Youth Value Proposition

For youth, the value is:

• A safe, pressure-free space to unwind.
• Participating without goals, scores, judgement, or productivity pressure
• Expressing emotions in visual, creative, and low-stakes ways
• Connecting with others without comparison, clout, or oversharing
• Returning easily for small moments of calm, agency, and belonging

In short: Start Here makes wellbeing feel accessible, normal, and shared. It is something you can step into for a few minutes, not a system you have to commit to. It is a place where young people can relax, express, and recharge without being told what's wrong or how to fix it.

User archetype & Their Journey

Our platform was designed around potential user Maya. She is 24 years old, lives in Germany but is originally from India. She is a visual artist who is an avid Tiktok and Instagram users. She really wants to feel like she belongs to something but she struggles to express herself. She wants gentle tools for reflection and creativity without feeling “treated” or labeled. She prefers something flexible and self-guided that fits around her art practice and freelance rhythm. She’s curious about wellbeing but doesn’t feel distressed enough to seek therapy. She values spaces that feel aesthetically calm, inspiring, and culturally open rather than clinical. She wants support that normalizes everyday emotional shifts, not just crises.

As an archetype she could be described as The Quietly Overstimulated Creative. She is a creative and culturally engaged young person living in a digitally saturated world. She is curious, expressive, and visually oriented, but often feel overwhelmed, unseen, or emotionally cluttered. She is not in crisis and doesn’t identify with therapy culture but she still crave moments of calm, reflection, and human connection.

Mindset:

• “I’m not unwell, I’m just… a lot is happening.”
• Feels overstimulated by constant scrolling, comparison, and noise.
• Values aesthetics, mood, and atmosphere over instructions or advice.
• Wants emotional support that feels normal, soft, and self-directed.

Needs:

• A space that feels calm, beautiful, and culturally open, not clinical.
• Tools for expression without pressure to explain or perform.
• Validation that everyday emotional shifts are normal.
• Connection without oversharing, fixing, or being analyzed.

Behaviors:

• Heavy social media user (TikTok, Instagram) but feels drained by it.
• Engages through visuals, short interactions, and creative prompts.
• Prefers self-guided exploration over structured programs.
• Likely to return for brief, mood-based check-ins

What Start Here Means to Her:

• A soft landing. A place to pause, unload, and feel less alone. Without being told to breathe, heal, optimize, or improve.

How The Design Supports The Concept + Use Case

The design supports the concept by removing pressure, structure, and clinical signals by allowing wellbeing to emerge through mood, interaction, and choice rather than instruction.

Briefly put:

The visual and interaction design of Start Here is intentionally calm, open, and non-directive, reinforcing the idea that users don’t need to be “fixed” or guided through a program. Soft visuals, abstract imagery, and lo-fi motion reduce cognitive load and help users settle without demanding attention. Its easy to find and navigate through. 

Key design choices like the energy slider, vibe-based feed, and brain dump instead of a quiz let Maya (and other potential users) enter the platform emotionally rather than verbally. This supports her need for self-expression without explanation or labeling. The interface adapts to her state (chaotic, numb, grounded), making the experience feel responsive but not invasive.

Community features are designed with constraints (slow chat, micro-challenges, anonymous contributions) to prevent comparison, performance, and clout-seeking. This makes participation feel safe and optional, aligning with Maya’s desire for connection without pressure.

Overall, the design functions less like an app to use and more like a space to step into. It supports brief, repeatable moments of calm, creativity, and belonging that fit naturally into Maya’s daily rhythm.

The Prototype: Start Here

How We Worked Together

1. Discovery & Framing

We started by examining how young people currently engage with wellbeing online. Through early discussions and research synthesis, we identified a gap between:

• clinical mental-health apps (too heavy, too serious), and
• passive social platforms (doom scrolling without relief).

Our persona, Maya, represents a young adult who is curious about wellbeing but does not identify with therapy or rigid self-care routines. She values ​​aesthetics, flexibility, creativity, and low-effort commitment

2. Platform Concept

Start Here combines:

• Interactive relief tools (breathing, venting, visual sliders)
• Creative prompts (eg, Design Your Perfect Day – 2-minute challenge)
• Low-stakes community features (slow chats, shared boards)
• Downloadable toolkits and partner resources

The DDS Show (Exhibition Experience)

The DDS Show was an opportunity to translate a digital wellbeing platform into a physical, experiential space.

Exhibition Setup

Our stall was designed to feel warm and inviting, rather than like a tech demo. We:

• incorporated plants to soften the environment
• used the platform’s orange palette to maintain visual consistency
• created a space that encouraged people to slow down rather than rush past.

Audience Interaction

Visitors were invited to:

• try the Start Here platform live
• participate in a 2-minute “Draw Your Perfect Day” prompt
• engage casually without needing instructions or explanations

This open-ended interaction reflected the platform’s core philosophy - encouraging youth participation without pressure.

Response & Feedback

The response was overwhelmingly positive. People lingered longer than expected, interacted multiple times, and described the space as:

• calming
• comforting
• surprisingly playful

Several visitors mentioned that the experience felt approachable, even if they usually avoid wellbeing or mental-health spaces. This validated our decision to avoid clinical framing and instead focus on gentle entry points into self-reflection.

Our Learnings and Outcomes

Key Learnings

• Low-pressure design increases engagement: Removing goals, scores, and performance language makes people more willing to participate.

Play is a powerful regulation tool: Interactive, slightly chaotic features (fast typing on the scream box) helped release stress more effectively than static exercises. We wanted the visitors to take something memorable from the experience, and wanted to create 'something for everyone'

Physical space matters: Translating the platform into a tactile, plant-filled exhibition reinforced trust and emotional safety.
Youth don't want to be “fixed”: They want to feel seen, normal, and invited — not diagnosed.

Outcomes

• Strong engagement during the DDS Show, with sustained interaction.
• Clear validation of the platform's tone, aesthetic, and concept.
• Actionable feedback around accessibility, scalability, and future iterations.
• A clearer understanding of how digital wellbeing tools can exist alongside social platforms, not compete with them.

Reflecting Back

Start Here challenges our assumptions about what a wellbeing platform should look like. By focusing on gentleness, play, and choice, we learned that meaningful engagement often comes from doing less, not more. The project reinforced the value of designing spaces that feel human first — and functional second.

User feedback we received was to make a few iterations with the design. Host more such activities on the platform as well as in person. Viewers appreciated the effort as well as the concept.