format that’s approachable, supportive, and easy to use.
What I Learned
Empathy leads the way
Designing for mental health reminded me that empathy should be the foundation of every decision. The more I engaged with research and real student experiences, the more I realized how important it is to create a space that feels emotionally safe and supportive, not just functional.
Inclusivity is more than a checklist
This project challenged me to think critically about accessibility and inclusivity. From icons to customizable features, I learned how even small design decisions can impact a user's ability to feel seen and supported. I now approach inclusive design not just as a goal, but as a responsibility.
Simplicity matters
Through user testing, I learned that clean navigation and straight forward layouts make a big difference for users seeking relief or support. The most meaningful features are often the ones that are easiest to use.
Feedback drives everything
Usability testing and user interviews revealed insights I never would have discovered on my own. It reinforced the value of staying open to critique and iterating often. I learned that even strong ideas can be made stronger through collaboration and feedback.
Design is never “done”
Throughout the project, I found myself constantly revisiting and refining the design based on new findings. This process taught me that good design evolves. It’s never about achieving perfection, but about creating something better step by step.
Data makes design personal
Incorporating mood tracking and personalized suggestions helped me see how user data can enrich the experience. It opened my eyes to how data driven features can make the app feel more responsive and meaningful to each individual user.
In summary, working on MindSpace deepened both my technical skills and my understanding of human centered design. It challenged me to lead with empathy, design for inclusivity, and stay open to growth. Most of all, it reminded me that design has the power to make people feel seen, supported, and in control of their wellness, one small interaction at a time.
