medalert—design for social good, ux course

PROJECT OVERVIEW

My Role

Lead UX designer, UX researcher

My Responsibilities

Develop personas, create user stories, user research, wireframing, prototyping, conduct usability studies.

PROBLEM

In the U.S. almost 25% of Americans take three or more medications a day, 10% take five or more. Research has shown almost 50% of people struggle to take their medications as prescribed.

goal

Design an app that will help people to remember to take their medication as prescribed while promoting better adherence and healthier habits.

Understanding the User

Using data found on the percentage of Americans that depend on multiple medications I created interview questions to determine why people have trouble sticking to their prescribed medication regime. Feedback received revealed that most people forget to take their medications based on the different factors in their life and would benefit from alerts on their phone or smart watch to remind them to take their medication.

Personas, competitive audit, ideation exercise

Crazy 8 exercise to set up a reminder.

 

STARTING THE DESIGN

Sitemap, PAPER WIREFRAMES, Digital wireframes, LO-FI PROTOTYPE

Usability Study

INSIGHTS

  1. Based on the theme that: most users found the icons difficult to understand, an insight is: Make icons more accessible with text under them as a label

  2. Based on the theme that: the refill reminder is hard to find for some users, an insight is: Change the location of the refill reminder to make it easier to find.

  3. Based on the theme that: Users take more than just prescriptions daily, an insight is: Add options to add supplements as well as prescription reminders.

Accessibility Considerations

  1. Descriptive labels under icons to allow icons to be read by screen readers.

  2. Added a microphone speech function on the search bar to allow users to use their voice instead of typing.

 

Takeaways

IMPACT

Users shared that the app made it easier for them to organize all their medications in one place and can see the benefit of this app helping them remember to take their medications.

What I learned

I learned that many people around the world rely on multiple medications a day for their overall health and do not always stick to a schedule taking them. Trying to solve just this one task of setting reminders lead to many different options and opportunities for the app to grow to a greater health management too.

Next Steps

  1. Conduct more research on how successful users are to keep up with their medication schedules using the app for a longer period of time.

  2. Add medication information to the app not just the responsive website to help users learn more about their medication.