HEAL
Heal is a healthcare system that cares for patients' physical and social health from the comfort of their homes. My focus was to create a new user experience as well as new user interface for their core product, Pulse. This software allowed patients to connect their bluetooth devices to track vitals and keep their doctor informed.
USER
EXPERIENCE.
The existing software was minimal, so a brand new experience needed to be created. Pulse was created specifically to take and track readings so that feature needed to be front and center, the additions needed to be clear and simple.
Above all else, the software needs to be ADA compliant, and accessible to users in a target age range of 65-90 who may have a wide range of disabilities, as well as the cognitive and visual decline of old age.
MAIN PROBLEMS.
Accessibility
FONT SIZE
In my first round of prototype testing, I found that the standard of 16pt for text wasn't readable for our patients. "The text in some places is way too small" was the top complaint at 92%.
SWIPING AND SCROLLING
Scrolling up and down through content areas was understood just fine, but anything side to side wasn't recognized. Only 7% of users tested knew they could scroll left and right.
MINIMIZED INFORMATION
Through observations and some feedback it became clear that screens needed to be simple, with minimal content. Too many graphs or information was overwhelming and stopped users from moving on with tasks.
Most of our users will have been using some sort of technology for at least 10-20 years, so some features and strategies will be understood by our users but a lot of the more modern interactions may only serve to confuse patients.
Tech Familiarity
PERSONAS A few personas needed to be defined, obviously the more important are Patient and Doctor, but as testing went on new were added such as Caretaker and Driver.
IA Pulse needed to be simple to use but also guide a user through tasks clearly, even if that meant including an extra screen for instruction.
TASKFLOW Working with Engineering throughout the process, it was crucial for all teams to be aware of how the software was going to function from a high level.
WIREFRAMES Working with Doctors and Patients directly, I was able to organize content and make wants and needs clear through wireframes.
USER
TESTING.
The heart and sole of Pulse is the patient using it. This software will exist on a tablet for these patients to use every day. What they wake up to and view first, and how they work through taking their vitals needs to be easy and engaging for everyone. Working with small groups of 4-6 different patients every two weeks, I was able to test dash concepts, interactions on the dash, awareness during testing, and many other important aspects.
COLOR PROTOTYPE A peek inside the Figma connections.
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V1 USER
INTERFACE.
The existing software was minimal, so a brand new experience needed to be created. Pulse was created specifically to take and track readings so that feature needed to be front and center, the additions needed to be clear and simple.
TASK USER FLOW Having a set of wireframes together, it was helpful for Stakeholders, Product, Engineering, and everyone else involved to have a clear visual of how a user work work through the entire application.
DASHBOARD CONCEPTS For patient testing, I created many versions of the home dash to see which interactions made sense, which layouts helped with the fastest interactions, and which designs were most appealing to our target audience.
COLOR PROTOTYPE One of the prototypes used to test if horizontal and vertical scrolling in one place would be understood.
INITIAL
FINDINGS.
While the main goal of Pulse is to track vitals with connected devices, Heal's Doctor's main pain point is that patients aren't tracking vitals daily. Pulse needs to help users integrate taking their vitals each day.
Life Integration
DASH V1 What I noticed most early on was that screens needed to be simple and to the point. A patient could find themselves confused on what to do if it wasn't very clear what steps could be taken.
CONCLUSION.
Heal and Pulse have been one of my most personally meaningful projects because I've said for year that these aren't art projects, and are functional products. At Heal we've been able to listen to our patients and create something for that is built completely around them and their wants and needs.
SOLUTION
NOTHING BELOW 24PT
Font size was the number one complaint during all the user tests, specifically that it was too small. The choice to set no text in the entire app lower than 24 will help users easily read and interact with Pulse and the data.
This presents unique challenges as a designer, and requires one to make aesthetics sacrifices for the sake of usability.
SOLUTION
FUNCTIONAL DESIGN
Pusle is 100% a functional product. Any embellishment could serve to confuse or slow patients and their care-takers. So a very minimal approach focused on large, and high contrast text, with very clear to read graphs was goal number 1.
SOLUTION
MORE SCREENS AND NAVIGATION
One surprising find was that navigation between screens, and even having to click through more than one to get the information needed made more sense for our users. Integrating scrolls, drop downs, toasts, and other modern interaction elements only left users wondering what they were able to do. Moving from one screen to the next made the experience more understanable.
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