Information architecture & navigation redesign
Mentalyc is an AI clinical documentation platform for therapists and mental healthcare professionals. The product helps clinicians create AI-powered clinical notes, treatment plans, therapeutic alliance insights, and supervision documentation.
I served as Lead Product Designer, owning the end-to-end design strategy for features discoverability and navigation redesign. I led cross-functional collaboration with the Product Manager, engineering team, driving research, solution definition, prioritization, and validation.
Year
2025
Timeline
1 month
Tools
Figma,Mixpanel,Clarity
My role
Lead Product Designer,UX/UI Designer,Researcher,Design System Designer
Team
Product Manager,Developers
Redesigned navigation — before VS after
Problem statement
Design challenges
- Very limited time and focus on quick delivery
- Majority of the user base are non tech-savvy users
- Focus on “low-hanging fruits” improvements
- Restrictions on reaching out to non-Mentalyc users
Business
problems
The market shifted when major EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems began embedding AI documentation tools directly into their platforms. This created financial and workflow friction for Mentalyc users who now questioned paying for two separate tools.
While Mentalyc had expanded beyond core note-taking with advanced features like Treatment Plans, Alliance Genie (therapeutic alliance insights), and Supervision tools,
the product faced critical retention and adoption challenges:
- Churn was rising
- Not sufficient or low adoption of “advanced” features (Treatment Plans, Alliance Genie, Supervision)
- Users churning specifically because they didn't
perceive sufficient value and couldn’t justify paying extra for the note-taking tool - Low awareness of note customization capabilities,
leading to dissatisfaction with note quality (AHA moment)
Business
goals
Reduce churn
within 3 months post-launch
Increase adoption of “advanced” features:
Treatment Plans, Alliance Genie, Supervision
Increase note customization usage and visibility
to improve perceived note quality
Research
Research process
Before jumping into redesign, I needed to validate the real problem. Were users churning because features weren't valuable, or because they simply couldn't find them?
I followed the process:
CS ticket analysis
Patterns of user confusion and repeat support requests.
UX audit
Heuristic analyses of the product and flows.
Competitor & desk research
Established mental models for discoverability and navigation.
Mixpanel behaviour analysis
Funnel drop-offs and feature-level engagement cohorts.
Clarity heatmaps
Identified low-engagement zones and banner blindness.
User interviews (16)
Existing users who never tried advanced features + trial users.
User testing (7)
Validate new designs and iterate based
on findings
Research insights
User behavioural patterns
Passive users
Non-tech-savvy, low curiosity, don't explore
Reluctant explorers
Will try things if gently guided
Time-pressed prof.
Stick strictly to core workflows
Dashboard-centric
Rarely navigate beyond the main screen
Unaware users
Don't notice features even when presented
Main feature adoption barriers
Highlight
Navigation & information architecture
- Horizontal navigation was cluttered and overloaded
- Users exhibited banner blindness to certain navigation pages
- No semantic separation between account/subscription info and product features
- Navigation was at capacity with no room for future features
Feature visibility
- Treatment Plans and Alliance Genie were hidden within workflows rather than exposed as distinct product areas
- Features were not visible as top-level navigation items
- Users couldn't easily discover what advanced features existed
Breakdown per feature
Treatment plans
- Confusing placement on Dashboard — unclear
whether it was a feature or just informational content - Created additional visual clutter
- Users didn't understand how to interact with it
- Minority of users liked having it on Dashboard,
but it didn't drive meaningful traffic or usage
Alliance Genie (session analytics)
- Buried within note editor — users forgot it existed
- Hard to access, especially for users who don't save notes
- Even if users had seen it before, they couldn't recall
how to open it again - Insights only generated for saved notes, blocking
non-savers from exploring
Note customisation (templates)
- Hidden in settings — users didn't know templates could
be customised - Low awareness that notes could be customised at all
- Led to dissatisfaction with note quality (this was
an "AHA moment" discovery) - Users didn't see the connection between generated notes
and the templates used
Supervision
- Flow too complex
- Unclear value proposition
- Low interactions inside the Supervision tab
- Perceived complexity deterred first-time use
Note templates list
- Hard to navigate even when users found it
- Poor discoverability of the templates page itself
Solution & testing
Design goals
- Reduce cognitive load — clear separation between account/subscription and product navigation
- Surface Treatment Plans, Alliance Genie, customization as top-level nav items
- Remove blocking interactions (no features requiring saved notes opening prematurely)
- Scalable architecture — accommodate future features without clutter
- Align with EHR mental models users already know
- Support passive users, reluctant explorers, and dashboard-centric users alike
Ideation &
prioritisation
I organised a collaborative workshop with the PM to list every barrier, brainstorm solutions, map effort vs. impact, prioritise findings and ideas into phases.
With limited design and development capacity, and no room to change the AI prompts, I set the order:
- Phase 1: note editor refinements (a separate case study)
- Phase 2: ship the navigation redesign with the high-priority empty state fixes first (Alliance Genie opening on unsaved notes)
- Backlog: marketing content for empty states, advanced analytics enhancements, supervision flow simplification
Key decision
Why navigation was the highest-leverage change
The horizontal navigation was already at capacity
and blocking our ability to expose features effectively. Redesigning to vertical navigation would:
- Create dedicated space for Treatment Plans and Alliance Genie as top-level items
- Allow semantic separation (top nav for subscription/account, side nav for product)
- Surface note customisation tools that were previously buried
- Provide space for future onboarding elements and features, like notifications center
- Align with EHR mental models, reducing learning curve
This was the highest-leverage change—
one architectural shift that would unlock multiple discoverability improvements.
Usability
tests
Participants & Method
- 7 participants representing different user cohorts
- Moderated task-based usability testing using the clickable design prototypes (online)
- Focus areas:
- Can users easily find and create a Treatment Plan?
- Can users easily find and access Alliance Genie insights?
- Can users easily find and access Supervision feature?
- Can users locate note customization tools?
- Does vertical navigation feel intuitive?
- Are there any navigation challenges or mental model mismatches?
- Does the interface feel cluttered or overwhelming?
- Does the interface feel aligned with users workflows?
Test
results
Worked: 6 out of 7 users reacted positively or neutrally to the redesign
Worked: Testing confirmed the direction was sound
Concern: 1 user mentioned slight visual clutter, which I addressed by reducing visual weight in the next iteration
Concern: Several microcopy issues came up, and I fixed them before launch
Final designs
Designs
Achievements
Key result
- Monthly churn rate
−7%
- Churned subscribers per month
−8%
Before launch (Oct–Dec 2025) vs. 4 months after (Apr 2026)
Breakdown per feature
Before launch (Oct–Dec 2025) vs. 4 months after (Apr 2026)
Alliance Genie
Note templates customization
Supervision
Global note settings
What came next
What came next
The workshop left a longer backlog. Some of it shipped in the months after the new navigation:
- Supervision empty state (Mar 2026): a clearer first step, shipped with supervisee access fixes. Supervisees went from almost none of the referral signups to about 3 in 10.
- Treatment plans redesign (May–Jun 2026): positive ratings doubled, and complaints about missing goals fell from half of all feedback to 1 in 6.
- Alliance Genie redesign (Jul 2026): more constructive insights, with the summary upfront. Positive feedback went from 7% to 73%.
- Still in the backlog: a notifications center, a growth profile for therapists, and a more actionable clients list.
