Designing a scalable digital mental health platform when trust, access, and system collide
Crafted a product blueprint tailored to the lives of working adults in Taiwan
Client
FarEastone - One of Taiwan’s largest Telecom company
Partner - FarEastern Group (Taiwan’s largest conglomerate)
Timeline
6 weeks in Taiwan (jun 2024-jul 2024)
Tools
Figma, Miro, Whimsical, Microsoft suite
Skills
Market Research & Analysis, User Research, Journey Mapping, UI/UX, Visual Design, Wireframing, rapid prototyping, Service Blueprint
Team
Bhavani, Samantha, Vanessa, Martin Thaler (supervising faculty), FEG DRIVE mentors Role: Design Strategy & UI/UX
Role
Design Strategy & UI/UX Intern
CONTEXT
Leverage existing B2B 5G infrastructure to address the growing mental health concerns in Taiwan
Far EasTone (FET), third-largest mobile network company in Taiwan operated a successful B2B Health+ telemedicine service platform in Taiwan since 2020. With growing concern over mental health needs in Taiwan, they saw an opportunity to extend an offering of B2B2C self-paid telecounseling service leveraging their 5G connectivity.
(Note: Telecounseling is the delivery of therapy and mental health support remotely, using technology like phone, video chat or messaging, offering a flexible alternative to in-person sessions)
My Contribution
I contributed across the full design process, with primary ownership in market analysis, establishing guiding design principles, user journey definition, visual communication of product blueprint and UX demo of the website.
CHALLENGE
The question here wasn't "can we build a platform?" it was "should we, and if so, how?"
Our team from Institute of design spent immersive 6 weeks in Taiwan collaborating with FarEastern Group to craft a detailed product blueprint that outlined key building blocks laying the groundwork for FET to carry on post our engagement.
Why this mattered to FET?
Market size: 1.5M+ Taiwanese experiencing depression, but low counseling adoption
Infrastructure advantage: Existing Health+ platform + 5G connectivity ready to extend
Strategic positioning: First-mover opportunity in Taiwan's emerging digital mental health space
Key Outcomes Delivered
Identified 6 stage user journey of the user group
Developed 4 key actionable strategies for telecounseling service
Addressed 70+ service requirements in a blueprint
Impact
THE PROBLEM
Over 1.5 million people in Taiwan experience depression, and engagement with counseling remains low due to factors like stigma, low awareness, and fragmented system.
Care Seekers needed emotional safety, and privacy
Business needed scalability, risk control and support
As visitors to the country, it was crucial to conduct field research to understand the local context.
Our Finding: The mental health system is fragmented with multiple front doors, making it harder for the care seekers to navigate services and begin their wellness journey.
How might we design an effective telecounseling service experience that supports users in a place of high stigma and low awareness?
THE SOLUTION
Mind+ is a telecounseling service concept designed for working young adults in Taiwan, supporting their long mental wellness journey by meeting them where they are.
We designed two parallel experiences tailored to user's emotional and informational needs - a website and mobile app.
Recognizing that care seekers arrive with diverse starting points and varied needs along the journey, we crafted a comprehensive service strategy blueprint.
"Mental wellness is a long journey, and counseling is not a
one-off event"
(32yr old PhD student, care seeker)
RESEARCH
Designing a telecounseling service required decisions are grounded in signals from reality.
We used mixed-method research approach to understand how stigma, access barriers, and system limitations shape help-seeking behavior. The goal was not just to gather insights, but to triangulate evidence across users, providers, and the business ecosystem.
INSIGHT
The healing journey is deeply personal and no experience is the same.
There are 6 barriers to counseling and telecounseling has additional challenges like lack of warmth, technical difficulties, and difficulty to express and percieve emotions.
INSIGHT
Care Seekers don’t experience tele‑counseling as a single flow. They experience it as a series of trust tests.
At each stage, they ask:
“Is this safe and private?”
“Is this for someone like me?”
“What happens next?”
Established 6 guiding principles to act as a north compass for the FET team, aligning decisions at every stage of development.
SOLUTION - USECASE 01
The Homepage of the website offers three entry points aligned to the key strategy to meet users where they are and guided by the design principle that lead users to the right intervention.
"Some people might not know what the right care is for them and how to choose"
(46yr old Mother, care seeker)
SOLUTION - USECASE 02
The Counselor Selection feature offers intuitive filters and a personalized bundle subscription model, ensuring transparency around costs.
"Bundles that allow progress in different format feels rewarding"
(25yr old Engineer, care seeker)
SOLUTION - USECASE 03
The Shared Space of the mobile application fosters consistent engagement with counselors and empowers users to monitor and reflect on their progress over time.
"Counseling became a maintenance over time"
(26yr old Nurse, care seeker)
DELIVERABE
We equipped our client with a product blueprint that became a shared source of truth for the team
We conveyed our recommendations and insights through storytelling, using a persona we’d developed throughout our engagement with the client. To bring our blueprint to life, we prototyped a demo and guided our audience through the user journey, illustrating key scenarios and touchpoints.
We also point out what key element is and design principles are at play to illustrate how all of the building blocks we provided can be used to design for the solution.
Learnings & Reflections
Thriving in Cross-Cultural Environments
Working in a non-native environemnt taught me to be resourcesful. Translation tools helped me to be more efficient during the interview, workshop and testing sessions.
Balancing Diverse Stakeholder Feedback
With multiple meetings and workshops, balancing feedback from diverse stakeholders became a challenge, so prioritization and careful listening helped manage it much better.
Fail Fast, Learn Faster
I realized the importance of prototyping early as it enabled us to fail fast and stay agile. With that a key takeaway was to keep synthesizing when memory is fresh because it maintained clear traceability.
A collection of memories form 6 weeks in Taiwan 🇹🇼
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