The Anxiety Disorders Association of British Columbia (AnxietyBC) knew that thousands of BC teenagers with anxiety weren’t getting the help they needed. They turned to BSTRO for a smartphone app that met teens’ needs, plus a branding strategy to encourage its use.
Mental health professionals emphasize personalization and customization as principles that are especially helpful in any anxiety treatment tool. On their recommendation, we made in-depth personalization and customization a core component of the Mindshift app.
Because we were designing for teens, we needed the branding and logo to feel credible, inviting, and confident — with no gimmicks or trying-too-hard copy. That the smartphone icon itself be discrete was of critical importance: Teens look at each other’s phones, and no teen wants to have an app icon on their homescreen that screams: “I’m anxious and need help.”
Throughout the design and development process of the Mindshift app, we invited teens with anxiety into our office to conduct focus groups on every aspect of the app — from effectiveness and usability to general helpfulness. Feedback from real users allowed us to shape our app’s professionally recommended features in ways that would be well received by the young adults actually using them.
The Numbers
“This app changed my practice. I have found the Mindshift App is a wonderful resource for my patients. This app was developed initially for youth and young adults, however I have seen how valuable a resource it can be for all patient populations that can navigate a smartphone. ”
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