Lets talk to some people! 🗣️
I regularly volunteered at the Good Shepard Soup Kitchen in my city, this gave me the opportunity to interview the shelters regular users. I interviewed candidates who were eager to share their personal journeys with addiction.
The set of questions were proposed to try and induce the most data:
1. What challenges did you face in early stages of addiction recovery? How did you overcome them?
2. Did you find resources and support for your recovery? What was helpful or unhelpful?
3. What are resources that you found useful in overcoming substance abuse?
4. What would you like to see in an app that aims to support your addiction recovery?
5. What are some of the challenges early stage recovery patients face in using technology?
5. What should be in an app for those unprepared for long-term treatment?
6. How important is community support in the addiction recovery journey?
I learned that 7 out of the 8 people interviewed found that apps for recovery were to complex.
Gathering Insights from Interviews. 🗃
Based on my interviews, I focused on commonly expressed sentiments in order to get to the root of the problem.
There were five main pain points:
Committing to programs can be challenging for individuals in the early stages of recovery
Programs felt to complex and hard to follow - lead to relapses
People heavily rely on sponsors - having a accessible way to fight triggers is important
People feel overwhelmed daily and tend to forget responsibilities and priorities
People were looking for a supportive community in their recovery journey but struggled to find one
Let's get to building. 🏗️
The product will focus on filling a gap in the addiction recovery market. The app targets users starting addiction recovery programs and may not have the same level of mental capacity to finish complex programs/tools. These users require a product that is super simple and helps them avoid triggers to stay sober.
Based on the research, I made a final list of the following features that would be included in the product:
- Daily Check in's
- Sobriety Tracking
- Community Outreach
- Emergency SOS - a way to work through triggers and avoid relapse
- Reminders - Take medication, call sponsors etc.
- Estimated Savings from Sobriety
Let's get to building. 🏗️
I Started by defining the visual treatment — my goal was to create a fun and lively design that was also highly usable. Although the product tackles a serious issue like sobriety, its features were designed to simplify complicated tools.
To achieve this, I opted for a clean, simple, and playful look. The buttons and overall visual elements were made big and easy to understand at first glance.
A simple & accessible product is key. 🔑
The following features are designated to addresses the problems discovered within my interviews.
A simple and easy-to-use dashboard.
- Track progress and see how far you've come
- Stay motivated by earning rewards for reaching time based milestones
- Reminder feature ensures important
tasks are not forgotten
Work through triggers and avoid relapse.
- Emergency button acts as a sponsor,
reach out for support anytime, anywhere
- A series of questions and prompts meant
to de-escalate triggers
Tracking features that keep
you accountable.
- Easily see how much money you've saved since your sobriety journey began
- Log and track your emotional status based on events and activities
- Identify triggers and patterns that can potentially lead to relapse
Belong to a Community.
- Connect with like-minded people going through similar issues
- Get support and offer support to others
- Anonymous chat and digital features allow free and open chats without the fear of bias
