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“Safe-Gen”

Creators: Jacqueline, Shaila, Faria, Kevin and Zainab
High School Students from Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical High School
Type of Project:
  • Other
Themes of Project:
  • Mental Health
Screenshot 2023 05 17 9 10 31 AM

About this Project:

Our project will address youth mental health. Mental health has become a big problem among young adults. Throughout research we have found that many young adults from ages 14-21. And with this app we hope to help others and educate others on mental health.

Our idea is based on what we saw the youth struggling with most, mental health. Our group asked all around the school to get a better idea of what students were going through but also what their knowledge was regarding mental health. We then discovered that while several students were familiar with mental health, they weren’t prioritizing their mental health. In the beginning, we just wanted to create an app that was a safe space for those struggling with mental health. However, while that was still our goal, we realized how influential social media is today and decided that we can include some aspects of social media which includes interacting with others through messaging, calling, etc. We realized how important it is to connect with others going through mental health issues which is why we decided to make it an app dedicated to mental health while allowing others to interact with each other.

Our app design is very straightforward in which firstly when you open the app, you may log in and then you will have several different options to explore, all relating to mental health such as articles, podcasts, a journal which will be locked to express your feelings but also to give one privacy. As mentioned before, we wanted to add aspects of a social media app so there will be an option to interact and find other people going through similar things you may be going through.

Project Media

Images

Screenshot 2023 05 17 9 15 13 AM

Slides

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Community Feedback:

👾 
Fun
🚀 
Innovative
🌎 
Helpful
🌈 
Great Design
💡 
Makes Me Think

Feedback from the Judges:

Lauren Capelluto
👏 Software Engineer at AWS — Emoti-Con Judge
This team is tackling the all-important issue of mental health, and specifically targeting a younger audience. I really appreciate that you all paid special attention to the customer. Great job writing out detailed customer personas -- one targeted towards individuals suffering from depression, the other towards those suffering from anxiety. These two mental health issues seem to affect everyone to some degree these days. I also commend you all for going directly to the customer (your peers), listening to their points of view, and turning that into data to motivate the project.

If you were to take this project a step further, I would ask you to expand on how your app compares to other existing apps in this space, such as BetterHelp and Headspace. It seems to me that the social media aspect of it is the most unique piece. What would a customer journey look like that uses the chat with friends feature? Would you put protections in place to prevent cyber bullying? When would a customer chat with friends vs a mental health professional?

Again, great job team! The interface is beautiful, and I think the color scheme is really calming. I've recently heard that just imagining yourself in nature can impart some of the similar stress-reducing benefits of actually being in nature! So I appreciate the imagery of bamboo and pandas.

Holly Tienken
👏 Associate Professor, Art & Design at Kutztown University — Emoti-Con Judge
I am very impressed with the quality of your presentation, especially your work with defining the personas. With any good design project, you have to understand the audience needs in order for it to have a chance of success. I wonder if there is space to add in something like breathing techniques or some affirmations that the users can use as tools to help them get through even a few minutes of struggle? Userway has a great resource for checking color accessibility, as you head into the next phase it might be worth checking out! https://userway.org/contrast/?fg=000000&bg=ffffff
Great job!

Gigi Polo
👏 Part-time Associate Teaching Professor at Parsons, the School of Design — Emoti-Con Judge
Great presentation and app prototype. You have put together a very professional presentation that shows a strong creative process, grounded on extensive research. Understanding personaes as your in-focus actors (audience) gives your project both context and relevance in real world application. The app provides different ways of interaction, from knowledge sharing, to call to action, and building connection. ADA compliance is something that many app developers dont take into account, it was great to see you delve into color, typography, composition to make your app accessible. Im interested in your next steps; how would you assess the effectiveness of your app? What resources do you need to continue this work?

Feedback from the Community:

👏 a Middle School Student
very cool project

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