HEALING HANDS
Watch Where You Put Your Hands
PROJECT INFORMATION
Client: Independent Project
Role: Lead Product Designer
Skills: Project Management, Story Telling and Presentation, Competitive Research & Analysis, User Survey, Interviews, & Tests, Information Architecture, Wire-framing & Prototyping,
Tools: Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Usability Hub, Optimal Workshop, Slack, Zoom, & Google Meet.
Duration: 5 months
But first, you have to understand what is Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Jin Shin Jyutsu (JSJ) is the “art of harmonizing the life energy in the body”. The JSJ teaching believes that your ailments, aches, and sickness are propagated from stuck or locked energy. Its practice focuses on unlocking those stuck energy and rebalancing your mind and body.
How do you do that? You need to know where to put your hands! And Jin Shin Jyutsu can help you with that.
WHAT’S THE CHALLENGE?
Simply Inconvenient.
There are many ways to help different ailments. But most people, even those who have taken JSJ seminars, cannot remember correct hand placements for different ailments. So typically, to seek for answers, you have to go to Jin Shin Jyutsu official website, or scour through JSJ books if you have them. Even this does not necessarily provide direct answers. If the goal is to attract more people to use this therapy, it has to be more accessible and easier to use everyday.
WHAT’S AVAILABLE?
Currently there is no direct competitors in Jin Shin Jyutsu (JSJ) app. There are two official JSJ websites (in English) but neither provides much self-help therapy information or logistical help for therapists and patients, and there is no app. So for competitive analysis, I analyzed similar therapy platforms like LUNA and OneStep.
Both LUNA and OneStep service platforms communicate their core messages well. They excel in creating platforms that remove potential pain points and friction for both patients and therapists. All important informations are UPFRONT, CONSOLIDATED, CURATED, and CONVENIENT.
With the Healing Hands app, I attempt to curate and consolidate all that information so they can be conveniently accessed anywhere, anytime from the palm of your hand.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Let’s meet Grace, Bill, and Grandma Maddie. These three user personas have different health goals and challenges but have similar motivations. They believe the solution to a better quality of life --for themselves and their loved ones-- is self-care and community, NOT more medication.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
The three main branches I will focus on are Self Help Therapy, Find Therapists, and Find Classes with additional branches like Community and Therapists’ & Teachers’ login for future development.
The target audiences are people who are already familiar with Jin Shin Jyutsu Therapy and are highly motivated to use it to maintain their health or heal with less medication.
PROTOTYPES & DESIGN ITERATIONS
The best way to tell a story about my design journey is by showing them. As I compiled my design iterations, I realized that thanks to user testings and peer review feedbacks, I was able to continue to improve the design.
MODERATED IN-PERSON USABILITY TEST
I conducted usability test with High-Fidelity Prototype V1.0. The participants were friends and family: ages ranging from 16 to 63 years old. Most of them are familiar with the JSJ therapy.
REFLECTION
As I was developing the Healing Hands app, there are three books that helped me to better my design: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, Hooked by Nir Eyal, and Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
These books help me think beyond the way one behaves and feels while using the product. They also help me think about the why behind the initial decision to use the product (trigger or nudge), the how (action and reward), and eventually the change in attitude (investment), the habit formation.
I am happy to report that the Healing Hands is in the “FACILITATOR” category according to the Hooked “Manipulation Matrix”.
Armed with this knowledge, I hope to continue to improve the healing hands app to change people’s attitudes toward unconventional therapy and give them alternative tools to help improve and maintain their health.
GOING FORWARD
The JSJ app has been in my mind for a quite a few years! I believe many can benefit by using a product like Healing hands. The next step I want to take is more habit testing and engage several JSJ professionals in my network to collaborate. I dream to have JSJ as part of conventional health care. If this sounds interesting to you, let’s collaborate!