The Project
Health CHRONICles is an app that helps people suffering from chronic illness(es) manage their health better by combining a pain diary, symptom tracker, reminder system, and medication manager, all in one simple application.
I worked on this app on a team of 5 UX designers. As a team, we worked on ideation, research, user flows, low-fidelity wireframes, and user tests. Individually, I then designed high-fidelity UI mockups, an interactive prototype, conducted further user tests, and created all visual branding (including logos, UI elements, and hand-drawn illustrations shown above). I also came up with the name, unsurprisingly, since I do love a good pun!
I worked on this app on a team of 5 UX designers. As a team, we worked on ideation, research, user flows, low-fidelity wireframes, and user tests. Individually, I then designed high-fidelity UI mockups, an interactive prototype, conducted further user tests, and created all visual branding (including logos, UI elements, and hand-drawn illustrations shown above). I also came up with the name, unsurprisingly, since I do love a good pun!
At a Glance
- Users can track their pain level and symptoms for each day easily, going into as much or as little detail as they’d like. Users can then select a specific date and see how they felt and which symptoms they noted on that day.
- By clicking Stats, users can look back at any specific date or choose date ranges to see exactly how often a certain symptom popped up, their average pain level over a given period, and see correlations between symptoms, medications, and activities. They can send this information to their Sharing Group, which can include their loved ones, Dr., and other health professionals.
- Users have a current list of their medications, which they can share easily, see refill information, call their pharmacy, and set medication reminders that won’t disappear unless marked as completed.
Problem
Chronic illness sufferers have a lot to manage, and consistently keeping track of symptoms, pain levels, and overall health patterns while juggling their medications, reminders, and appointments, is difficult to do. Management is often split between sporadic pen and paper notes, occasional notes in a calendar, or data spread between multiple applications.
Goal
Create a simple, easy “one-stop-shop” for people with chronic illnesses to manage the most important aspects of their health and track patterns.
Industry Research & Competitive Analysis
Confirming the need: According to the National Health Council, chronic diseases affect more than 40% of the total population of the U.S, with approximately 133 million Americans affected and 81 million with multiple conditions.
I thoroughly researched current apps aimed at overall health management and apps targeted specifically towards chronic illness sufferers. Of the apps targeted towards chronic illness sufferers, many focus on one specific aspect, such as only medication management, (e.g. Medisafe), writing a pain diary (e.g. Pain Diary), tracking symptoms, (e.g. Symple) and finding a specialist doctor, (e.g. ZocDoc). A small handful of apps cover many aspects of a chronic illness sufferer’s health (e.g Daylio, Flare Down). I analyzed dozens of apps to see the types of features and capabilities currently available.
I thoroughly researched current apps aimed at overall health management and apps targeted specifically towards chronic illness sufferers. Of the apps targeted towards chronic illness sufferers, many focus on one specific aspect, such as only medication management, (e.g. Medisafe), writing a pain diary (e.g. Pain Diary), tracking symptoms, (e.g. Symple) and finding a specialist doctor, (e.g. ZocDoc). A small handful of apps cover many aspects of a chronic illness sufferer’s health (e.g Daylio, Flare Down). I analyzed dozens of apps to see the types of features and capabilities currently available.
User Research
My team and I wrote a detailed user research plan that included formative and summative objectives, setting, recruitment, and procedure information, a consent form, a demographics questionnaire, and interview questions. We conducted in-person interviews with nine individuals who each suffered from at least one chronic illness.
We aimed to understand:
The data we got from these interviews was rich, highly informative, and at times, surprising. The diversity in types of information chronic illness sufferers keep track of and the hesitation to spend time thoroughly detailing better days, were among some of our surprising findings.
We aimed to understand:
- The methods chronic illness sufferers currently use to manage, track, and treat their conditions
- The types of information they keep track of
- The frequency in which they track their pain/symptom levels and require health-related reminders
- Whether they use technologies or apps to manage their health, and whether they would want to
- Whether they keep track of positive health-related statistics, or just negative
- Whether they review or look back at past data on their health, and if so, the frequency in which they do so
- The numeric value they would assign on a scale from 1-5 of how well they are currently managing and treating their chronic illness
- How they feel they can improve
The data we got from these interviews was rich, highly informative, and at times, surprising. The diversity in types of information chronic illness sufferers keep track of and the hesitation to spend time thoroughly detailing better days, were among some of our surprising findings.
I don't track stuff as much as I want and sometimes I feel kinda all over the place and overwhelmed with managing my condition."
Personas, Scenarios, & Wireframes
Based on this user research, we came up with design requirements, personas, and scenarios that drove the structural and navigational design of the app. We used pen and paper, and Balsamiq. We consistently executed cognitive walkthroughs and referred back to the personas and scenarios we created, as we made dozens of iterations. Relying on personas was crucial since they took into account the great variation in chronic illness journeys. We considered a young tech-savvy girl with a fresh diagnosis trying a variety of new medications and dealing with a complex host of symptoms. We also considered how different her needs would be compared to an older gentleman using the app to send his health progress to loved ones living across the country.
User Testing
We then created a detailed user test plan that included updated formative and summative objectives, setting, recruitment, and procedure information, a consent form, a demographics questionnaire, quantitative and qualitative metrics, and tasks for the users to execute using our Balsamiq wireframes. We completed six user tests from which we were able to identify problems and areas that needed improvement, such as the unideal hamburger menu which we switched to bottom navigation. From the feedback, we were able to make changes and continue improving our iterations.
High Fidelity Mockups
Dealing with health issues is exhausting and somber in nature, so I wanted the application’s overall design to have pops of cheerful color to make the process a more pleasurable experience. I wanted to the design to be simple, elegant, and easy to navigate since this would be a tool users would interact with multiple times a day.
Usability Testing
Using a high-fidelity prototype made in Marvel, I conducted another round of user tests. I wrote a detailed user test plan and executed user tests with five individuals who each suffered from at least one chronic illness and stated that they were open to using an app to manage their health. Interactions between the users and device were generally positive, effective, and enjoyable; the minor issues that arose informed another round of design improvements.