Any other devs or designers with clinical OCD?
Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place, but I’m at my wit’s end with this.
Solo founding an OCD therapy app (with traction & enough funding to seedstrap). Background is in growth, but self-taught in design and development. Product design is by far my weakest skill, brain just doesn’t click in that way. I’ve gotten away with it so far since I’ve had severe OCD myself for 10 years, so I know how my user thinks.
But I’m at the point now where I really need to bring on either a designer. But, I cannot, for the life of me, find a product designer who understands OCD at the level I need them to. I’m starting to think that OCD is too niche of a design specialty.
Are digital mental health product designers a thing, or is it still too new of a field? Do I need to find a designer that suffers from OCD, or is it reasonable for a good designer to learn how OCD treatment and symptoms manifest (which most OCD therapists don't know well themselves) on the job? The same problem applies with finding a developer too, although to a less extent - they just need to be passionate about OCD.
Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated on how I should go about this as this is main priority now.
Imagine you are creating an app for people who grow rare orchids.
One option is to find someone who is one of these people. The other option is to find someone who is very good at understanding people, and tailoring experiences to match. This is what UX researchers specialise in.
Also, your app raises questions about clinical methods, not just standard UI/UX to solve for user expectations. It would be best for those methods to be designed in coordination with professionals highly trained in managing OCD and its symptoms. Which is another reason it probably isn't essential that every member of your team has personal lived experience of it.