Tandem is a mental health app designed with bipolar disorder in mind. Many who are diagnosed don't know what to do next, feel overwhelmed by the stigma, or struggle to create a routine that will help them cope. This android app is made to work alongside those with bipolar disorder by practicing self awareness and working with a support system, whether that's the app or the friends and family you can connect with through the app.
The video above goes through a couple of the app's functions. Many aspects of it encourage users to figure out how the disorder effects them by keeping track of their daily life. Through consistent use of tandem, users will be able to identify their baseline and find what sorts of things lead them away from it.
I would like to develop this app further to deepen the linking function and an app mode more specifically designed for someone trying to help someone else with bipolar disorder.
Research into bipolar disorder shows that there is no genetic disposition based on gender so the color scheme refrains from leaning towards one gender over the other. On the other hand, schemes with subdued colors and one pop were explored to keep the app from feeling too glazed over and overly calming. This is because it's meant to be used daily and long term so I thought the palette should feel more casual and somewhat exciting rather than acting like it's for anxiety reduction. Basically trying to avoid reminding the user over and over that they're using an app to help manage their mental disorder.
The intended primary user of this app would be someone with bipolar disorder. It can be someone with any of the three types and at varying stages of their mental health journey. The second type of user would be a "supporter" (that's what I'm calling them so far) which is someone who is using tandem to better be there for a person they care about with a diagnosis. My long term goal for this app is to conceptualize a function that allows a supporter to be able to create their account in order to keep track of another person's information (in the case that they aren't ready to do it themselves/are in denial of their diagnosis which is common in bipolar type 1) and then later be able to link with that person and transfer their history of information for continual reference. This further development of the social aspect of the app (stressing that supporters are close friends and family that the person really trusts) will be a really big part of what makes it more effective and sets it apart.
The initial thumbnails were all about figuring out what kind of information should be trackable to be most effective. Pretty early on it became clear that mood trackers, medication trackers, and symptoms would be important. This is also when the "social" functions of the app were being explored.
With paper prototypes as reference, the wireframes started getting more detailed. Soon the colors schemes and typefaces decided upon earlier were implemented with tweaks along the way. While I have way more functions I want to add, a core part of tandem is created and will serve as a good baseline as it continues to be developed.
Above are the primary assets used repeatedly throughout tandem.
