Mental Health & Cognition Plugin

About this plugin

About this plugin

Products impact how we feel, think, and behave. This plugin aims to help all product makers design inclusively for a range of mental health & cognitive needs. It’s our responsibility to consider the impact our designs can have. Use the evidence-based guidance in this plugin to design mindfully and advocate for inclusive design choices.

With insights from published research, focus groups, expert review, and co-creation sessions, we have identified principles key to designing for mental health and cognition. Consider how you can preserve attention and motivation, direct action and energy, and customize experiences to increase belonging and agency.

Using the plugin

1. Consider what common patterns are present in your design
2. Explore evidence-based guidance for each pattern to identify top stressors and suggestions
3. Empathize with customers through direct quotes
4. Drag guidance and customer voice onto your canvas to help you modify your design and defend inclusive design decisions
5. Work with your team to embed wellbeing in your designs, share the plugin broadly, and contribute to the inclusion revolution!

The basics of designing with mental health and cognition in mind

1. Inclusive design demands collaboration with the people you seek to serve. Co-creation with customers who have permanent mental health and cognition needs will create value for customers who have temporary or situational needs.
2. Usable design is inclusive design. When people can’t use technology, they tend to blame themselves, aggravating emotional and mental health needs. Prioritize usability.
3. Reduce the cognitive demands of your design by breaking down large tasks or information into smaller chunks and helping customers to manage distractions, initiate and complete tasks, and remember steps or information.
4. Celebrate success to preserve motivation through positive emotions and enhance flow.
5. Use more than just engagement metrics to measure success. Embed opportunities to learn how users feel. Over-reliance on MAU and DAU can encourage design choices that deteriorate a customer’s experience.

Learn more about the plugin, the research that informed it, and accessibility best practices

Check out Microsoft’s guidebook and case studies for Cognition and for Mental Health. Leverage tenets and traps and universal design principles to further ensure great usability. To learn more about accessibility for the web visit w3.org.

This plugin is brought to you by Microsoft

Special thanks to Kelly Gorr, Ali Benter, Amanda Poh, Will Brennan, Amanda Yang, Tany Holzworth, Karina Dion, Ben Truelove, Tasha Lutfi, Christa Keizer, Hernan Maestre, Alice Lee, Bradley Stastny, Brandon Foy