Universal Design Grand Challenge 2023 -
Judges’ Choice Technology Winner
For my final-year project, I chose to explore the area of neurodivergent women and mental health. I spent 12 weeks conducting research and a further 12 weeks testing and developing a solution.
How does growing up as a neurodivergent woman affect mental health?
In order to find an impactful topic for my final-year project I turned to the “Creating Our Future” report by the Science Foundation Ireland, which gathered submissions from the public in 2021 and recommended several areas for future research and innovation. Two themes that stood out to me were “Enhancing a Human-Centered Approach to Health and Social Care” and “Promoting Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Ireland,” particularly regarding women’s health, mental health, and neurodiversity.
While immersing myself in the existing research on neurodiversity, I was struck by the profound differences in experiences between neurodivergent males and females during childhood and adolescence. This peaked my interest in the intersectionality of growing up as a neurodivergent woman and its impact on mental health.
My Process
I chose to follow the ARRIVE design innovation framework by Devitt et al. (2021), which is a practical adaptation of the double diamond. I value this process because it maintains the essence of user-centred design, while representing a holistic approach to design innovation in terms of the dimensions of desirability, viability and feasibility.
I spent the first semester researching my focus area and engaging with users so I could reframe the challenge I set out to explore and pinpoint actionable insights.
The second semester focused on ideation, experimentation and development, as well as external validation.
“A design innovation project starts with an acknowledgement that innovation opportunities always occur within a context that has multiple actors, structural complexities and legacy momentum.”
Devitt et al., Unlocking Design Thinking’s Potential (2017)
As a neurodivergent woman, my inherent understanding of my focus area was primarily based on personal experience. I conducted extensive desk research to identify and challenge my assumptions and expand my knowledge by exploring diverse perspectives in the field.
During the audit phase I examined academic papers, journal articles, non-profit websites, and online forums, gathering scientific and empirical evidence related to my research question.
At the same time I dipped my toes into qualitative research with the goal to supplement my desk research with the lived experiences of neurodivergent women and provide context to my audit findings. I created two questionnaires, which were filled out by 21 neurodivergent and 21 neurotypical women, respectively.
Key Takeaways:
There was broad consensus in existing reserach that women had been widely neglected in the last few decades of research around neurodiversity, leading to underdiagnosis and negative long term effects.
Co-morbidity of DSM-IV/CIDI diagnosis with other mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety are alarmingly high across the spectrum (male and female), compared to neurotypical peers.
While mental health struggles are not unique to neurodivergent women, the availability and effectiveness of support, differs profoundly among neurodivergent and neurotypical participants.
100% of the online survey participants said they have struggled with their mental health, both for the neurodivergent and neurotypical group. However, 61.9% of neurotypical participants stated they received adequate support, versus only 28.6% of neurodivergent participants.
My Research
During my research phase I focused on finding out more about the lived experiences of neurodivergent women during their formative years by interviewing a number of participants who had diagnosed or self-diagnosed conditions such as ASD and ADHD.
I was particularly interested in phases of their lives when they experienced poor mental health. Was this intermittent or persistent? Was there anything specific that would trigger particularly bad episodes? Who did they reach out to for help, if anyone?
My goal was to find out why the existing support systems had failed these women.
I aimed to gain an understanding of how the participants currently managed their mental health and what activities they engaged in to relax and unwind. I was particularly interested in identifying the challenges they encountered in this regard. To obtain further insight, I facilitated a focus group and observation session where participants explored a competitor’s product and its features. The objective of this exercise was to identify in what ways existing solutions had proven inadequate for the participants. I discovered common challenges and barriers among women with ADHD in particular, which helped me narrow down my project scope further.
Interview and focus group participants*
*names and images altered to protect anonymity
Jade, 18
Riona, 22
Olivia, 22
Maya, 20
Lucy, 20
Key Takeaways:
A key challenge women with ADHD encounter is unwinding regularly because they are very quick to get bored of repetitive activities and lose motivation.
They are frustrated with products such as Headspace because they tend to focus on documenting mental health rather than providing actionable support.
Common mindfulness exercises such as meditation and breathing excercises tend to have an adverse effect on them because they struggle to clear their mind and feel understimulated.
Data synthesis
I assembled a comprehensive research document, which consolidated all of my notes and findings from the surveys, interviews, and focus group observations. I used affinity mapping to organize responses into clusters based on common themes. This allowed me to identify patterns and trends which I used the reframe the underlying challenges in the next steps.
By cross-referencing my primary research with secondary sources, I was able to fill in any gaps in my understanding and consolidate my findings with empirical evidence where necessary. This approach ensured that my research was both rigorous and robust, enhancing the overall quality and credibility of my study. I then created a video to present the results of my audit and research study.
Reframing the challenge
Based on my affinity diagram, I developed three key insight notes around the biggest overlapping themes.
Each key insight note is accompanied by its own How Might We question to help frame the specific challenge or insight.
I then developed a primary user persona to help me remember who I was designing for and why, as I moved into the ideation phase.
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Theme 1: Existing Techniques
Common techniques such as guided meditations and breathing excercises tend to not work well.
Activities women with ADHD currently do to relax are highly individual.
How might we provide women with ADHD with anxiety relief techniques that they enjoy and that work for them?
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Theme 2: Habits and Routines
Women with ADHD often struggle to create habits and maintain routines.
They can get bored of certain activities very quickly and struggle to find new ones.
How might we take the repetitiveness out of routines and help women with ADHD build a solid habit?
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Theme 3: Community
Neurodivergent women tend to grow up feeling lonely.
They find comfort in talking to peers and being met with understanding and support.
How might we bring together women with ADHD to share their experiences and support one another?
User persona:
Leila, 22, was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 20. She is a very busy final-year student and she struggles with keeping on top of her workload and day-to-day tasks. She’s also trying to keep up with her peers academically and socially, which can be fun at best and exhausting at worst. She struggles to schedule downtime for herself which backfires on her in the form of regular anxiety attacks.
Frustrations:
Using an app like MindShift regularly feels like a chore
Making time to relax is really boring
So many coping mechanisms I’ve read and heard about don’t actually work for me
Most fidget toys are designed for children and look like toys
Goals:
I need a variety of strategies to choose from so I don’t get bored
I want to exchange tips and tricks with my friends
I need to be reminded at the right time or I won’t do anything and feel guilty because of it
I want the downtime I have to be fun, otherwise it’s not worth it
“I’m constantly overwhelmed and exhausted from masking around my peers, so that even really small things can cause a major anxiety attack.”
Ideation
This phase focused on the development of three different concepts for a potential solution:
Compression shirt
Wooden fidget toy
Stress and anxiety management app
The first two concepts are based on the need for acute anxiety relief when an attack is imminent or happening already.
The third concept focuses on the prevention of anxiety attacks in the first place and presents a long term solution for managing stress and anxiety levels.
I created more surveys and conducted more interviews with neurodivergent women to explore my three main ideas and identify the desirability of each concept.
I chose the Anxiety Management app for further development since it focused on long term prevention of high stress and anxiety levels, which my study participants were struggling the most with. The fidget toy market is also highly saturated with existing products specifically designed for my user group. However, it was also evident to me that an app alone may not suffice. My study participants described how they would often download dozens of apps and then just forget they existed and never open them again.
Therefore, I knew I would need to include something tangible in my solution that would help remind users and enrich their experience when engaging with the app.
I presented the business case for the app in two formats: a briefing document, as well as a video pitch.
I did not include the tangible component in these briefings yet, because it was still entirely unclear what it would look like.
Validation & Development
In order to figure out what the tangible component of my solution should look like I spent more time talking to users about their experiences and preferences when it came to fidget toys and other gadgets. We also brainstormed together how a something like a fidget toy and an app could potentially work together.
The most popular resulting concept was a hand-held controller that could be used to play fun and relaxing mini games on the app. This solution not only embodies a tangible reminder for my users but also provides an interactive and engaging experience that avoids the passivity of common mindfulness excercises and apps that my study participants struggled with.
I then embarked on the process of prototyping and testing different shapes for the controller. I conducted qualitative tests of these prototypes to identify thr right balance between visual appeal and a comfortable, tactile experience, which were the most important aspects to my users.
Rapid prototypes of the controller using various low-high-fidelity materials.
I mocked up the two “best performing” prototypes in Solidworks to help decide which one to pick.
The first concept was inspired by an elegant and sleek look, similar to popular Apple or Nintendo products. However, some users described it as “plain” and “visually boring”. They also said it looked too much like a new version of a Wii nunchuck and like it would be paired with a game console rather than a mobile app.
The second concept retained the elegance of the first, however, the shape itself was described as “much more fun” and “personal”.
The cork detail of the bottom half also helps the controller look more like “something that would sit on my shelf and still look pretty”.
This qualitative analysis really helped me understand what associations the user were unconsciously forming with the controller and it was the driving insight for creating the “Leva buddy” as a companion to the app.
Solidworks renders of the top two shapes.
During my research into current tools and techniques women with ADHD used to relax I had stumbled across ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). The theory revolves around purposely triggering a calming sensation using a large number of different techniques such as audio-visual sensory stimulation.
Some participants had shown me ASMR animations on TikTok and Instagram, and so I decided to design the mini games in a similar style, to increase their effectiveness in helping users to relax.
I used an Arduino, a potentiometer and Processing to prototype and test a number of simple mini games with pleasing visuals and soothing sound effects. Users responded positively to the interactive elements, describing the controller as ‘intuitive’ and ‘calming,’ which guided the development of the final design.
For the development of the app I completed three dot voting exercises with users to determine the main functionalities of the app and ensure that they aligned with their most urgent needs. Through my research I discovered that the main aspects that help ADHDers build habits are novelty and accountability and that some of their main struggles are understimulation, repetitiveness and object permanence. The app supports users by providing a personalized library of relaxing activities and challenges that they can complete by themselves or with a friend. I received positive feedback from users who felt that this simple concept would immensely help with decision paralysis and motivation and increase the chances of them actually taking the time to do relaxing activities that help them unwind.
Based on this feedback I developed user stories and task flows which were the basis for my wireframing and user testing.
As all of the task flows started on the dashboard, I turned my attention towards designing the layout of this main screen of the app.
I completed multiple rapid sketching exercises in order to create as many different versions of the dashboard as possible.
Users would need quick access to the core components to the app but I also knew I would need something else to draw them in and keep them coming back. The early version of the dashboard therefore included a simple menu and two ‘Discover’ sections suggesting new activities and challenges to the user to pique their interest.
I sketched user flow diagrams for each of the task flows and created a paper prototype of the most important one (adding a custom activity to the library) which I tested with two users.
User flow diagrams of some of the task flows.
For the user interface I chose warm and friendly colours and fonts because a lot of the users I talked to expressed their dislike for clinical -looking and boring app interfaces. They wanted something they would enjoy looking at and be captivated by.
I created multiple versions of the dashboard in Figma, based on my wireframe sketches and the feedback from my paper prototype.
Each version of the dashboard was designed to be more engaging than the previous one to maximise the impact of this screen on the user’s motivation to return to the app regularly.
I also used this opportunity to refine the section and button lables based on the participants’ feedback and finalise the information architecture of the app.
Explore the clickable Figma prototype I created below:
Execute Phase
During this phase, I concentrated on the broader perspective of my solution’s potential for commercialisation in the consumer market. To explore potential business strategies, as well as to gauge the estimated costs and sales price of my product, I developed a Lean Canvas business case and a comprehensive Bill of Materials (BOM).
I also engaged with the Kildare Local Enterprise Office to present my concept to an Economic Development Officer and his colleague, with the aim of gaining external validation of my product’s feasibility as a profitable solution. You can read the validation report they wrote based on my presentation.
Furthermore, I submitted my product to the Universal Design Grand Challenge run by the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, and won the Judges’ Choice Award in the Technology category, after presenting my project to the judges and live audience on the 26th October 2023.
