#Shipped | #Web | #Full-Stack Development

Pawse

Pawse is an interactive web application designed to encourage Gen Z to be more proactive about their mental health and wellness. Pawse combines fun and engaging features and personalized wellness activities to help users both track and improve their wellbeing in a way that feels supportive and rewarding.

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Full Case Study

Role

Project Manager, Full-stack Developer, Lead Designer

team

3 Developers (including myself) 3 Designers (including myself)

timeline

February - May 2024 (16 weeks)

industry

B2C

WHAT I DID

THE BRIEF

∙ LITERATURE REVIEW
∙ USER SURVEYS
∙ USER INTERVIEWS
∙ COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
∙ USER PERSONA DEVELOPMENT
∙ WIREFRAMES AND PROTOTYPE
∙ USER TESTING
∙ DESIGN SYSTEM AND BRANDING
∙ FULL-STACK SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
∙ A/B TESTING

When my team began working on Pawse, our goal was to create an app that would make mental wellness both accessible and engaging for Gen Z. With mental health challenges rising among younger generations, we saw an opportunity to design a product that could help people prioritize their well-being in a fun and meaningful way. After conducting thorough research, including user surveys and literature review, we identified that Gen Z not only struggles with mental health but also craves interactive and rewarding experiences that keep them engaged and interested. This insight led to the development of Pawse—a mental wellness app that combines gamification with the comfort of caring for a virtual pet.

Pawse is designed to make mental wellness feel like a fun, interactive experience. Users earn coins by completing wellness activities, such as a mood check in and an interactive diary, which they can spend on gifts for their virtual pet. The app’s playful design, with colorful visuals and gamified elements, helps make mental wellness a part of their daily routine.

Reflecting on the product journey, Pawse has successfully created a space where Gen Z can prioritize their mental wellness in an enjoyable way. The positive feedback from users shows that combining fun elements with evidence-based wellness tools can lead to long-term engagement and satisfaction. This project is a reminder of how design, when approached thoughtfully and holistically, can create solutions that not only address user needs but also promote meaningful change in the way people interact with themselves and their health.

design PROCESS

TOOLS USED

Figma

P

Procreate

Adobe Illustrator

Miro

HTML

CSS

Bootstrap

Node.js

JavaScript

React

RESEARCH

PROBLEM CONTEXT

Gen Z is twice as likely to battle depression and feelings of hopelessness than those over 26.

COMPETITORS

RESEARCH insights

We conducted thorough literature review, user surveys, and market research to gain insight into Gen Z's unique mental health challenges and pain points. This allowed us to develop a solid understanding of their needs and frustrations and theorize a solution to address these issues effectively.

RESEARCH conclusion

Our research highlights the profound mental health challenges Gen Z faces, highlighting the urgency for accessible, engaging, and relevant solutions to support their wellbeing.

Traditional mental health tools, often highly clinical and inaccessible, feel disconnected or unappealing to this generation.

user personas

Based on our research and the data collected, Sophia and Annie were created to further understand and empathize with our users.

the challenge

How might Gen Z individuals cultivate healthy habits through daily use of wellness tools so that they can develop positive attitudes within their daily lives?

wireframes

final prototypE

iteration

After completing our preliminary round of development, we decided to make several changes based on both user testing results from our high-fidelity prototype and insights we gained during the development phase. Development is a different process than design, and things that appeared great in concept can sometimes fall short in execution. Additionally, as we took a step back and evaluated our app as a whole after development, we identified aspects that, although they seemed right during the design phase, no longer aligned with our vision or felt like a good fit for the user experience. This led to further refinements, explained below, to ensure that our app resonated better with our users and was what we had envisioned.

design language

Our design language is the visual identity that defines our app’s personality and sets the tone for how users interact with it. Such key visual elements and decisions shape the overall vibe and mood of our app.