Jo Ionescu
UX/UI Designer
AHADI
rebranding and redesigning the mental health mobile app
Who is AHADI?
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AHADI is a mental health app designed to connect individuals with mental health experts and provide them with self-help tools to improve their mental well-being. The app targets people between the ages of 18 and 35, aiming to offer a comprehensive platform for mental health support, therapy sessions, journaling, community interactions, and more.
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FACT: AHADI in Swahili means "with much promise"
Discovering AHADI - the screening
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After the initial talk video talk with the client, I am gathering all the information needed for an initial assessment under a Google doc and sharing it along with more in-depth questions related to their audience, what worked or not with the previous app, requested any user feedback that they might have had previously, what they link or not in the already existing app and so on.
This document is my foundation from where I start formulating my initial hypothesis that I will later confirm or not through my user surveys and user personas.
Initial pain points communicated by the AHADI team
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Low user engagement:
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Despite having over 1000 downloads, the app only has 100-200 active users. The primary issue is the lack of features or elements that motivate users to engage consistently with the app's functionalities, resulting in a dull user experience.
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Inadequate motivation:
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Users are not sufficiently motivated to consistently engage with the app, which negatively impacts user retention and satisfaction.
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Needs and requirements of the AHADI team
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Purpose:
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The app aims to connect individuals with mental health experts and provide self-help tools to improve their mental well-being.
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Target audience:
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People between the ages of 18 and 35.
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Essential features and functionalities:
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Helpline: provide immediate assistance and support.
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Therapy: facilitate therapy sessions with mental health professionals.
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Journal: enable users to document their thoughts, emotions, and reflections.
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Community: create a platform for user interaction and support.
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Notifications: keep users informed about important updates and reminders.
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Ability to comment and like posts: enhance engagement within the community features.
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User registration and authentication: ensure secure access and personalized experience.
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Features and functionalities to keep:
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Helpline, therapy, journal, and community.
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Features and functionalities to improve:
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Community feature: add support groups to conduct live sessions led by psychotherapists for users with similar mental health issues.
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Journal: enhance journaling capabilities for better user engagement.
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Therapy: improve therapy session management and user experience.
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Notifications: optimize notifications to be more timely and relevant.
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Features and functionalities to remove:
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Replace clubs in the community feature with support groups for more targeted and effective interaction.
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User experience vision:
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Ensure the app is easy to find and use, provide timely help, and maintain a high-quality experience of service.
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Timeline:
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Project completion is aimed at the end of June but could be done earlier if possible.
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Pain Points
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Low user engagement.
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Lack of motivation for consistent use.
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Dull user experience.​
This is how I summarized everything and used it in the next coming steps
Needs
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Connect users with mental health experts.
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Equip users with self-help tools.
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Enhance user engagement through improved features.
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Provide a supportive community environment.
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Ensure easy and secure user experience.
The Team
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My role: UX/UI designer
Graphic designer: Hanna Adamczyk
Developer: Shadrack Abely
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Total project duration: 4 months
Initial AHADI mobile app before redesigning:
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Besides the fact that we know from the client that it lacks functionality and features, we can observe from the visual point of view that :
- it lacks consistency in the color palette
- it doesn't have defined a brand book nor a color guide that would help in future design
- the bottom navigation bar lacks features that are meant to guide the user and help him navigate through the app
User survey (challenge the hypothesis), results, and key pain points identified:
Survey Questions
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How often do you use the AHADI app?
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Daily
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Weekly
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Monthly
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Rarely
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Never
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How easy is it for you to navigate the AHADI app?
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Very easy
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Easy
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Neutral
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Difficult
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Very difficult
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Do you find the app's design intuitive and user-friendly?
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Strongly agree
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Agree
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Neutral
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Disagree
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Strongly disagree
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Have you ever felt lost or confused while using the app?
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Never
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Rarely
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Sometimes
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Often
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Always
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What do you think about the color scheme of the AHADI app?
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Very appealing
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Appealing
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Neutral
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Distracting
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Very distracting
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Which features do you find the most challenging to use?
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Helpline
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Therapy Sessions
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Journal
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Community
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Notifications
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Others (please specify)
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What improvements would you suggest for the AHADI app to enhance your experience?
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Improve navigation
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Simplify design
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Enhance color scheme
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Add more engaging features
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Improve content quality
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Others (please specify)​​
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Survey Results Analysis
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Frequency of Use:
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Daily: 10%
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Weekly: 20%
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Monthly: 30%
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Rarely: 25%
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Never: 15%
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Ease of Navigation:
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Very easy: 5%
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Easy: 15%
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Neutral: 25%
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Difficult: 35%
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Very difficult: 20%
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Design Intuitiveness:
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Strongly agree: 10%
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Agree: 20%
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Neutral: 30%
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Disagree: 25%
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Strongly disagree: 15%
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Feeling Lost or Confused:
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Never: 5%
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Rarely: 10%
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Sometimes: 30%
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Often: 35%
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Always: 20%
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Opinion on Color Scheme:
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Very appealing: 5%
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Appealing: 15%
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Neutral: 25%
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Distracting: 35%
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Very distracting: 20%
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Challenging Features:
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Helpline: 10%
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Therapy Sessions: 20%
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Journal: 30%
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Community: 25%
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Notifications: 15%
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Others: 0%
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Suggested Improvements:
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Improve navigation: 40%
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Simplify design: 30%
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Enhance color scheme: 20%
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Add more engaging features: 5%
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Improve content quality: 5%
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Others: 0%​
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Survey Respondents Overview
Total Number of Respondents
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Number of Users: 35
Geographic Location
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Location: The survey was sent only in Tanzania.
Age Distribution of Respondents
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18-24 years: 40% (14 respondents)
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25-30 years: 35% (12 respondents)
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31-35 years: 25% (9 respondents)
Summary
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Total Respondents: 35 users
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Location: Tanzania
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Age Distribution:
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18-24 years: 14 respondents (40%)
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25-30 years: 12 respondents (35%)
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31-35 years: 9 respondents (25%)
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Key pain points identified
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Navigation: users find it difficult to navigate the app.
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Design intuitiveness: the app design is not intuitive and user-friendly.
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Color scheme: the app’s color scheme is too distracting.
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Feature complexity: specific features, particularly the Journal and Community sections, are challenging to use.
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User engagement: the app lacks engaging features to motivate consistent use.
User personas, user stories, acceptance criteria
User stories:
As a therapist, I want to manage my availability and schedule sessions easily so that I can efficiently organize my time and appointments.
User stories:
As a therapist, I want to have an intuitive dashboard to view and manage my appointments and client information so that I can provide the best care possible.
Acceptance criteria:
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The app should provide a user-friendly interface for updating availability and scheduling.

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Integration with cal.com should allow seamless management of therapy sessions.
Acceptance criteria:
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The app should include a dashboard that displays upcoming appointments and client details.

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Therapists should be able to view, edit, and manage appointment details easily.
User stories:
As a user, I want to receive daily mental health tips so that I can stay motivated and improve my mental well-being.
User stories:
As a user, I want to participate in support groups so that I can connect with others and share my experiences.
Acceptance criteria:
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The app should send daily notifications with mental health tips.

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Users should have the option to customize the type of tips they receive.
Acceptance criteria:
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The community section should facilitate interactions through posts, comments, and likes.

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The app should include moderation tools to ensure a safe and supportive environment.
User stories:
As a user, I want to easily find stress management resources so that I can cope with the demands of parenting
User stories:
As a user, I want to connect with other mothers for support so that I can share experiences and advice.
Acceptance criteria:
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The app should have a dedicated section for stress management resources.
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Resources should be categorized and searchable by keywords related to parenting and stress.
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The section should include articles, videos, and audio guides specifically tailored for parents.
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The interface should be user-friendly and not overwhelming, with a calming color scheme.
Acceptance criteria:
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The app should have a community section with groups specifically for mothers.
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Users should be able to join and participate in discussions within these groups.
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The app should allow users to post questions, share experiences, and provide advice.
When I developed the user personas for the AHADI app, I used them as a foundation to map out a detailed user journey.
By understanding the specific needs, motivations, and pain points of the user persona, I could visualize how the users would interact with the app in real-life scenarios.
For example, Sarah, a busy mother of two, would likely need a straightforward, efficient process to book a therapy session, while Dr. Hassan, a therapist, would require easy access to manage appointments. These personas guided me in creating user journey maps that highlighted each step they would take within the app, ensuring the design addressed their unique needs and created a seamless experience.
During my design process, I am often using pencil and paper.
Those are my first-to-go design tools, research tools, and note-taking tools.
Click on the picture for a more readable experience!
These pain points and opportunities will guide the design and development process to address the specific needs of each user persona, aiming to improve overall user satisfaction and engagement with the AHADI app.
Now that I have all the data in place, I can create a minimal user flow through low-fidelity wireframes.
What I know so far is that the main user flow is for the user to go through the onboarding screens - register/log in - go to the dashboard - click on the book a therapy tab - research for the right therapist - book the therapist for a specific date, time and length of the session - pay for the session - fill in the pre-questionnaire - submit questionnaire - receive confirmation of the booking.
The only element that was still raising question marks was the dashboard. What will the dashboard look like? In order to be able to have a quick exploration of ideas, I have used crazy 8s technique. The goal of the Crazy 8s sketch was to determine the most functional layout of the dashboard. Once created, I had a meeting with my client and established the most important features found in the 8 dashboard versions sketched.
After a Zoom meeting with the client and brainstorming over the important features found in each iteration, we decided the following:
- the dashboard should have big and bold buttons but, at the same time, should be simple and intuitive
- more intuitive interaction will be shown through a bottom navigation bar (not a burger menu). The navigation bar should have icons and text label
- a place on the dashboard where the user can see the reminders/daily gratitude
- a bottom navigation bar should have:
- home
- settings
- notifications
- profile
- good to have a quick access button straight to the booking flow
- visible notification bell
Based on the feedback that I got from the client and our brainstorming, I created the dashboard wireframe.
I took into consideration the needs and motivations of the client, the requests, and the ideas during our brainstorming and functionality.
With the dashboard created, I will now design wireframes for a whole user flow, from the register/log in to the confirmation of booking a therapist.
This will be a successful user flow.
While working on the app, I checked the artboards against user attention insights, and color contrast. This was necessary to understand. if there was need of more iteration regarding accessibility.
Attention Insight - light mode
Attention Insight - dark mode
Color Contrast Checker
The project had multiple user flows but also therapists flows. To keep me accountable and to keep the team updated on the design progress, I used Jira.
In addition to the multiple wireframes that the mobile app required, the Ahadi app was upgraded with a web admin dashboard, which is necessary for the admin to manage the mobile app.
Mobile App
Web Admin Dashboard
Working on the illustrations of the app, was part of the collaboration with senior creative designer - Hanna Adamczyk.
The Admin Dashboard
Until now, the Ahadi app has been in beta version, and it is gathering feedback from its users.
Design with Purpose - A successful integration
The team behind Ahadi has an ambitious plan. With a well-designed app that enables therapists to create accounts, log in, and conduct online sessions with their clients, a platform promoting stigma-free mental health support, Ahadi successfully established a collaboration with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health. It is the only app in Tanzania serving this purpose and is backed by the Ministry of Health.
Furthermore, Ahadi collaborates with clinics, extends its reach to underserved communities, and organizes workshops to educate, teach, and inspire.
This year, I am proud to share that Ahadi was a finalist in the EUTECH SDG Awards (SDG 3 - Mental Health and Well-Being).
