For this project, I decided to implement the Design Thinking Process as it is a Human centred process that focuses on the needs and pain-points of users. All while working, I still kept the business requirements of the project.
Pre-Pandemic era
Canada has a free public healthcare system. It’s a great service that the government offers but because it’s free and public, ERs and emergency clinics get filled up really fast which could lead to 16 hours of waiting before seeing a healthcare professional. Getting referred to a specialist could also be a hassle as patients need to find the specialists themselves in some cases and they sometimes have really long waiting lists. All of this has caused so many frustrations from tax payers.
As I started this project before the pandemic, I re-evaluated my position when the pandemic reached Canada: I saw an opportunity for my product to help the healthcare system.
Pandemic era
When the Pandemic arrived in Canada, Hospitals and clinics stopped seeing patients who didn’t have an emergency or had COVID. The healthcare system took a while to re-organize themselves and now clinics only see patients when there is no other choice, in any other situation, the healthcare professional conducts a consultation by phone. This is not at all an ideal situation, as healthcare professionals can’t see the patient and it’s hard to “show” what the problem is.
Pre-Pandemic era
Our users need a way to connect with healthcare professionals quickly when they are in need of advice on a certain subject instead of going to emergency clinics or the ER because looking things online is not always the best option (e.g. WebMD) and having a human interaction with an expert in the subject at hand will clarify things quickly.
We will know this to be true when we see how many users are using our platform to find solutions to their health problems and that they are fully satisfied with the interaction with the professionals.
Pandemic era
Our users need a way to connect with healthcare professionals in a safe, secure and quick manner.
We will know this to be true when we see how many users are using our platform to find solutions to their health problems and that they are fully satisfied with the interaction with the professionals.
Research Goals
Cast a wide net by asking a variety of people. This medical app is accessible to everyone who has a smartphone, so the important part is to see:
1. How the majority of people use their smartphones.
2. How often users need medical help/ advice.
3. Where do they often get professional help from.
I interviews 3 participants and here were my findings:
1. Users are familiar with smartphones but users that are 70 years and older are not that familiar with technology.
2. When users have a quick question about something related to life science or to their health, they don’t take any chance and preferrer to ask someone in the healthcare industry.
3. Users don’t hesitate to go see a healthcare expert, but they hate the waiting time.
4. When users are looking up for answers online, they always double check all their information.
5. Sometimes, users don’t want to talk to anyone and just want to have quick information about something that doesn’t require them to go see a healthcare professional.
6. Users were frustrated with the high costs of privet insurance, the long waiting time for appointments and sometimes, the lack of relevant answers.
7. Users are looking for a user-friendly app that can put them directly in contact with a healthcare professional
I was able to gather this information thanks to an Affinity map.
I divided my findings into 7 categories and tried to find solutions to each one.
This information helped me establish my Personas.
As the goal of this platform is to help as many people as it can, my personas need to be users who have access to a device who is connected to the internet. In this case I chose to work with 2 persons from 2 different age groups so that I can understand what is the relation between older users and technology.
Journey Mapping of task performed in the app based on the profile of my personas.This helped me understand the pain points of my personas.
Understanding how users will achieve a task, helped me create a user flow, which helped me create a Site Map. For this task, I chose to focus on George as his profile will match the majority of the platform’s users.
Based on the personas I developed and their user flows, I created a first version of the Site Map. To validate the information I had, I asked 13 participants to participate in a Card Sorting exercise. This exercise helped me finalize the site map as you can see here
First step was to sketch out low-fidelity wireframe to visualize the main functionalities of the platform. Then, with every new iteration, I started adding more features and details.
I conducted user testing with 6 participants and crated an Affinity map where I grouped all the common point.
I organized my findings into a Rainbow Spread Sheet to help me prioritize which elements need to be changed.
A few of the elements that needed to change were:
• The appointment section was confusing and 6 out of 6 participants wanted to see it in a calendar view
• Users who were older than 50 had difficulty naming the icons of the app
• All users were confused about the initial name of the app “HouseCall”
Now that I have validated the elements of my platform and received good feedback from my testers, I started thinking of the look of my app.
Style Guide
After doing some Preference Testing to see what users responded to the most, I created a style guide.All of my decisions were based on the Accessibility guidelines and are compatible with any devices Accessibility features.
Now that I have a good MVP and a UI to match it, it’s time to finalize the product! Here is a quick look at some of the screens of the app.
