Igniting the Minds: Designing Sparks, a Social App for ADHD
Project Type
End-to-End Mobile App
Target Users
Adults with ADHD
My Role
Researcher, UX/UI Designer, Accessibility Specialist
Timeline: Q2 2024
Project Background
Imagine having a Ferrari engine for a brain with bicycle brakes. This daily reality for adults with ADHD can lead to a constant struggle between immense potential and frustrating limitations.
Despite affecting millions, ADHD is often misunderstood and underdiagnosed, leaving many feeling alone and unsupported. The hidden challenges can significantly impact personal and professional lives, leading to frustration, isolation, self-doubts, and missed opportunities.
“My ADHD tends to make me overthink a lot and jump to conclusions. So that’s very bad for me emotionally, but there are times when I feel like ADHD has made me slightly forgetful of things.”
“I might be producing the same as everyone else. But the process to get there feels either really convoluted, or it doesn’t look like anyone else is trying as hard. And I would always internalize that as I’m not very skilled or competent, or I’m lazy.”
To address these challenges, I designed a social media app to create a supportive and inclusive online community where individuals with ADHD could connect with like-minded peers, share experiences, and receive understanding and encouragement.
Research & Learn
Meeting the Minds: Understanding the Users
My research goals were to understand the lived experiences of people with ADHD, identify the most common challenges, and discover effective coping strategies used by people with ADHD.
I conducted user surveys and interviews with 18 participants, ages 18 to 72, who had diverse gender identities and were in various stages of diagnosis.
Key Insights
User research revealed 3 main areas that impacted them the most:
Productivity Impacts: participants expressed difficulty with task initiations and completions, time blindness or poor time management, organizational challenges, impulsivity, and focus.
Emotional Regulation: Participants struggled with managing their emotions, had self-doubts, and had low self-esteem.
Social Interaction: participants had difficulties with developing and maintaining relationships, feeling isolated and misunderstood, and masking ADHD symptoms.
While ADHD is often associated with productivity challenges regulating focus, attention, and organization management, various tools and strategies—often simple and low-tech —help people manage these challenges. These methods, such as visual timers and whiteboards, were preferred over digital tools to minimize distractions.
My research also revealed a less-discussed aspect that greatly impacted their lives: the need for a supportive community.
The Importance of a Strong Social Support
Social support from friends and family appears to be a protective factor for people with ADHD, helping them to maintain their mental well-being and manage their symptoms more effectively.
70% of interviewees relied on their loved ones for essential self-care and responsibilities.
60% of interviewees said that they feel more comfortable talking about their ADHD with people whom they know and trust and who understand what it's like to live with the condition.
40% of the interviewees grew up in families or communities where mental health was not taken seriously. This led them to hide their symptoms to fit in. As a result, they struggled with anxiety and depression before receiving a diagnosis.
60% of interviewees said that their ADHD makes it challenging for them to develop and maintain relationships due to fear of judgment, rejection, and emotional dysregulation.
“It’s exhausting to keep opening up to people at the end of the day when I think it’s easier to just exist in my own way. And people might see it as quirks, but it’s how I function.”
“I grew up around the culture of push mentality and did that a lot growing up. Even though I was pushing and grinding and became a hardworking person, those issues were still there.”
Defining the Problem
The Desire for a Supportive Community With Like-Minded Individuals
Many participants discovered their ADHD diagnosis later in life, often through social media or peer interactions. This newfound awareness provided relief and validation, helping them understand their past struggles and take steps toward effective management.
Participants preferred first-hand accounts of ADHD, finding them relatable and helpful. This led them to seek out supportive ADHD communities where they could connect with others who shared similar experiences. The advice and support within these communities were often perceived as more valuable than traditional approaches.
“I still have internal thoughts even now after being diagnosed, but I think it did help me come to terms—I was diagnosed with ADHD, this is like a real problem that I have, and other people also have.”
“It doesn’t feel hopeless. To put it short, it feels like there are different ways that I could do things. If something doesn’t work, I can look up different strategies for ADHD. It just feels like there are more options out there for me, knowing that I have the diagnosis.”
HOW MIGHT WE…
…create environments that support and amplify the unique strengths of people with ADHD?
Potential Users
Based on the research, I created a persona to demonstrate the complex life and diverse needs and motivations of someone with ADHD.
Prioritizing & Roadmapping
Feature Prioritization
My initial assumptions were that I would help people manage their daily lives and increase productivity. However, the many conversations showed the complexity of this condition and how everyone had a unique experience and unique way of managing symptoms. There were no one-size-fits-all solutions, especially when the majority intentionally avoided digital tools so they wouldn’t be distracted.
However, because an individual’s community can affect their overall well-being, I decided to focus on envisioning a supportive community for ADHD. Initial features include:
Community Groups: These groups are based on users' interests and help them connect with others who share similar interests.
Events: These events are based on users’ interests. Users can attend in person or online. These events are meant to include fun activities to connect and educational sessions so users can learn more about ADHD, treatments, and how to manage day-to-day life.
Future implementation
Resources: This feature is meant to educate users about ADHD, treatment, and how to manage symptoms. Users can interact with this feature independently, and I envisioned it being interactive and gamified to help them retain the information.
Competitor Analysis
While there’s currently no app dedicated specifically to adults with ADHD, I looked at different organizations that have similar goals with a specific audience. I did a competitor analysis with The Phoenix, Wunder, and Peanut who shared similar visions to those I had for this project.
Design Planning
Design Principles: Accessibility for users with ADHD
When it comes to accessibility designs, we often think of those with physical disabilities, such as blindness, deafness or hard of hearing, or mobility impairment. However, people with ADHD have cognitive differences. As mentioned earlier in the research, ADHD's core symptoms are:
Inattention: difficulties with attention to detail, focus, starting and completing tasks, and organization. Individuals also tend to be forgetful and easily distracted.
Impulsivity-Hyperactivity: these individuals are often restless, fidget, can’t sit still, tend to interrupt others, move from one thought or task to another without thinking or slowing down, and impatient
How does ADHD affect user experience?
Out of sight of mind brain:
Users with ADHD are familiar with “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” and need constant reminders to remember important details and events. Many rely on notifications and calendars to help them remember.
However, users are also easily distracted, and constant reminders and notifications might overwhelm them. Thus, it is important to give users control over notifications.
Attention, not distraction
Users with ADHD have trouble regulating their attention and can be easily overwhelmed by complex visual information. Therefore, minimalistic design must be prioritized, and only important and necessary information should be included.
To catch their attention, information hierarchy must be emphasized, such as bold text, large buttons, and standout actionable items.
Simplified language, instructions, and steps will keep their attention and allow them to complete necessary tasks.
Task Flows
Design Process
Find and Join a Community
Create a Post in Community
Find and Register for an Event
Design Iterations
Early feedbacks raised concerns regarding visual overload, complicated steps, and unnecessarily information. I made quick changes before moving on with usability tests.
Design & Development
Branding
Design & Development
UI Kit
Evaluation & Impact
Usability Test
A usability test was conducted with 6 adults with an official ADHD diagnosis to evaluate the overall usability of the social app targeted towards adults with ADHD, identify potential usability issues, and gather user feedback for improvement.
Key Insights
User-Friendly Interface: Participants generally found the app's interface clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate and expressed satisfaction with its overall design and functionality.
Effective Task Completion: Participants successfully completed the assigned tasks without significant difficulty.
UI Clarity: 50% of participants thought certain labels, buttons, and interactions were unclear or not noticeable, creating confusion.
Revisions
Based on users’ feedback from usability testing, improving visual communications, such as clearer icons, labels, and wording, was prioritized.
Evaluation & Impact
Final Designs
What's Next
Learning and Self-Management Features
Implement an interactive Learning feature: The learning feature was envisioned as part of the app to help ADHD adults learn more about the conditions independently. Users could read, listen, watch educational videos, and participate in activities to encourage engagement.
Goals and Habits: This feature would help adults with ADHD build goals and develop habits through interactive and gamified activities to support users in developing skills and habits that would work long-term.
Check-in and Reminders: This feature would allow users to set check-ins and reminders for tasks or habits at a frequency they like.