For my Senior Thesis project I designed a mobile app that allows people to request assistance from mental health professionals when a family member, friend, or loved one is experiencing a mental crisis.
20 to 40 percent of the population of the United States suffers from a mental illness, yet how the country responds to events involving a mental health crisis often results in punitive action rather than a path towards recovery and treatment.
Police have become the primary gatekeepers of scenarios involving a person in crisis, coupled with a severe lack of training, results in high arrests rates and forced hospitalizations during these encounters.
It is imperative to establish better guidance for family, friends, and loved ones responding to a mental health crisis. By developing a new model to help people who are experiencing mental illness, it is possible to refute the assumption that mental crises are all dangerous?
Bouncing between two names for the brand, Mental Crisis and Parrot, I sketched out ideas that were simple and iconic.
The first thing that I had nail down when creating the brand and mobile app was who I was designing it for, someone experiencing a mental crises themselves or someone who’s requesting help for a family member, friend, or loved one who’s experiencing a mental crisis.
Because most resources offer instructions on to how to help a loved one when they are experiencing a crisis, I gravitated to targeting a user who’s has a friend or loved one having a mental crisis. I also wanted the app to be appealing to a general audience to improve access to mental health resources.
POSITIVE PERSONA
31 years old, Male
Washington, D.C
Chris has a brother who’s bipolar and is worried about calling the police if he’s having a manic episode. It’s happened twice before, both involving the medication that he was on. Chris feels like his back is against the wall, with his only option is having his brother thrown in the back of a police car due to a mental crisis.
App Goals
Open the app and immediately request help for his brother, choosing his location in a matter of seconds.
Call his brother’s primary care doctor after requesting help from crisis team.
See the ETA of the crisis team, and see information about the crisis team workers.
NEUTRAL PERSONA
61 years old, Female
Kansas City, MO
Kathy’s son has schizophrenia and fears of he’s having a mental health crisis, he would be perceived dangerous by police. Kathy isn’t a fan of social media and doesn’t want to deal with an app. She’d prefer to just call a number to request mental health workers when her son is experiencing a mental crisis.
App Goals
Have the option to open the app and call for assistance right away
Be able to read all the text and information on the app when her son is having a crisis.
NEUTRAL PERSONA
28 years old, Male
Seattle, Washington
Luke has a mild case of ADHD but doesn’t see himself experiencing a serious mental crisis and needing mental health workers to respond. Luke doesn’t have anyone close to him that has had a mental health crisis and isn't swayed one or the other in terms of who responds in scenarios with a person in crisis.
App Goals
Open the app and see a primary care doctor to get on medication.
Be informed of why police shouldn’t be the
first responders to mental crises
NEGATIVE PERSONA
54 years old, Male
Detroit, Michigan
Steven is homeless and has severe multiple personality disorder. He wouldn’t get help in a moment of a mental crisis, nor does he have a cellphone to even get assistance. Unfortunately, Steven also doesn’t have any close family to reach out for support.
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When designing the mobile app, I wanted the "Request Help" button to be the first thing a user sees as well as being easy to tap since it was at the lower half of the screen rather than at the top.
The color scheme of the brand and mobile app was purple and orange because orange is often linked to crisis/emergency as well as standing and counteracting the calming and soothing purple.
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