Background: The Total Brain assessment is a set of clinically validated tasks and questionnaires that measure emotion, feeling, cognition, and self control that is then used to create a self-care regimen with recommend brain training exercises, guided breathing and meditation, music, and more.

Issue: Low assessment completion rates prompted a round of moderated user testing. Our feedback revealed widespread confusion and frustration: users didn’t know which tasks measured which aspects of their mental health, they felt the instructions were unclear, there was no way to pause, and there was little to no encouragement throughout the 20 minute experience.

Clarify the User Flow

Users found the Total Brain Assessment to have abrupt transitions and little to no insight into the aspects of mental health that were assessed.

We created modules for each distinct brain function to prime users on what to expect—including a definition of the function, its corresponding brain capacities, the number of tasks and questionnaires, a glimpse of the modules to come, and a time estimate for each module.

Speak with Empathy and Encouragement

The Total Brain Assessment was not only lacking in navigational clarity — it was often mentally and emotionally taxing for users to complete everything that was asked of them with little to no feedback or insight.

I identified an area of opportunity to insert calming and insightful messages between each completed task and before each questionnaire. I then designed interstitial screens to be inserted at these points to create an experience that acknowledged progress, reassured users that their answers were valid, and reminded them to relax.

Simplify task instructions

I created a content pattern to make task instructions clear, readable, and useful by removing redundant words. breaking up paragraphs into scannable copy, and using stylized text to highlight important information.