For those who have depression, life can be extremely difficult. For those who have to watch their loved ones go through it, life can be just as hard.
There are very few, if any, resources for mentally healthy individuals to learn how to help others suffering with depression. Oftentimes, they can feel helpless or even aggravated.
ALTRÜ is a conceptual app that won first place at the Big Radical / XD Depression Hack-a-thon in London, England (June 2017).
The app is designed to help people help others. It is a social application that encourages interaction with users who are less socially active. The app analyzes the activity patterns of the user and notifies others to give their loved ones a "nudge" when their patterns become irregular.
[ Below are slides from the product launch proposal. ]
ALTRÜ was presented to a panel of mental health professionals and investors as a means to provide the public with useful information and practices that they could use to combat the cycle of depression in a loved one or peer.
As part of the Hack-a-thon, our team created a set of personas to develop a user-friendly interface and user experience within the app.
Corina is a university student who suffers from depression.
Peter is a classmate and friend.
Peter suspects that Corina is depressed, but does not know what to do about it.
Janice is another friend of Corina's, but is unaware of her depression.
Peter is a classmate and friend.
Peter suspects that Corina is depressed, but does not know what to do about it.
Janice is another friend of Corina's, but is unaware of her depression.
We wanted to create an app that would help Peter and Janice interact with Corina in a way that is appropriate and helpful for Corina in her current state of mind.
ALTRÜ is derived from the word altruism, which is the basis of the app's concept. The name also suggests all and true, which is the goal of the product: to give all people the benefits of true human interaction.
(The U was given the umlaut for two purposes: to stand alone as a phonetic "u" and to appear as if smiling.)
The app promotes wellness and loving human interaction, which we emphasized in our concept board, clickable prototype, launch proposal, and promotions proposal.
Check out our clickable prototype.
Team members
Seth Campbell, Andréa DeLisle, Cecilia Ferraro, Luke Johnson, Christina Lai, Laura Nevo, Hayley Norman, Laura Ramoškaitė
Seth Campbell, Andréa DeLisle, Cecilia Ferraro, Luke Johnson, Christina Lai, Laura Nevo, Hayley Norman, Laura Ramoškaitė
