UpBeing
Guiding emotional well-being
Have you ever wondered why it’s sometimes hard to understand your own feelings? Imagine having a personal emotional assistant who can help you uncover exactly why you feel the way you do.
UpBeing is a B2C SaaS company that leverages AI to help you gain a deeper understanding of your emotions and mood by revealing hidden patterns through data.
I had the privilege to spend my summer in 2023 working as a product design intern at UpBeing, heavily contributing in new feature role out, as well as improving the overall user experience of the product.
Context
UpBeing provides insights into the user's mood based on daily mood check-ins and passive data. When I joined the team, we were gearing up to introduce an exciting new feature that allowed users to share their moods with loved ones, creating a multiplayer experience. My primary responsibilities included contributing to the new feature rollout and enhancing key aspects of the app, such as the onboarding process and the mood check-in feature.
We aim to show progress toward achieving product-market fit by introducing the new "Your Orbit" feature, which is designed to meet our objective:
active users of
daily check-ins of
Project Brief
In line with our OKRs, we aim to introduce the "Your Orbit" social feature, an MVP tailored to amplify interactions amongst UpBeing users. Imagine being able to turn to your loved ones for emotional support during tough times. Our vision is to create a space where you can do exactly that, connect deeply, share support, and foster genuine understanding with those who matter most.
Your Orbit empowers you to effortlessly share your mood and emotions with your loved ones, fostering mutual support and nurturing deeper connections.
Let your loved ones know how you're feeling, whether you're seeking emotional support or just need some time for self-reflection.
Addressing the user's concern from research, we ensure that expressing their mood won't overly worry others about them.
Explore shared insights with your loved one, derived from each other's mood and passive data using AI.
Keep your loved ones updated on how you’re doing by completing the mood check-in, and gain access to view their current mood.
An effort to increase check-in counts as per our business goal by incentivizing users to complete their check-ins in order to view each other's moods, fostering a supportive community.
Launch & Impact
Upon finalizing the design, UpBeing launched on both iOS and Android, consistently receiving 5-star reviews. My role as a product designer was crucial in establishing a design system that designers seamlessly adopted, and in introducing a new user experience projected to increase the user base by at least 25%.
✔ Raised WCAG 2.1 AA colour contrast compliance to 96% on key design elements within the design system.
✔ Boosted communication efficiency for design handoff by implementing detailed interaction specifications and Figma variables.
✔ Successfully launched a native app on both App store and Google Play store.
Design Process
My initial task was to assess whether our new concept could genuinely benefit users and what they would anticipate from this experience. To achieve this, I conducted concept testing with both our beta users and previous research participants to gain insights into the idea of mood sharing from the user’s perspective.
Many participants conveyed challenges in consistently checking on loved ones especially when they’re physically distant, while the majority of participants responded positively to our new concept. Encouraged by these positive signals and guided by key insights, we decided to go forward with the concept.
We crafted user stories to create wireframes after synthesizing research data, primarily derived from concept testing. My specific role centered around designing the invitation flow and the user's main profile within the Your Orbit page.
Close collaboration with the developers and data scientists was required to make informed design decisions. Our team collaborated with the development team to conduct a thorough UX reviews before finalizing the designs. From this, we made adjustments to the layout in the profile page for usability, as well as iterating on the CTA placement to meet our goal of increasing traffic to complete mood check-ins.
I contributed in the creation and organization of the UpBeing design system within Figma throughout the design process. I meticulously ensured the alignment of brand visuals and language while prioritizing WCAG guideline for accessible design. Once the designs were set, I used the design system to finalize high fidelity design and prototype the interactions.
What I learned
Communicating and collaborating with a cross-functional team is crucial. Whenever I asked for advice from other teams, I learned more about the system and the requirements, which helped to inform my design decision. This process not only allowed us to deliver results promptly but also bolstered the trust of the entire team in the design team's capabilities.
I learned the importance of having a clear understanding of the project objective and OKR when starting a project. Keeping these at the forefront throughout the process was crucial for successful outcomes. They served as our guiding principles, ensuring our design decisions aligned with and fulfilled the business goals.
Next steps
The project progressed swiftly thanks to our collaborative team. While my internship concluded after completing the final design, if I was able to continue these would be my next steps:
• Perform unmoderated usability testing to maintain project progress within a tight deadline, focusing primarily on evaluating the invitation flow and the interaction of sending signals to others.
• Design iteration using insights from usability testing, which involves either modifying the design or revisiting research to identify potential improvement areas.
