Index № braive June 2019 · Nimble Ship · 2019
Braive cover

Braive

A mental health platform that stayed calm under clinical weight.

Braive is an evidence-based mental health platform: cognitive behavioural therapy delivered as a structured, clinical-grade product for individuals, workplaces, and clinics.

Context

Most digital therapy products felt either too clinical or too casual. Braive set out to make support accessible without making it feel transactional, and to do so under serious constraints: clinical evidence, regulated content, sensitive data, and review cycles that didn’t move on design’s clock.

Braive lesson view on a desktop monitor with a laptop in the foreground, both staged on a soft mint backdrop. The monitor shows "Social Anxiety / Lesson 1: Recognize What" with a horizontal step tracker (two steps complete, one in progress, the rest queued: text, audio, video, questionnaire) and a handwritten reflection note beginning "After completing the 'Mapping my symptoms' exercise…". The laptop in front shows the same lesson scrolled to a "Stress Bucket" activity: a soft illustration of a bucket overflowing with stress, a "Write a comment" panel, and a "Save" CTA. A turquoise "Continue" pill sits top-right on each device.

What I designed

The interaction model and the system patterns. Therapy lived in modules with their own pacing, so the interface had to give users a sense of progress without feeling like a quiz. Custom illustrations replaced stock imagery to reduce trigger risk and build a visual language unique to mental health rather than generic SaaS. Activity modules loaded sequentially to avoid cognitive overload. Accessibility passes were built into every release.

Six custom Braive illustrations on a soft blue-grey background, arranged in two rows. A woman sitting cross-legged hugging her knees by a window. A figure crouched and curled in waves of blue and beige. A person up to their shoulders in water with hands over their head, ringed by a downward-spiralling shape. A figure whose head dissolves into a swimming blue creature. A person at a desk reading a page over an open laptop and a stack of books, a heart on their sweater. A swimmer mid-stroke through angled blue lanes. The set replaces the clinical stock imagery the category defaults to.

The trade-off

Engagement metrics push you toward push notifications, streaks, and frequent prompts: the standard playbook for habit products. In a clinical context, those mechanics can feel coercive and erode the safety the product is supposed to create. We deliberately under-built the engagement layer: notifications were rare and consent-led, progress data stayed private by default, copy avoided pressure or judgement. Slower retention curves in exchange for a product clinicians could actually recommend.

What it changed

Used by therapists, enterprises, and individuals across multiple regions. The modular foundation let clinical partners build new programs without new UI work. The system did the heavy lifting so the content could stay specific.

Braive "Social Anxiety: Breathing Activity" on a laptop staged against a dark backdrop with reed-like silhouettes. Centred on the screen is a calming pattern of concentric pale-blue circles for paced breathing; a 00:00 timer, play, and reset controls sit just below. A turquoise "Continue" pill sits top-right beside the navigation. Nothing else competes for attention.

Role

Lead Product Designer. Worked alongside psychologists, content writers, and the clinical team to keep the product grounded in real therapeutic practice.

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