2. “The mind can go either direction under stress—toward
positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a
spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the
negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end.
The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly
influenced by training.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune
calm your stress
2
3. Modern Life is hectic, full of stress, anxiety and
pressure. It has become a real problem affecting
people in various ways.
The average worker is now on the job about one month longer
per year than his or her 1969 counterpart.- Markkula center for applied ethics
3
Presently people handle stress by, eating, working out, reading books, watching tv,
hanging out with friends and drinking.
Problem Statement
4. 4
of workers feel stress on the job and nearly half say they
need help in learning how to manage stress.
– American Institute of Stress.
80%
of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of
stress in the past month and nearly half reported that their
stress has increased in the past year.
– American Psychological association.
75%
5. Research Findings: 29 survey results
5
76%are familiar
with meditation
93%would like to learn
more about meditation
71%have used apps
to make lifestyle changes
6. ● When learning something new people are more comfortable being guided step by step approach.
● As people learn meditation feedback is very important, there is a concern that they are not doing it
correctly. This stems from being unsure about what successful mediation feels like.
● Tracking progress and having a way to articulate what they are experiencing is important.
● People are aware that there are many types of meditation but they do not know what they are.
● People are very concerned with time and want the practice to be flexible. And fit into their schedule
● Once people have adapted a meditation practice they like to connect with others and share group
meditations and talks.
6
Trust Commitment Connection
Research Findings: 7 interviews
7. STRESSED OUT CINDY
Age 28 Female
business analyst
Single, in a relationship
New York, NY
“ I found that work was getting very stressful and I wasn’t
able to compartmentalize and think things out, I need to
develop better strategies basically to manage myself”
Scenario
● Has no time to herself
● She becomes easily frustrate with herself and
others
● Has hard time handling stress
● Has a hard time communicating her thoughts
Pain points
● To be able to sleep through the night
● To stop worrying about yesterday or tomorrow,
she needs to be more present on the moment
● To developing better strategies or tools to
manage herself.
● To develop a skill to deal with all these emotions
and stress so she can function at the top of her
game
● To compartmentalize her life so she can clearly
think things out
Needs
Cindy is a hard worker, she is working toward a promotion to
senior BA so she has volunteered to work on 4 major projects
with tight deadlines. Cindy works late most nights to keep up
with the workload.
She has no time or energy to cook so orders in or goes out to
dinner with her boyfriend. When she is out with her boyfriend
she is constantly checking her phone and answering emails for
her many projects she is involved in at work or on the
weekend.
Her energy level is low, she is constantly anxious and fearful
about the future. She is a typical type A personality and needs
control over every thing she does
7
Behaviors
● Works late
● Constantly checking email
● Likes to control situations
8. Mellow Marvin
Age 40 Male
Salesmans
Married, 2 kids
New York, NY
“Before I started meditating I had two gears,
park and fifth. Meditation has allowed me to
find second and third”
Behaviors
● Needs help scheduling his mediations
● While traveling find local meditation groups
to connect.
● Needs way to locate talks and lectures given
about meditation
Pain points
● To set up reminders on his phone or calendar for
meditation
● Would like to connect with like minded people to
share the meditation experience
● To attend events such as retreats or talks given
by yogis and teachers of mediation.
Needs
Marvin is a self reformed stressaholic, his doctor recommended
he learn mediation to deal with his stress level as it was
affecting his health.
Since learning he has found that he has the ability to step back
and see things clearly.
Marvin is more present in his relationships and also in his
business dealings this has lead him to make better business
decisions and a more fulfilling family life.
Marvin feels best when he has meditated twice a day.
Sometimes Marvin goes to group meditation as he finds them
to be very powerful and allow him to get to a deeper level of
meditation
8
Behaviors
● Has a on and off meditation practice
● Likes to connect to other practicing meditators
● Likes to learn everything he can about meditation
9. Competitors
1 GIANT MIND
Here’s how it works:
1 Giant Mind is an app that teaches Vedic meditation.The learning is
broken up into 12 lessons . Lessons are locked till you do the previous
lesson. Each lesson is about a different problem ie, stress, fatigue.
Once you have completed the 12 lessons there is a thirty day challenge to
complete. If this is accomplished you will have created a habit and
hopefully a lifestyle change .
Strengths:
Onboarding easy social or email
Step by step approach take the user
on a guided path
Post meditation supporting material is
available
Option to download the meditations
so they can be accessed under
ground
Branding is appropriate
Weaknesses:
The font is too thin and hard to read
No flexibility in time of meditation
Reminder does not work lessons are
locked.
If you have a question there is no one
to ask just canned questions and
answers.
Only teaches one type of meditation
9
No reviews on itunes
“ I never thought I would be able to
meditate.Your approach is so easy
and the meditations I have each day
are so restful and replenishing.
I’m seeing so much change in my
life. I feel more calm, less stressed,
more focused, I’m sleeping better
And I’m worrying a lot less about
things I have little control over.
So thank you”
10. Competitors
HEADSPACE
Here’s how it works:
The foundation program consists of 10 sessions each start with a mini
commercial and directs the user to the website to subscribe. This app is
about guiding the user mindfulness meditation it is about getting the user
to concentrate on breathing and being mindful. Hard to do as the
moderator constantly interrupts you. There are many options or features
with this app which can be very confusing there are two menus which
makes it hard to find things.
Strengths:
Color scheme is warm and playful
branding is consistent
Micro interactions have been taken
into considerations
Once in you can track how many
times you have meditated
They have meditations for different
concerns
Weaknesses:
User needs to sign up before using
Too many things to do before you get
to meditate or try out the app.
Voice of moderator is not that relaxing.
Too many options lots of features are
hard to find
In order to try any meditations for
specific issues you must pay.
10
126 reviews on itunes
App is good but not perfect, yet!
Love the headspace app, and am
grateful for the only tool that has
gotten me to meditate successfully
thus far.
My only complaint is that there are
still a few software kinks that need to
be worked out and customer support
needs a little more control over the
back end.
11. Competitors
CALM
Here’s how it works:
Calm seem to be an app built around a book, which is available in the
amazon store. It has a facebook page that only has posts from the
company, all comments are about the photos posted no real conversations
about meditation. Once you have done the 7 days of calm all other
content is behind a paywall or you could just get the book and have a go
of it on your own.
Strengths:
Color scheme appropriate
Seems simple and straightforward
Nice sounds and nature scenes to
choose from very relaxing to hear
Sign up is not necessary to use the
app only when you want to save
something which is nice
You can opt to do a meditation or just
listen to nature sounds
Weaknesses:
Once you use the app for the time you
get a looping nature scene
Only 7 day program is free this is a
subscription program
The moderator voice sounds like a sales
person and not a yogi.
No education about other types of
meditation or even a question and
answer section.
11
782 reviews on itunes
Please use a different voice
I love the clam app, but I really wish
they would use a different person’s
voice to guide the meditations.
It’s not just the pitch, but she sounds
like she is speaking to a baby and it’
s very distracting.
I’m sure she is a very nice person
and doesn’t mean to sound that way.
She's trying to be soothing, but it’s
just too distracting to me!
12. Competitors
Omvana
Here’s how it works:
Omvana seems to be a meditation content aggregator that allows people
in the new age meditation space to use as a way to reach users, like a
itunes store for new age/meditations. Some content is free, others paid.
They do allow you to sample some of the paid content before you
purchase which is nice. If you are the type of person that gets bored easily
this seem like it could have a lot of content to keep you busy.
Strengths:
There is an extensive library of
content available organized by
category .
Under the beginners category are a
lot of free content to choose from.
The meditations have different
moderators that seem to be known.
Weaknesses:
There is an extensive library of content
available organized by category which
can be overwhelming
There is a mixer section, which allows
you to play two meditations at the
same time? Not sure why this is
important to have.
Again no education
12
58 reviews on itunes
Love my mediations, but…
I absolutely love the Omvana app &
use it daily BUT there is a bug in the
system that stops the tracks halfway
through sometimes and there isn’t
anything more annoying than being
deep in a mediation & having to stop
& push play. Please fix.Otherwise it is
a must in my day.
13. Key insights
13
Flexibility1
Ability to choose the length of time, the area of concern and evaluate the experience.
Education2
Connection3
There are many different meditations and ways to meditate.
Making the connection to real life community supports habit building
14. Solution: here’s what we need
14
Bliss
A meditation
app that simply
guides users to
create a daily
meditation habit.
Users control length of time and
areas of concern they want to
address.
Easy ways to evaluate if the
practice is working.
Education about different types
of meditation.
Connection with fellow
meditators
17. 17
The evolution of the guided meditation play screen
The play mediation screen
started with a simple play but in
user testing i found that it the
user was unsure of what would
happen when they clicked play.
To clarify expectations I changed
the screen added a sound slider,
play, etc. the users I tested this
screen with were happier but
they were still a bit unsure, the
screen had too many controls.
The solution to these issues starts with an overlay that
preps the user as to what comes next. They click when
they are ready . I tested this solution and the users were
able to understand what they could do when they came
to this screen.
I began with a paper prototype of the task.I
found this helpful in understanding what
how to prioritize the screens so the user
could set their preferences and complete
the task. This testing allowed me to see
what was important early on. I found first
choosing the type of mediation, second
choosing the problem and finally choosing
the time was a flow that the user easily
understood.
User Testing
18. 18
The evolution of breathing exercise
Breathing is an important part of
mindful meditation. The problem
is how to walk the user through
this with out a video. I began with
a paper sketch, but the user was
unsure of how to interact with
this screen.
The solution included a more of an explanation through copy and visuals. The start screen explains the type of breathing
expected the user begins by clicking the start button. The animation starts the count down first with the count of 4 ,which the
user breathes in, the screen then changes the animation counts down to the seven and finally the exhale with a countdown of
8. This was tested with users who understood what was asked and were able to understand what was expected.
The next iteration I put three
buttons on the screen and
wanted the user to click on each
button and breath in. This user
was able to complete the task
but it did not really have the
impact that was intended.
Solution
User Testing
20. Wireframes
Meditation: Guided
Loading screen
This screen is the screen l that
loads when the user opens the
app. The logo is clickable
Decision
User chooses the type of
meditation they are interested in.
This flow is guided.
Mood slider
There is a control in which the
user can push up and down to
asses their stress level. Once the
user click next the level is saved
for after they have meditated
Chose Mediation
The user has a choice of three
mediations available.
20
Choose Time
The slider moved horizontally
and allows the user to chose the
time. The user can only choose
the times indicated, for instance
they can not choose 9 minutes,
so the slider would stop at the 10
minute time .
21. Wireframes
Meditation: Guided
Meditation Prep
The mediation is loaded with an
overlay that preps the user with
some helpful tips.
Play
The user plays the meditation
and as the meditation comes to
the last second the next screen
automatically pops up with the
stress level the user chose
before meditating.
Check in
The user can now review their
current stress level and compare
it to pre meditation state. The
state of this slider is from the
previous interaction the user had
before meditating
Record progress
The user has the option to record
their session when the user clicks
the button they will be prompted to
sign up. If the user is ‘signed in they
will go directly to the success screen
and session will be recorded
21
22. Wireframes
Sign up
Sign up / Sign in
The user has three options. Sign
up using facebook or email. If
they are sign up already they
click the link and the sign in
screen appears
Sign in
Success
Once the user has signed in or signed up their
session is recorded.
Invite friends send the user to the invite screen
where they are asked to complete the invite flow
Write about button opens the journal screen
where the user can record their thougts 22
If the user forget password a
email for password reset is sent
to the user.
23. Wireframes
Meditation: Journal entry
Journal page enter
User get prompts of what they can
write about . once they interact with the
keyboard the prompts disappear . A
click on the done button saves the
entry and it populates the list page.
Journal list
The list page does not exist until
the user makes an entry. They
can edit the entry by clicking the
edit button.
Clicking the icon on the right
opens the entry page, the
previous screen
23
Meditation: invite friends
Invite screen
User can enter name and email
of friend to invite. The expand
button allows another invite.Only
two invites at a time are allowed.
Preview is the next screen.
Preview
The message is pre written the
user can not edit the copy they
just are reviewing the names ,
once they click send the email
are sent
Confirmation screen
24. Wireframes
Schedule
Home screen
First time user comes to this
screen they are able to add a
reminder by clicking the plus
icon on the right.
Set reminder
The selects the time here
The user can toggle on off if on this
reminder is set for every day
If the user does not want a recurring
reminder they can choose a day
The user can choose sound here
Chose reminder sound
24
Chose day
Chose day is available only if the
user has not selected repeat
daily
The bell is the default sound. If
the user chooses no sound the
phone will vibrate
Scheduled active
Once the user set ups a
reminder they see it on the
homepage of this tab.They can
edit it by clicking on the edit
button.
25. Wireframes
Learn
Learn home
List of different types of
meditations. User clicks on a
type and gets the detail page
25
Events / Classes
Detail
Video and definition.If user click
the play the video pla
Events home
List of events click on the tickets
connects the user to eventbrite
page where the user can make
the transaction
Classes home
List of classes available click on
a classe bring up the detail page.
Detail
User can click the name and they
go to the website. Click on the
phone number invokes the
phone
26. calm your stress
26
Meditation network
Members ask questions pertaining
to their meditation experiences.
Share stories and articles about
meditation.
Set up meetups for group
meditations.
Future Feature Ideas
