Dadle – Services for better depression care
OND Lab & New Design Studio Seoju Yun, Donghyeok Yoo, Dongjun Choe, Seungho Park-Lee & Hwang Kim
iF Design Award
2022
DADLE is a platform that helps users overcome depression through online group therapy and activities. Based on the user’s psychological test results and preferences, the platform recommends groups with similar challenges and a therapist with relevant expertise to increase the efficacy of the therapy. Group therapy sessions are conducted via video chat, while maintaining anonymity by replacing users’ faces with the characters of their choice. Various group activities strengthen the known benefits of group therapy, such as empathy, comfort, and bonding, that help fight stigma around depression and its treatment, which still abounds in Korea.
Idea
DADLE is a platform that helps treat depression by matching the right group of users and therapists. It makes it easier to enjoy the known benefits of group therapy, such as consolation, empathy, and bonding without the conventional constraints, such as time and space.
Form
Purple is sometimes thought of as a color representing depression, but it is used as an identity color for DADLE’s character to reduce stigma. There are illustrations throughout the service and tailored contents based on the user’s situation, which lower the objection and increase accessibility.
Function
DADLE provides professional psychological tests that serve as a reference for the therapy process. It also employs AI to recommend a suitable therapist and group members to the user. Users can set additional options to join groups according to their preferences.
Differentiation
DADLE’s AI helps treat depression by analyzing the activities of the group members. For the therapist, the AI notices the member’s emotional state and suggests proper counseling topics. For users, it records and manages emotional and health status to provides tips.
Impact
People with depression suffer from stigma abound in society, which prevents them from getting appropriate treatment. DADLE provides a platform for conducting therapy sustained in the group, conveying a message to society that depression can be shared and resolved together.
