The Goal 🎯

Mind Space helps students manage mental health with quick, simple, and engaging self-care tools. The app reduces stress and anxiety while building healthy habits that fit busy schedules. Features include mood tracking, journaling, and personalized wellness goals.

Problem Statement ⚠️

Students struggle to maintain mental health due to academic pressure, social challenges, and time constraints. Existing resources often feel overwhelming or hard to stick with. Mind Space offers easy-to-use, student-focused tools to make self-care approachable.

User Group 👥

• Students aged 14–25 (high school to grad school)

• Juggling coursework, exams, social life, and mental well-being

• Want tools that are quick, simple, and stress-free

User Research 🔍

• Conducted interviews, surveys, and focus groups

• Key insights:

  • Academic stress isn’t the only challenge—students feel overwhelmed, socially anxious, or unsure how to care for themselves

  • Most requested features: quick stress relief activities, personalized content, simple journaling prompts

• Research guided ease of use and emotional relevance in the design

Key Pain Points 😣

• Academic Overload: Stress from exams and deadlines

• No Time for Self Care: Need short, effective activities

• Social Anxiety: Tools to support confidence and resilience

• Hard to Build Habits: Gentle reminders and easy goal-setting

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.

Key findings💡:

Stress is common

• 60% of students experience stress daily

• 95% say academic pressure is the top cause

Most wanted features

• Mood tracking: 84%

• Quick stress relief exercises: 47%

• Journaling prompts: 37%

Current self-care habits

• Exercise is the most used tool (80%)

• Journaling: 20%

• Meditation: 30%

Personalization matters

• 60% want reminders tailored to their needs

• Students were excited about mood tracking and appreciated the simplicity of the app

Key App Features 🛠️💡

Features were designed based on student feedback:

• Mood Tracker: Log emotions and see patterns over time to build self-awareness.

• Guided Stress Relief Exercises: Quick tools like breathing techniques and mindfulness activities for anytime use.

• Journaling Prompts: Low-effort prompts to help students reflect and process thoughts.

• Personalized Alerts: Gentle reminders to support consistent self-care habits.

• Accessibility-Focused Design: Clear navigation and customizable content for inclusive use.

How MindSpace Stands Out 🌟📱

MindSpace is more than a tool—it’s a mental health companion designed specifically for students:

• Tailored to student life: Addresses academic deadlines, social pressures, and daily stressors.

• Inclusive and accessible: Easy to navigate, supporting users of all backgrounds and abilities.

• User research informed: Every feature reflects real student needs.

• Engaging and credible: Clean, calming interface encourages consistent use.

Interview Insights 🗣️👥

Participant: 21-year-old Purdue senior, Marketing & Psychology

Current mental health habits:

• Uses therapy, journaling, and mindfulness regularly.

“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:

• Balancing classes, social life, and future planning.

“One of the hardest parts about being a student is juggling everything… It can feel like there’s no time for me.”

What she wants in an app:

• Personalized, simple, and consistent features.

“Aiming to meditate for just five minutes a day can build consistency without feeling overwhelming.”
“Having an app that knows you and gives personalized suggestions would make it more useful.”

Feedback on MindSpace:

• Likes mood tracking and mindfulness features.

• Wants more interactivity and insights.

“Mood tracking is great but could be more engaging if it gave feedback or showed trends over time.”
“It needs to be easy to use the simpler, the better.”

Takeaway:

• The app must be intuitive, visually engaging, and responsive to emotional patterns.

🔎 Research Conclusion

This research confirmed the need for a mental health app designed specifically for students, simple, supportive, and grounded in real experiences. Students want tools that help manage stress and maintain balance without adding to their mental load.

MindSpace addresses this by combining personalized mental health tools with a calm, accessible design. Features like mood tracking, journaling, and stress relief exercises empower users to build better habits and take control of their mental wellness, fitting seamlessly into their schedules.