The above research reminded me of something:
When a close family member was diagnosed with a chronic illness, she struggled to adapt to her new limitations, but was comforted by a nurse who said: "It's okay to grieve for your past life."
Proto-Personas
Based on the results of the competitive analysis and foundational research, I developed the following three proto-personas:
“Then you just put together how you were feeling that day and then you wouldn’t really have to think about it, which would be great.”
– Mackenzie, usability test respondent
The Outcome
Smart Check-Ins
The app can auto-customize daily activities via a physical and mental wellness check-in, reducing the amount of work necessary for users to modify their activity.
“I think the app is like a nice little personal assistant so that you’re not doing all that in your head.”
– Lynn, usability test respondent
META is a wellness app aimed at helping users take control of their health through gamified elements. To help them to grieve the loss of unlived futures and to revel in everyday joys. Smart check-ins and customizable health and wellness tasks helps users tailor their self-care on an ongoing basis.
Competitive Analysis
My initial assumption was that apps in the health and wellness space primarily focus on weight-loss and act as food or activity log for non-disabled individuals. I analyzed indirect competitors including Noom, The Mighty, and Wave and found the following:
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No dedicated app – There is no fitness app specifically aimed at helping those with chronic illness(es)
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Inconsistent use – Similar apps are highly rated but usage often drops off overtime or becomes inconsistent
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Lack of tailored resources – Little to no resources on how to implement or modify wellness activities over time
Visual Emotion Management
Subjects represent emotions, allowing users to visualize and thus more easily understand and respond to their emotions, drawing inspiration from Internal Family Systems concepts.
Focus on Coping Skills
Users can review and practice a number of coping skill recommendations based on their emotions, or subjects, which they can save for future use.
Conclusion
My Thoughts
This was one of the most challenging and rewarding courses for my graduate degree. There was a heavy focus on documenting every step of the process, including all the design choices made for every stage of research and design. Though time-consuming, this was incredibly valuable as I had to clearly articulate how insights from discovery and user research informed the design. This project solidified my confidence in my ability to utilize my research and design skills to develop a fully fleshed out product that sparks joy in an underserved community.
Challenges
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Scope Creep: Initially, I attempted to niche down early by focusing on designing a health and fitness app for people with physical and/or mental disabilities. During the design phase, however, I quickly got carried away attempting to build out a number of features. While these features were valuable to users and I am still very proud of the final product, in the future it will be important to focus on testing and building out one feature at a time.
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Timeline: While I worked hard as a one-person team to gather as much information as possible early on, this course followed a strict timeline that made it difficult to conduct additional research throughout the entire design process. It became clear in the later stages of the project that specific research on modified workout routines and best practices for supporting mental health would be necessary to help users conceptualize the full value of the product. Nevertheless, this was a valuable roadblock to hit early on in the program, granting me the knowledge necessary to set reasonable deadlines with room to pivot and adapt as needed.
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Experience: This project was for one of the earlier courses in my graduate program. As such, I still had much to learn about building out prototypes and how to do so efficiently. The wireframe and prototyping phase took a long time and with the knowledge I have now after completing the program I could likely make the same prototype in about half the time or less.
User Stories and Flows
After creating five user stories I prioritized one story per persona to drive design. These were used to develop user flows that helped me to visualize the process and identify opportunities for improvement.
Background
Living with chronic illnesses can make it difficult to maintain consistent self-care and workout routines, despite providing immense value for managing pain. Additionally, despite how common chronic pain and disabilities that impact movement and motivation are, it was difficult to think of any apps that offer specific support for those with chronic illnesses or disabilities.
Modern fitness apps and online services often focus primarily on physical activity, food intake, and weight loss, ignoring users with different physical and mental wellness goals.
My Role
UX Research & Designer: Conducted foundational research including discovery, ideation, and testing
Visual Designer: Created UI design system and branding
Product Manager: Maintained adapative, agile strategy to prioritize feature design based on research findings
Goals & Objectives
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Help users feel in control of their health
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Provide an accessible health and wellness platform
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Address the physical and emotional stressors of chronic illness
Methodology
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Competitive Analysis looking at how competitors in the health and wellness space define and approach wellness
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Foundational Research regarding accessible wellness and how to understand and manage grief
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Design System developed while building out high-fidelity prototype
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Prototype Demo using new design system and foundational research to bring the design to life and demonstrated in a short video
Foundational Research
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief:
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Denial
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Anger
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Bargaining
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Depression
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Acceptance
Jennifer Martin, PsyD.'s Seven Stages of Chronic Pain
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Denial
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Bargaining and depression
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Anger
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Anxiety and depression
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Loss of self and confusion
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Re-evaluation of life, roles, and goals
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Acceptance (integration)
Individuals who experience chronic pain or illness often have to modify their lifestyle due to limitations beyond their control. This can be frustrating and even heartbreaking at times, creating an ongoing sense of grief. In exploring the connections between chronic illness and grief, I found Jennifer Martin, PsyD., had adapted the five stages of grief to more closely match the experience of those with chronic pain as follows:
User flow diagram with a key and associated user story.
Screenshot of early design inspiration, color scheme, and components.
Simple and free from unnecessary details. Generous support built into every feature for easy use regardless of impairments.
Versatile
Ready and able to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements and applications.
Creates an encouraging environment for people to realize the power of their mind and body.
The system does the hard work. Reduces decision fatigue and mental workload for users whenever possible.
Embeds whimsy and fantasy with reality to spark joy.
Original user story and low-fidelity wireframes alongside an explanation of the transition to mid-fidelity wireframes.
Design Tenets and Wireframes
First, I developed design tenets to guide the creation of wireflows. Then, I transitioned these into low-fidelity wireframes to share in a design review with a professional user experience designer and fellow classmates. Using feedback from this review, I made updates to each wireframe, created an early design scheme, and updated the wireframes to mid-fidelity.
Usability Testing
First, I used a screener to identify participants and act as a baseline for the interviews. Then, I developed an interview guide outlining the interview topics and questions. On the screener, I asked respondents to describe what wellness means to them in 1-2 sentences. In the interview, I asked them to elaborate on that question, which was valuable background information and set the stage for the upcoming scenarios.
Original user story and low-fidelity wireframes alongside an explanation of the transition to mid-fidelity wireframes.
Testing took the course of one week with five participants for 30-45 minute sessions per participant. Each participant had a 100% completion rate in all scenarios and identified Meta's general purpose as a wellness app with a gaming/fantasy focus.
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Great for setting long-term goals
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Customization options allow users to tailor their experience and goals
Opportunities
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Confusion about the target purpose and audience
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Two participants noted the app may be better geared toward younger audiences.
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Contrast testing
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Clarify text content
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Update design system
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Expand existing flows
Prototype Demo
Video demo of the high-fidelity prototype
Design System Updates
Several of the colors in the palette had to be updated for accessibility purposes. I also updated the other design elements and used those to make the high-fidelity prototype.
