Next, I created sketches for my app catering to the features which surveyed as most pivotal. As a mom who has experienced postpartum myself I imagined what the most important aspects of a design of this type would be as well as trying to remove my own personal bias from the application design through the use of research and usability testing. 

The main features were Health Profile where users can log and track their physical and mental health daily, Articles/Videos for brief reads and views, Reflection/Journal for users to curate goals during this period, voice feelings, and share thoughts with their support system (targets self-care and emotional well-being), and a Community Space which allows moms to join groups and connect with other moms for support. The health profile was designed in a way that allows users to view themselves and tap on areas they are experiencing pain (front and back). Visually seeing a person being represented adds a human touch to this feature of the application. They also can add another emotion they are feeling when logging their mental health for the day just in case one of the emotions does not represent their feelings. In Articles and Videos, my goal was to have brief reads and videos to allow moms to focus on the care of their child, because many postpartum moms have a caseload of responsibilities during this period. They can also favorite videos and articles to come back to at a later time. The reflection/journal starts off with daily mantras (Mommy Mantras) to get moms in the reflective headspace. There is also a feature to send your journal entry via email to those in your support network, including the circle that surrounds mothers during this time. Finally, the Community Space includes community agreements for each space to allow inclusivity, a filter that allows users to sort posts based on how recently they were posted and a favorite as well as a join button to bookmark and become a part of support communities. 

When you first create an account on MAMAYOU there are various prompts to personalize your experience while using the application (date of birth, baby’s birthdate, birthing experience, type of tears, physical pain after giving birth, and amount of children. Each feature and aspect of the application was hand-crafted to allow, user-centricity, efficiency, and plain as well as visual language. 

I really wanted to create a design that solely focuses on holding the mother after giving birth. There is a strong emphasis on caring for the baby after birth and many times the mother is forgotten during this process, so an application that allows her to put herself first will only enhance her experience when taking care of her newborn.

My biggest takeaway was that the MAMAYOU is necessary for the app market. Mothers deserve a free and accessible resource to feel supported during postpartum. Due to lack of time while caring for their newborn, it is easy for them to forget about themselves, therefore, MAMAYOU is a space where they can indulge in a moment of their time. 

My next steps are to design is to expand on the partner and support system feature. I hope to create a support system log-in that allows users to share different information they have entered with those in their circle because a mom's circle is a pivotal part of her support system during her postpartum journey.