Jour Case Study
A Journey into being mindful of user control. Redesigning the free version of Jour journaling app to be easier to use and more appealing.
TEAM PROJECT: App conceptual redesign | Feature addition
MY ROLE: Lead researcher | Interaction designer
DURATION: 12 Days
PRoblem
Jour aims to be a mindfulness journaling app, with positive psychology practices for users in need. They want to increase the retention of free users to help them accomplish these goals. Users want more control over what they can do in the app and less stress around forced prompts and constant paywalls.
OUR SOLUTION
By giving more control to the users and clear organization, we believe users will be able to increase their mental wellness through a mindfulness journaling practice without feeling stressed in the process. This will allow the user to see that the free version is helpful to them and after time would increase their likelihood of paying for the subscription version.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
1. Jour is a mindfulness journaling app with a journaling feature, guided prompts for multiple moods and behaviors, and daily mood tracking.
2. All these features are aimed at increasing user mindfulness practices in hopes of providing useful tools for people that don’t necessarily have access to other forms of mental wellness and therapy.
3. Upon opening the app for the first time there was a lengthy on-boarding process Despite all the questions, it felt oddly impersonal. The final on-boarding screens are two dreaded layers of paywalls before finally reaching the home screen.
Current on-boarding process for Jour.
From the beginning, it felt as though the Jour app was less about free form journaling and more about guided prompts. From there clicking around was really the only way to really find out the different things within the app. As far as directing the user, beyond the guided journal prompts, it was confusing to navigate.
After speaking with the CEO of Jour, it became clear that the retention rate for users of the free version of Jour was low. Jour wanted free users to stay with the app long enough to find it valuable and hopefully move towards a healthy journaling routine as well as a subscription to the premium version of Jour.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis of Jour and other journaling apps
FINDINGS
Jour compared fairly well with other journaling apps, however most other apps offer a monthly calendar and analytics of user input.
Initial Usability Testing
We selected random users of different age groups and different journaling habits to test out the current Jour app. We wanted to see how users felt about the on-boarding process and see how intuitive it was for them to navigate through the app.
Locate and write a free form entry.
Log a dream in the appropriate journal prompt.
Log a mood for the day.
Locate where all of these things are saved.
FINDINGS FOR JOUR BUSINESS NEEDS
As expected users found on-boarding stressful which is the opposite of what a mental wellness app is trying to achieve.
Every user we tested felt the paywall was too excessive and said it would impact their decision to continue using the app.
FINDINGS FOR USER NEEDS
Users also had trouble finding the free form entry
Journalers felt this app wasn’t really made for them
Felt the focus was on mindful guidance prompts
Digital natives we tested found it easy to navigate after some time.
Non-digital natives were very confused and felt there was way too much complex clicking involved.
After writing an entry, users weren’t certain it was saved.
Users felt the saved entries would become an overwhelming chronological list if they were to journal often.
MINDFULNESS RESEARCH
Jour uses A Good Place Therapy Group for copy
Implements Positive Psychology
Mindfulness & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
GOAL: Recognize patterns in thoughts, feelings & behaviors. Become aware and present, feel in control, make positive changes.
PERSONA
PROCESS
REMOVE EXTENSIVE ON-BOARDING
Simplifies way Bella would enter the app
Gives Bella control over what she can do upon opening the app
Include personalized login to provide ownership over entries
2. REORGANIZE HOME SCREEN
Allows Bella to access free form journal
Guided journal prompts remain important
Give Bella control over what she does upon entering
More clarity in what the app provides
Current app home capabilities
Our solution home capabilities
Process in finding a home screen solution
3. REMOVING EXCESSIVE PAYWALLS
Makes the paradox of choice less visible
Bella’s limited finances won’t get in the way of her mental wellbeing
Less frustrated clicking
4. ADDING BLOCK CALENDAR FEATURE
Bella can see her entries organized by day and refer back
Reduces feeling overwhelmed by all the entries in a list
Bella can see her all her mood entries for each month
Allows for pattern recognition pointing back at the goals in positive psychology
Increases Bella’s motivation to keep her practice
Block calendar added to Jour features
Deliverables
Final Results
Users that retested the new app were able to complete every task with ease
Users now have full control over what they can do within the app
Users thought it was great that they could go back into the calendar and view past moods and entries sorted by day
Jour will be rolling out the calendar feature soon
Takeaways
This team project helped put into perspective how important it is to openly communicate with others throughout a project. We began with a functional team plan, this stated how we would deal with difficult situations that arise not only in the work but in our relationships while working closely. Every morning we had daily check ins to reestablish our goals and be open to ask for feedback and help. This allowed us to be transparent through the entire process and made it much easier to understanding and available for each other with no passivity or lingering resentments.
