PandoraBio is an early stage startup that empowers college students to manage their mental health journey by detecting early symptoms and guiding them to personalized campus resources. At this stage, Pandora needed to distinguish themselves among competitors, raise capital, and appeal to the student market.
My role: Product Designer (creative director, UX, UI, illustration, graphic design). I worked on the branding strategy and performed user research. Currently am working on the web design.
Time frame: Ongoing
BRANDING STRATEGY
I worked with the three co-founders to better understand and define the core ideas behind their product. They gave me a brainstorm of words and phrases that they are drawn to - I screened this list for overarching themes and discovered 4 main categories of ideas. I then distilled these ideas into adjectives that clearly described PandoraBio’s identity: trustworthy, empathetic, empowering and supportive.
Personifying Pandora: The company founder, Tara Madalla, describe current ineffective methods mental health care as “episodic”. She emphasizes that a mental health journey is a movie, not a snapshot - there needs to be continuous attention (not intermittent appointments) to support an individual’s mental health journey.
If a college student were the protagonist of their own “movie”, PandoraBio would be a trusted sidekick - a trustworthy, empathetic, empowering, and supportive one that looks out for the students’ well-being.
USER RESEARCH
FINDINGS: Students find this current color scheme calm, “environmental”, and cozy. They noted the colors are kind of dusty, and that they could be a little brighter. They mentioned purple was an exciting and energizing color that they like to see.
MARKET RESEARCH: I wanted to understand what people in the 18-22 years old age group are aesthetically and conceptually drawn to:
FINDINGS: This user group values authenticity, and value driven messaging that prioritizes social and environmental awareness. They want human connection, fun, and adventure, while keeping interactions casual and real. They’re drawn to bright, saturated colors.
STUDENT EXERCISE: I asked the students to share images that reminded them of hope and uplifting energy, and this is what they came back with. I noticed that these images all had a similar blue/grey background with warm yellow/orange highlights.
INTERVIEWS: I interviewed some of the student ambassadors that work for PandoraBio to see how they reacted to PandoraBio’s previous color scheme and UI:
COLOR PALLETTE & UI
New web design coming soon! Stay tuned…
Incorporating the user research and branding strategy, I selected a set of colors that reflected Pandora’s core principles and spoke to the “sidekick” persona, while also considering student feedback & user group preference. The bright yellow signifies hope and optimism, while the energizing purple speaks to student autonomy/empowerment.