Questix

In a world where remote workers often feel alone, Questix reimagines mental health for those who work from anywhere. This AI-powered app helps remote workers find the work-life balance they need.

Original Context

University of Technology Sydney - class project

Role

Research & UX Design

Timeline

2 Weeks in May 2025

Project Vision

The project started as a class assignment where my team and I developed an AI journaling app. After the class ended, I continued working on the project independently to validate our assumptions. Through this process, I realized that the journaling application didn’t address the needs of remote workers. Based on these insights, I decided to propose a new solution...

Context

The rapid increase in remote work has brought new challenges to mental health. Since the pandemic, remote work has grown four to fivefold, with approximately 20 to 25% of the workforce in advanced economies now working from home. However, this shift has also contributed to a rise in mental health concerns.

Sources: McKinsey Global Institute, 2021; Centre for Work + Wellbeing, 2021; NorthOne 2022

Competitive Analysis

I analyzed mental health apps across three categories such as popular meditation tools, CBT-based platforms, and mood journals. Mental health apps make self-care simple and accessible, but they focus on the individual. They miss the need for connection, personalization, and timely support.

Primary Research

I conducted in-depth interviews with five remote workers aged 20 to 50, representing diverse professional backgrounds and living across the US, Australia, and Europe. This sample allowed me to explore a broad range of perspectives and better understand the unique pain points in their remote work experiences.

Isolation and lack of meaningful connection

“Working from home can feel really lonely... I miss having real human interaction, but I also don't feel any motivation to get outside."

Difficulty maintaining emotional wellbeing amid blurred boundaries

“It’s hard to switch off and work and life just blends together. It wears me down as I can't disconnect.”

Overwhelmed by generic or impersonal digital wellbeing tools

“Most apps feel like just another task. I don't have time and energy to plan my time to relax and destress"

Lack of proactive
support

“I often don’t notice how stressed I am until it’s too much. I wish there was something that could help me before things get overwhelming.”

Personas

I realized the problem went deeper than journaling. For remote workers, it wasn’t just about having a guided space to reflect. Based on the key pain points I uncovered during user research such as isolation, blurred boundaries, and digital fatigue, I created three personas to help guide the design toward their real needs.

Problem Definition

All the research insights led me to arrive at the question: How might we create meaningful moments of connection throughout the workday to help remote workers care for their mental health?

User Flow

I then translated the 'How Might We' question into a simple user flow to shape the intended customer experience.

Wireframing

To explore and test early ideas quickly, I began with paper wireframes to sketch out key screens. This allowed for rapid brainstorming and iteration.

Prototyping

I then took the time to review and evaluate these ideas to identify the strongest concepts and areas needing improvement. Using digital wireframes, I was able to further develop the user experience, refining it into a low-fidelity prototype to prepare for a usability study.

Testing & Iterations

I conducted interviews with five users, asking them to navigate through the prototype to evaluate whether the app effectively addresses their pain points and to uncover opportunities for improvement in the next design iteration.

AI Transparency Gap

Users felt frustrated when they realized that AI impact was not clearly explained, creating concern about how their data was being used. To address this, I incorporated an AI disclaimer.

Lack of Visible Belonging

While users enjoyed joining tribes, they often felt disconnected and struggled to find tribes that matched their interests. I improved this by making the tribe impact clearer, adding search and tags to help them discover relevant tribes.

Mission Overload

Many users were overwhelmed by the volume of the available missions, leading to confusion about where to start. To address this, I organized missions by theme and added AI suggestions based on the needs.

Style Guide

Emphasizing calmness and growth, the use of green throughout the interface is intentional. Unlike the more common use of blue, pink, or black in apps, green offers a fresh and neutral tone that doesn’t overwhelm the user.

Design Decisions

#1 Personalization of Experience

Through user interviews, I found that while people valued personalized experiences, they were worried about how AI would use their data.

I designed the onboarding to include a clear AI disclaimer that explains data usage. Users can share details like profession and calendar data to personalize their experience, and they can also set how much they want AI to personalize for them. This balance of transparency and control aims to make onboarding both personal and trustworthy.

#2 "Tribes" that foster connection and consistency

Users mentioned feeling lonely while working remotely and lacked motivation to take care of their mental health.

I designed Tribes as a supportive space where users can join groups that match their profession, interests, and goals. The ranking system rewards consistency rather than volume, avoiding unhealthy competition. Users can cheer each other on, join shared activities, and feel a sense of belonging.

#3 Proactive emotional "quests"

Traditional mood surveys felt repetitive and burdensome. Users expressed a need for mental health support that proactively adapts to their lives, offering care before stress accumulates.

I developed dynamic quests that adapt to users’ schedules, weather, and past activities, eliminating the need for intrusive mood check-ins. After completing a quest, a brief entry is logged to inform the AI, enabling it to refine future recommendations. This proactive, responsive system ensures mental health support is not only personalized but also feels effortless.

Learnings & Next steps

When exploring AI personalization, I encountered numerous challenges, particularly around privacy, bias, and potential misuse. Ethical concerns emerged as a central theme, revealing the complexity of balancing innovative solutions with responsible use. I learned that it’s not enough to just make something smart or reactive, but it has to feel safe, transparent, and respectful.

If I were to continue with this project, I would focus on collaborating with psychologists and other mental health experts to ensure that the technology prioritizes well-being, respects autonomy, and upholds the highest ethical standards. I would have also conducted one more round of usability testing to iterate on my design further.