The Challenge: Impossible ➡️ I'm (posi)ble
Create a detailed product model to help secure funding, designed for neurodiverse individuals dealing with autistic burnout. The app utilizes visual tools to help manage autistic burnout and promote self-care.
What I Did: UX Research 🔍 | Visual Design 🎨
Simplified energy accounting theories for neurodiverse individuals into practical mobile design features. Created key visuals and mechanics to promote and encourage user self-care.
Who's it For: Startup 🆕 | Internship 🎓
posi is an app that helps neurodiverse adults prevent and recover from burnout by teaching energy accounting through incentivizing self care.
How Long: Three Weeks 🗓️
One week was dedicated to discovery research, another to initial designs, and the final week focused on refinement and testing.
Define 📌
1. Personas
Our stakeholder had developed two distinct personas for our design team to work with:
👤 User 1: a neurodiverse user who experiences chronic autistic burnout, resulting in minimal daily task completion. Given their burnout state, they need tools to help them recover their energy so they can get back to enjoying their day-to-day.
👥 User 2: a neurodiverse user who struggles to prevent burnout due to a demanding career. Given their limited schedule, they want to prioritize gradually building new habits that promote sustainable well-being.
These personas provided valuable insight into the unique challenges and needs of our target users, allowing our design team to start brainstorming solutions that are tailored to support neurodiverse individuals in achieving balance, energy recovery, and sustainable well-being.
2. Solutions Framing
Based on these persona's and our stakeholder's expectations, I developed some guiding questions to help inform future design solutions:
❔ "How might we visualize energy levels throughout the day?"
❔ "How might we quantify a user's energy levels?"
❔ "How might we support user's self-care?"
By addressing these inquiries, my focus was on creating a system that would blend data visualization and empower individuals in managing their well-being.
Discover 💡
1. Understanding Neurodivergence
Before starting the design process, I focused on building a foundational understanding of key concepts related to our target user group: neurodiversity, autistic burnout, and energy management for autistic burnout.
Neurodiversity, a term coined by Australian sociologist, Judy Singer, refers to the inherent diversity of human nervous systems (2024). Singer describes neurodiversity as:
“a biological truism that refers to the limitless variability of human nervous systems on the planet.”
In other words, neurodiversity is how we describe the vast and endless range of differences in the way people’s brains and nervous systems are wired. For example, neurodiversity can include, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
2. What is Autistic Burnout?
The World Health Organization defines burnout as "chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed" (2019). But 'Autistic burnout' differs from classic burnout. Jane Mantzalas et al. (2023) find that:
"autistic burnout is a state of debilitating physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion...resulting from demands associated with being autistic and living in a predominantly non-autistic world. These demands can include overwhelming sensory stimuli, social and communication differences, unexpected changes to routines, and a lack of reasonable accommodations."
In recent years, social scientists have identified common symptoms of autistic burnout, including:
🧠 Reduced tolerance to sensory stimuli
🧠 Difficulties with self-care and speech
🧠 Social withdrawal
🧠 Chronic exhaustion (Mantzalas et al. 2021; Raymaker et al. 2021; Higgins et al. 2019).
Simply put, while classic burnout stems from unmanaged workplace stress, autistic burnout is a distinct phenomenon, exacerbated by stigma, discrimination, and a lack of accommodations.
3. Energy Accounting
Energy accounting theories offer practical strategies for managing autistic burnout. One such approach was developed by Christine Miserandino (2003) to describe the daily challenges of living with Lupus, Spoon Theory assigns a numerical value—represented as a spoon—to various daily experiences. I found Musings Of An Aspie's depiction of this concept to be rather helpful in framing spoon distribution (fig 1. 2014). This visual approach helps show where "spoons" go throughout the day, making it easier to structure daily activities.
Another approach to energy management is the Toudal-Attwood method (fig 2. 2020). The Toudal-Attwood method suggests creating two lists: energy-draining activities (withdrawals) and energy-replenishing activities (deposits). Each activity is then assigned a numerical value to represent its impact, making it easier to track and balance energy levels.
Energy accounting tools like Spoon Theory and Toudal-Attwood’s methods help visualize and manage energy use, offering strategies to prevent autistic burnout. These approaches laid the foundation for posi’s energy accounting methodology to support user's energy balance and well-being.
fig 1. Musings Of An Aspie framing spoon distribution.
fig 2. Toudal-Attwood’s method.
Design ✏️
1. Designing for Neurodivergent Users
The design process behind posi is grounded in theories that prioritize sensory inclusivity, accessibility, and user empowerment. Recommendations, such as those provided in Designing Environments for Children & Adults with ASD, emphasize the use of gentle, non-intrusive hues that reduce overstimulation (2017).
Similarly, UX design strategies that embrace neurodiversity advocate for structured navigation, sharing information in ways that every visitor can easily understand, and minimalistic interactions so as not to overwhelm a user's cognitive load (Eriksen 2024). By applying these principles, the design process informing posi became an act of inclusivity, allowing all users to engage meaningfully with the app.
2. (posi)tive energy at-a-Glance
The Universal Design Guidelines for Learning helped me begin sketching an engaging and self-reflective display for users. By adhering to UDL principles, this ensured posi's interface supported a wide range of learning styles and abilities.
Energy accounting tools like Spoon Theory and Toudal-Attwood’s methods inspired the creation of “posi Points,” an energy-based currency system for evaluating the “gains and drains” of daily tasks and experiences. Users assign values to each activity, helping establish their energy baseline for the day. To ensure accuracy, they can later adjust these values based on their actual experience.
Ultimately, your posi points fuel your “Aura,” a direct reflection of the energy gained or drained from daily activities. Completing energizing activities increases the Aura, while draining activities decrease it. Each day begins with the prior day’s energy balance and a daily check-in to display an accurate energy level. By managing their Aura, users can effectively budget energy and maintain balance throughout the day.
Preliminary sketches of "auras".
4. posi Plans
Whether a user is feeling burnt-out and needing time to recover or simply seeking a quick boost of energy to tackle their day, these thoughtful scenarios inspired the creation of “posi Plans,” evidenced based tools designed to empower users and help navigate their unique energy needs.
Upon each sign-in, users can select from a variety of plans that project energy consumption and help balance activities for the day ahead. For those who prefer a personalized approach, the option to create custom plans ensures a tailored experience that aligns with their specific goals, routines, and challenges.
By offering flexibility and actionable insights, posi Plans encourage users to take charge of their well-being and develop sustainable habits for maintaining energy balance.
Preliminary sketches of "posi plans".
Testing ✔︎
1. Low-fidelity Design
The design team and I met with stakeholders and a select group of 20 neurodivergent individuals experiencing burnout to present a low-fidelity prototype. We wanted to gather targeted feedback on features, layouts, and user flows. Our feedback session highlighted one major design improvements:
🔧 Improve visual language: both stakeholders and users suggested we could improve accessibility during the daily check-in by including a numerical value with imagery to help users who may struggle with language processing.
These insights were essential for streamlining the design to better meet stakeholder expectations and user needs, preparing us effectively for the next development phase.
2. High-fidelity Design
For the final usability test, I met with users to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the design through a structured task analysis. Participants were asked to complete two core tasks that reflected the app’s primary functions:
📋 Selecting and customizing a “posi Plan”
📋 Tracking energy levels throughout their day
These tasks were chosen to simulate real-world interactions and assess whether users could navigate the interface intuitively, complete the tasks successfully, and feel confident in the process. Observing participants as they interacted with the app provided valuable insights into user behavior, common pain points, and areas for potential refinement.
After completing the tasks, I deployed the System Usability Scale (SUS) to quantify the overall usability of the design. This standardized questionnaire allowed users to provide feedback on key metrics such as ease of use, clarity, and satisfaction. By combining task analysis with the SUS, I was able to validate the effectiveness of the design while ensuring it aligned with the goals and needs of the intended users.
Reflection 🪞
Working on posi has been an incredibly rewarding and enlightening experience. Designing for neurodiverse people required me to rethink traditional design principles and deeply consider the unique needs of users whose sensory processing, attention, and cognitive abilities can vary greatly.
One of the most fulfilling aspects of this project was the opportunity to design an app with immediate, tangible impact. The feedback we received from users during testing revealed how crucial this functionality was to their daily lives, confirming that the app was not only useful but also empowering.
References
Higgins, J. M., Arnold, S. R., Weise, J., Pellicano, E., & Trollor, J. N. (2021). Defining autistic burnout through experts by lived experience: Grounded Delphi method investigating #AutisticBurnout. Autism, 25(8), 2356-2369. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211019858
Lalonde, David. “The Energy Accounting Activity for Autism.” Medium, Age of Awareness, 29 Jan. 2020, https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-energy-accounting-activity-for-autism-3a245e34bdfb. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
Mantzalas, Jane et al. “Examining subjective understandings of autistic burnout using Q methodology: A study protocol.” PloS one vol. 18,5 e0285578. 19 May. 2023, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0285578
Mantzalas, Jane et al. “What Is Autistic Burnout? A Thematic Analysis of Posts on Two Online Platforms” Autism in Adulthood, vol. 4, no. 1, 2021, pp. 132–143, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2021.0021.
Miserandino, Christine. “The Spoon Theory.” But You Don’t Look Sick?, 2003, https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
Musings of an Aspie. “Conserving Spoons.” Musings of an Aspie, 15 Oct. 2014, https://musingsofanaspie.com/2014/10/15/conserving-spoons/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Raymaker, Dora M., et al. "'Having All of Your Internal Resources Exhausted Beyond Measure and Being Left with No Clean-Up Crew’: Defining Autistic Burnout” Autism in Adulthood, vol. 2, no. 2, 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2019.0079.
Singer, Judy. “Neurodiversity: Definition and Discussion.” Reflections on Neurodiversity, https://neurodiversity2.blogspot.com/p/what.html. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
“Visual Perception and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Recommendations for Inclusive Interior Design.” ResearchGate,2017,www.researchgate.net/publication/362388529_Visual_Perception_and_Autism_Spectrum_Disorder_Recommendations_for_Inclusive_Interior_Design.