Fight the Flight App

Student Project - Thesis

UI/UX - Research - Branding

The Brief: Coming out of the COVID19 pandemic there has been an increase in college and university students being diagnosed or managing new mental health challenges. The basis for this project was to develop a research based solution that would help college and university students manage the challenges they are facing with mental health in order for them to have continued educational success.

The Design: A mobile app is a great way to offer aid to someone without anyone else having to know they are struggling. Fight the Flight’s vibrancy was used in an effort to deffer away from traditional therapeutic aids and bring life to something that can be quite difficult to tackle. Th application is simple and intuitive so that anyone can use it no matter their state of mind.

The Deliverables: Mobile Application

Fight the Flight was an idea born out of necessity.

After spending two years of college completely online I found myself having difficulty integrating into the school environment. I was having panic attacks on campus and feeling like I need some kind of support. Fight the Flight wasn’t planned it showed itself to me through my own experiences.

Research

Competitor Audit

The research process for the mobile app began by downloading the top three apps in the iTunes store under the therapeutic help/ anxiety help category. I then used the apps myself to understand the experience they offered. Discovering where there were pain points that I could avoid when developing the Fight the Flight app.

Personas & User Journeys

Using the chosen demographic for Fight the Flight I created personas and user journey's to understand the users Fight the Flight is catering to. Identifying how the user would discover a need for the app up to the end goal of repetitive use.

Branding

Brand Development

Change How We See Mental Health. Fight the Flight aims to bring a different look to mental health tools. Bright and vibrant colours help to show we don't have to be afraid of our anxiety, depression or whatever else ails us. We can be proud of our struggles and take charge of them by talking about it rather than hiding it.

It was important to me to create something that would be beneficial to a young person’s mental health that did not feel patronizing or unrelatable. The iconography and colour palette I chose brings vibrancy and playfulness to an otherwise overwhelming topic.

Brand Promise

Be Accessible. There are many ways to help your mental health but often times there is a significant costs associated with them. Fight the Flight maintains the promise of being affordable and accessible to anyone who needs it.

Grow As People Grow. People and their feelings are fluid. As the cultural atmosphere changes, so do people's major, minor and minuscule mental health challenges. Fight the Flight ensures that the brand stays current and sensitive to what all people are going through to be able to help people successfully and stay relevant.

Application

Mobile App

The final Fight the Flight product is a functional prototype that embodies the Fight the Flight brand and is a safe space for students to go if they need time and space away from their peers to deal with their mental health needs.

The app includes therapeutic techniques as well as distraction games to bring you out of the fight or flight mind state and back down to reality. There is even a chat bot that will respond and chat with the user in real time.

If the user feels like there is absolutely no way out of their state there is an emergency function that helps them contact their pre-designated emergency contact, or 911.