Opportunity
The purpose of this project was to design an application that can be used as a diet regulator suggested by doctors to improve cardiovascular health amongst those that suffer with hypertension and cholesterol.
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Given the prompt “How might we improve cardiovascular health and address health inequalities?”, we aimed to target the Indian subcontinent and tackle key issues in the country.
Insights
Problem Statement
A high intake of oily foods and sodium was the lead cause of cardiovascular disease.
To narrow down the cause of cardiovascular disease we conducted surveys and interviews with medical specialists, including seasoned doctors and students pursuing a residency. We came to a conclusion that a high intake of oily foods and sodium restricted easy blood flow and was the lead cause of cardiovascular disease. The mean age for the onset of cardiovascular health is 53 years old in India. Additionally there is a lack of essential resources, infrastructure and skilled personnel to provide optimal healthcare to those in need.
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By targeting diets, we create a solution to serve primarily as a preventative method to CVD that doesn't include the need for prescription medication and regular hospital visits.
Our Solution
A doctor prescribed mobile application that serves as a nutrition tracker and assists with scheduling consultation round the clock.
Application Prototype
Based on the above mentioned insights, our primary focus is on preventing and treating CVD through natural, inexpensive methods. Our appeal to Indian culture and concerns is a motivating factor for interaction with our application.
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We wanted something that stood out compared to the rest of the diet regulating apps, and thus decided to partner with local doctors to have a 'dual-app' concept, where doctors can oversee the diet of the patient, schedule meetings with them as well as suggest recipes for nutritional intake.
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Ideation
Our team conducted surveys and interviews to further zero in on customer pain-points. Since our target audience was based in India (my place of origin), I reached out to my network for researching the problem. Through circulating a survey and gathering more than 50 responses and conducting three extensive interviews, we narrowed down the problem to unhealthy nutritional habits.
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With this information, we started brainstorming. Using Crazy 8s, 6-3-5 method and the Lotus Blossom Technique we were able to form a comprehensive and cohesive idea of what product we would build and what we wanted it to achieve. This led to my second round of research which focused on the business aspect of the app production. This research on the competitive market was crucial to be able to come up with original features that would be viable in the 2021 market.
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Persona
Freemium Features
Heartbeat is an app in two different services, one for clients/patients, and the other for monitoring doctors. When we first introduce our customers to heartbeat, it is presented as a free app with many but limited tools to help monitor and suggest changes to a client's nutritional intake. Some of the free tools include being able to input and monitor your diet, as well, it will include simple options to suggest healthy foods towards your goal. However, with the paid version of the app, some tools not originally provided will include community engagement, which will allow users to feel as if they are working with other people towards a goal. This will include recipes and discussion boards where people may help others in similar situations as them.
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Patient side SiteMap
We understand that our target audience is mostly under the 'Millenial' category. To appeal to these older generations that may or may not be as tech-savvy as Gen Z, we focused on an easy to navigate UI and old-school design. Rounded borders and and buttons have a friendlier feel, relating to an already stressed user. The application relies heavily on the user voluntarily sharing their information, however, since the doctor has access to and can motivate the user to keep updating their diagnostics and food intake, this challenge should be solved.
Proposal Board for the RSA Annual Design Competition
Challenges
The biggest challenge we faced was making this application accessible to everyone. Due to a large financial divide in India, it is impossible to ensure everyone has access to a cellular phone that is able to offer the services required for self-monitoring. To mitigate this problem, we implemented a donation feature on the application and partnership with NGOs that allowed doctors to facilitate campaigns and workshops on hygiene and donate first aid to the less fortunate.
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Another challenge faced during the production of this application was that of poor cross-departmental communication. This project consisted of two major teams; 'Business' and 'Design', with a few individuals that were skilled in both skills playing middle-men. I found myself in the third category, trying to communicate with both teams and found that often, the design team would be lacking crucial information to assist with their decision-making. The first iteration of our product was a little too aesthetic, missing key functional aspects. Had there been proper easy communication rather than one person bridging the gap between both teams, the process would've been time-efficient and concise. We worked on this communication gap by the second iteration of the product.
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Low Fidelity Wireframes
During the collection of data and for my UX efforts, I've been awarded with a certification for my ethical considerations. Excelling at conducting interviews and reading between the lines through observation has achieved me the following certificate from the Panel of Ethics.
My Take-aways
This project was an introduction to professional Design Thinking. Through exposure to other projects via providing feedback to other teams and reviewing proposal boards made for the RSA Annual Design competition, I was able to gauge the exact considerations required to make a project successful. The following were my takeaways from working on this project within a group of 6.
Design Thinking
Exposure to design thinking taught me the basics of being a UX Designer. From values like empathy for users and always keeping the end user's problems in mind, to collaboration and the importance of communication with my team. In addition, it taught me that design is an iterative process and to always keep an open mind.
User-Centered Approach
It is crucial to spend a good amount of time understanding the problem and narrowing down exactly what it is that should and can be tackled. Brainstorming in a niche is one of the hardest parts of the design process, but it ensures the success of your product in the long run since it targets a specific user pain point. Understanding this pain-point early on and keeping it in mind throughout your process allows you to truly design for your user.
Data Analysis
As a business analyst/UX Researcher and Designer for this project, I was tasked with gathering and filtering through data. Qualitative data was more important to create informed decisions as a UX Designer for product features. This was gathered through in depth interviews.