Medicare
As part of my completion of Google’s UX Design Professional Certificate, I have developed an app and a responsive website with a focus on social good. The objective of the assignment was to create an app and its accompanying website from the ground up, addressing a specific subject of our choice that was determined at the beginning of the course. In this regard, I selected the topic “Design a user experience to help people remember to take medicine on time.”
Project Overview
Medicare helps people with taking their medication. Medicare makes it easier to remember to take your medicine with flexible reminder windows.
The Problem
Most people have a very busy life, which makes it hard for them to stick to a routine. They tend to forget about their medication when they have so much to think of in a day.
The Goal
Create an app to help people with their medication.
My Role
UX Designer
Responsibilities
User research, conducting interviews, digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, iterating on designs and responsive design.
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
Click to see High-Fidelity Prototype (App)
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of adding a new medication.
Click to see Low-Fidelity Prototype (App)
Understanding The User
User research | Personas | User story | Problem statement | User journey map | Competitive audit | Ideation
User research: Summary
I conducted user interviews and usability studies, which I then turned them into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that many target users tend to forget about their medication when they have a busy life and it is really hard for them to track their medication.
Personas
By synthesizing the result of the survey and interview, I made two user personas with their goals and frustrations. Personas help designers to empathize with users, make informed design decisions, and create user-centered experiences.
This helps ensure that the user’s perspective remains at the center of decision-making. So we need to keep personas in mind during the product design.
User Story
A user story is a concise, narrative description of a specific user’s goal or need and how they interact with a product or system to achieve that goal.
The user story starts by identifying the role or persona of the user who is interacting with the product. It specifies who the user is, their characteristics, and their goals.
User stories also serve as a basis for creating user flows, wireframes, and prototypes, ensuring that the resulting design addresses real user needs and provides a satisfying user experience.
Here I made two user stories based on my personas.
Problem Statement
A problem statement is a clear and concise description of a user problem or challenge that needs to be addressed through design. It helps define the focus and purpose of the design effort by identifying the specific issue that needs to be solved. It identifies the specific user or audience group that is experiencing the problem.
Based on my personas, I created two problem statements.
User Journey Map
A user journey map is a visual representation that illustrates the complete end-to-end experience of a user as they interact with a product. It depicts the user’s actions, thoughts, and emotions throughout their journey. Each phase represents a different aspect of the user’s journey and helps to identify key touchpoints and opportunities for improvement.
At the end of the user journey map, several potential opportunities and solutions emerge, which can be integrated into the product.
Competitive Audit
An audit of a few competitor’s products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Medicare app.
What I did here is that I compared strengths, weaknesses, and overall user experience of 2 direct and 1 indirect competitors. After this I understood what works well and what doesn’t.
Click to see Competitive Audit
Ideation
After conducting a thorough competitive audit, I started to create paper wireframes. Within each wireframe, I identified visually appealing elements that caught my attention. By combining these elements, I crafted a fresh and innovative design that showcases the best features. The name of this design is “Home V.1” and you can find it in the attached picture.
Starting The Design
Digital wireframes | Usability studies | Note taking spreadsheet | Affinity diagram | Insight identification | Prioritized insights
Digital Wireframes
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Medicare app. These designs focused on a better user experience for medication tracking.
Usability Study: Parameters
Study Type
Unmoderated usability study
Location
Canada, remote
Participants
5 participants
Length
20 minutes
Usability Study: Findings
These were the main findings uncovered by the usability study:
Multiple Profiles
People want to see this feature within the app.
Easy Way to Add a Reminder
People want an easy and short way to add a medication.
Track Medication Easily
People want a clear list of their medication and its details.
Note Taking Spreadsheet
These are the observations based on the usability study. I prepared a spreadsheet before hand to add the observation for each participant.
Using a spreadsheet and a table after the usability study made it easy to compare the responses of the participants.
Affinity Diagram
Then based on my observations I organized information into groups of similar items and made an affinity diagram.
Insight Identification
Prioritized Insights
Refining The Design
Mockups | Accessibility
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like having the medication name on each step of adding a new reminder. In this case if the user is confused half way through the flow to understand which medication they are setting a reminder for, then they can take a look at the medication name on top and it will save some time and prevent confusion.
Additional design changes included adding a progress bar on top of profile picture for the users to have a better understanding of the process. Also since we can have multiple profiles in the app, at the end of the sentence I added the profile’s name in order to make it easier for the users to make sure that they are adding medications for the right profile.
Other mockups of the app:
Accessibility Consideration
1
Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
2
I used landmarks to help users navigate the site, including users who rely on assistive technologies.
3
I designed the site with alt text available on each page for smooth screen reader access.
Responsive Design
Sitemap | Responsive designs
Sitemap
With the app design completed, I started to work on designing the responsive website.
First I created a sitemap to illustrate how content or features are organized and linked together.
Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. I did the crazy eight exercise for this part.
Responsive Designs
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Takeaways
Impact
Users were happy with the improvement that I made in the design.
What I learned
We should always put users front and center.
Through research and user testing, we can gain insights into user behaviors, preferences, pain points, and motivations.
The iterative nature of UX design teached me to embrace feedback, iterate on designs, and continuously improve based on user insights.
Get in Touch
If you are interested to work with me email me at sara.hajimiri@gmail.com