MENTAL HEALTH APP

MENTAL HEALTH APP

Designing for Cultural Acceptance

Designing for Cultural Acceptance

How we shifted perceptions with Satori mental health app

How we shifted perceptions with Satori mental health app

How we shifted perceptions with Satori mental health app

ROLE

ROLE

Co-founder & UX/UI Lead

Co-founder & UX/UI Lead

EXPERTISE

UX/UI Design

YEAR

2023

TIMEFRAME

3 Weeks

YEAR

2023

We fixed the wrong problem - and it worked.

We thought Nigerians needed better access to affordable therapists. What they actually needed was inspiration to talk about mental health at all.

We discovered the real problem wasn't access to therapy—it was cultural perception.

It started as a design challenge with a friend

Pick a niche. Solve a problem. We chose mental health in Nigeria—create an app for booking therapists and getting support

Market research validated our assumption.

Competitors were solving the wrong problem too

Mytherpist, Nguvu health and Psynd Up

Focused on providing accessible and affordable mental health care along with mood tracking

The real problem wasn't what we thought

Cultural resistance, not access, was the barrier.

How do you educate people who don't think they need education?

Our first attempt, traditional blog posts, failed.

Users found them too lengthy and formal. We needed a format that would feel familiar, not foreign

We found inspiration in WhatsApp status updates

Our users loved WhatsApp status updates and TikTok videos.

So we redesigned our content delivery to mimic these formats —swipeable content cards with short text and carefully selected imagery.

Every word had to build trust

Our content focused on: validating emotions, creating community, and normalizing help-seeking

Users started opening up about mental health

When we introduced our redesigned approach, engagement changed dramatically.

"My eyes have been opened," one tester shared—echoing the very meaning of Satori (awakening, enlightening)

Technical challenges halted our progress

Despite promising user feedback, technical challenges prevented us from launching Satori at scale.

As founders, we reached the limits of our capabilities and resources.

5 key insights that changed how I design

1) Question your assumptions

2) Design within cultural context

3) Format matters as much as content

4) Language creates reality

5) Meet users where they are

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Mentorix

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Vosacademy