Designing a guided journal app to help users build conflict resolution skills
UX/UI Designer
Researcher
Roles
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
End to end design
Scope
5 weeks
Timeline
The gap in education
A decreased emphasis on social-emotional learning in the classroom has left students and teachers struggling when it comes to working on behavioral skills.
What I experienced as an educator and what I continue to hear from people are educators, is that curriculum (sans social-emotional learning) is being pushed as a priority. Thus there is no time to address disruptive behavior in class.
Resolve aims to address that gap, and provide students with an easy to access resource that they can use from school to adulthood that will help them build essential conflict resolution skills.
0.1
Research
I researched public schools’ concerns with student behavior, and what areas schools said that they needed the most support. I wanted to understand why there was a gap between the students’ needs and what the school was able to provide.
“70%
of public schools reported needing more training on supporting students’ socio-emotional development” (National Center for Education Statistics 2022)
“79%
of teachers say their students are developmentally behind in self-regulation and relationship building” (Education Advisory Board 2023)
“84%
of public schools reported needing more support for student and/or staff mental health” (National Center for Education Statistics 2022)
How do we know that guided journaling and learning conflict resolution are major pieces of the puzzle?
I focused on what methods teachers currently encourage students to use when resolving conflict, and how conflicts affect students.
Interviews
What issues do you notice students having when they work on relationships?
“They just end friendships rather than working things out.”
“Students need to know to learn to negotiate, compromise, and collaborate. I notice a lot of adults also struggle with this.”
How do you encourage healthy self-reflection in students?
“Even if the problems or conflicts seem minor, for many students it is the most important thing at that point in time. Guided self reflection works very well for students in this age range (middle school).”
“Ask open-ended, non-judgmental questions.”
“It’s important to help students verbalize how they feel.”
Industry Insights
Since digital mental health and journaling is such a large and well-researched market, I looked at how some of the top choices for guided journaling addressed intentionality, showing user progress, and receiving user feedback.
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How We Feel uses straightforward questions, simple features, and definitions of emotions to help users be honest with themselves and work through difficult emotions.
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Reflectly allows users to view statistics of past moods, positive and negative days. AI sorts and analyzes and highlights what makes users happy, what makes them upset, and top activities.
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Clearful allows users to send feedback through regular polls and a quick feedback button.
0.2
Project Goals
Build conflict resolution skills
Psychology based methods tailored for all ages
Encourage self-reflection
Give users a constructive outlet after an issue
Measure growth
Help people visualize their development
0.3
How the Journal’s Layout Builds Social-Emotional Intelligence
I built a simple site structure to minimize the learning curve and to prevent users from becoming distracted from the main goal of the app: conflict resolution.
The user’s journalling path is linear, and while no questions are required, the questions build on themselves to allow the user to process their emotions in a conflict.
0.4
Developing the Brand
I used lighter colors to keep the atmosphere of the journals calm and amiable. I decided to keep the UI as simple as possible to help users stay focused, while preserving the accessibility of the site by keeping text at a high contrast.
I decided to use the word “Resolve” as the logo, since this app is about finding solutions. I chose a lightbulb to keep the app feeling positive, and to represent the brainstorming behind resolutions.
0.5
Makeover
Users had problems understanding different buttons’ functions, specifically the navigation and the “start writing” button.
Feedback
I labeled all the buttons, only highlighted those that are selected and the “start writing” button.
Solution
Feedback
Being able to choose which part of the process to begin at confused users
Solution
I removed the selection ability in the journal process overview.
Feedback
The progress bar wasn’t recognizable as a progress bar, and it was suggested that tips or instructions be added for clarity.
Solution
I simplified the progress bar, added a “tips” link to connect to the resources, and to prompt conversations.
Users said it would be helpful to have a way to reflect after trying to implement a solution.
Feedback
I included a follow up questionnaire to allow people to reflect on whether a solution worked.
Solution
Key Features
Final Look
There are tips throughout the journal linked to tools to make it easier for users to incorporate different conflict resolution skills.
1. Tips
Users have the option to record their thoughts instead of typing them out. They can be viewed in the past entries tab.
2. Voice Recording
An emotions meter helps users identify their emotions, especially by expanding on what those emotions might look like.
3. Emotions Meter
Several questions are marked as “conversation starters” to encourage users to interact with others.
4. Conversation Starter
Users can view their chronologically sorted past entries, as well as gain a sense of accomplishment as they see their garden grow. Each plant represents a past entry, and can be selected to view the details of that entry.
5. Past Entries
RESOLVE features a brief follow up questionnaire to record whether or not the users’ initial solution worked, and reflect on how its implementation went. The previous solution is recorded as well, so users can reference it as they move through the follow up. Additionally there is a voice recording feature so users can easily record their notes instead of typing them out.
6. Follow Up Questions
0.6
Reflection
This project was my first time developing a site end to end. The most challenging part, and what made me learn the most was deciding how to make the site accessible to a wide range of ages, as well as pruning and synthesizing information on a complex matter between multiple people into a succinct exercise that an individual can complete.
I really enjoyed experimenting with different organizational structures based on my research. Potential features that I would be interested in developing are a free-writing option, or a sharing cability.