Last night, some of team HMA headed to the big smoke to attend the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards at the Royal Horticultural Hall. We found out back in March that Calm Harm – the app we created with mental health charity stem4 to help teenagers resist or manage the urge to self-harm – had been shortlisted for an award. On the night, we would find out if that award was of the Bronze, Silver or Gold variety… And we were ecstatic to find out that it was a Gold!
Photographs courtesy of Oleg at Event Photographer London.
The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards are not about the design itself but about the difference the design makes, and the design of the Calm Harm app has been instrumental in the results achieved. Whilst it has been designed for a clear, focussed target audience, the ability for the user to personalise the experience ensures that it also has a wider appeal and can support those with self-harm urges across a large demographic. It has been downloaded over 930,000 times worldwide and is featured on the NHS App Library, with an efficacy rating of 93% which is attributed to a high percentage of users reporting a reduction in the urge to self-harm after completing an exercise. Find out more about the co-creation process we went through with Calm Harm here.
Out of all 59 award winners, 8 of those were awarded Gold. Other Gold winners included fantastic design projects for Quorn and Anglian Water. You can find a full list of winners here and highlights from the night here.