MEDIGO APP

The Future of Optimizing Patient Care

PROJECT TITLE

mediGO

ROLE(S)

CEO,
Product Designer

TOOLS

Figma
Adobe Illustrator

TIMELINE

4 months (2023)

PROJECT OVERVIEW

MediGO is a med-tech startup concept that was built over the course of a semester at USC. I led a team of 7 other students to create a fully-fledged project that included both materials and mobile app design, business development strategies, and product pitches to stakeholders.

As the CEO, I was tasked with overseeing all aspects of the project - from managing the product timeline to delegating tasks to project members. Additionally, as the Design Lead, I personally was responsible for managing the product design, development of the mobile app, and the onboarding website design. This case study will cover the design process for the mediGO app.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

current healthcare systems lack the infrastructure for personalized patient management

Originally inspired by the plight of elderly who live alone, we sought to come up with a solution that could bridge the gap between daily healthcare management and emergency care services.

A few questions we considered:

1 encouraging independence

How could we assist caretakers in monitoring their medical dependents without having to be present 24/7?

2 in case of emergency,

How can we streamline the process of giving critical medical information to emergency care services?

3 in that case..

How can we balance the need for accessible medical information and prioritizing security of patient records?

PROBLEM

difficulty in consistent, efficient, and critical health management

We found a gap in the modern emergency healthcare's system ability to recognize, diagnose, and treat those with unique medical conditions at maximal efficiency. This also applies to those who suffer from a multitude of conditions that might be put at risk without proper and precise care. Thus, our goal for our solution was to minimize the amount of time between onboarding and medical treatment.

consistency is key!

Between different providers, hospitals, and even caretakers, having a common understanding of the patients' needs is key

maximizing efficiency

Providing patients, their healthcare providers, and their caretakers a common platform that maximizes efficiency

in critical situations...

In situations of emergency, how could we streamline the process of getting critical information to service providers?

SOLUTION

Supplementing the existing system with a universally accessible tool

With physical monitoring bracelets that not only 1) provide real time health insights and 2) are scannable for patient medical records, we had a vision to completely rewrite the health gadget scene.

The GOband is a health and activity tracker that provides first responders critical medical information in case of emergency. Combined with the mediGO app, track your loved ones and receive real-time notifications and alerts. Our vision for this band was for it to be a multifunctional yet lightweight wearable that could compete with products like the Fitbit and the Apple Watch by being monitorable by users other than the wearer.

I. INDUSTRY CONTEXT

Who would benefit from a monitoring band?

The usage of smart watches among other devices as health monitoring devices have surged in the past decade. Smartwatches are able to detect a variety of different health metrics, including but not limited to: heart rate, oxygen saturation, fitness levels, and sleep quality. Studies and surveys have shown that up to 90% of adults have expressed a willingness to share data from their devices directly with their physicians.

Here are a few statistics we gathered about the digital healthcare space:

40% of US Adults

are using healthcare-related applications, and 35 percent are using wearable healthcare devices

12% of medical device users

Use their devices to check metrics for a loved one in addition to themselves.
‍

40% or more people with chronic ailments

are significantly likely to use their devices as trackers for health indicators. 40% of US adults (1 condition) and 62% of US adults (2+ conditions).

45% of US adults

are interested in tracking their health concerns more seriously, using paper or digital records to track their symptoms and treatment.
‍

What can mediGO offer that is different?

Our focus, therefore, is not to create a solution that would radicalize the healthcare space but rather to systemize it; making it more accessible, reliable, and convenient for both individuals living with chronic conditions and their caregivers. We envisioned that mediGO would be a product that fills a niche space in the healthcare tech scene by acting as a safety net provide assurance to our users.

competitor analysis graph displaying images of multiple competitors in the medical scene and the tech scene

Currently, there is no product in the smart band market that fills in the niche for medical technology like mediGO. Products in the smart band space are highly developed in health and fitness metrics, while those in the medical space are more specific to serving a "high-risk" population. mediGO aims to combine the best features between the two to serve a new market of people who simply want to be worry-free, independent, and healthy.

II. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Setting the foundations

For the first few weeks of the course, we were expected to collaborate and finalize what features we would want our application to have. In order to accomplish this, we had to not only complete logistical efforts to understand our market, but also make empathetic efforts by reaching out and gaining insights.
‍
Two core values that we decided to place at the forefront of our brand were:

1. Accessibility

We project that a majority of our users would range primarily between two extremes of an age spectrum (>10yrs and <60yrs) at an inverse bell curve.

2. Practicality

We to make our services a hub to simplify healthcare for our users, with each feature intentionally chosen. Using the app would have to be both practical and useful.

What do our users want?

To find out which features people would like, we first began interviewing potentials users of our app: individuals with chronic health conditions, caretakers, and healthcare professionals. We asked whether they had been using a healthcare monitoring device, and what type of features were indispensable for them. True to our research, most patients were equipped with some type of band - health tracking for our younger interviewees and scannable bands for our elderly ones (information for elderly provided by caretakers). A few key points we gathered:

"I get anxious that something will happen to my grandmother every time I leave the house"
‍

- young caretaker

"I need to be logging things throughout the day, but I'm quite forgetful, and I hate opening apps"
‍

- middle-aged patient

"it would be useful if we could see patient vital records for our elderly patients who have poor memory"
‍

- healthcare provider (nurse)

While we originally had plans to use the app for personal monitoring, we decided to reroute into an application that makes it easy to share information. With this information, we finalized the key points of the mediGO app and its correlating functions on the band.

III. PRODUCT IDEATION

Finalizing product features

First, we finalized the relationship between the different facts of the mediGO ecosystem, confirming the role of each and their relationship to one another. Next, we compiled a list of features commonly seen in both smartwatches, medical tracking bands, and health/wellness applications. From this list, we narrowed it down to a few we thought were the most important/most feasible to implement.

chart of medigo ecosystem, displaying the GOweb, GOband, and GOmobile options .

a chart with all the original feature options, highlighting the few we ended up choosing

Understanding our users through storytelling

To precisely communicate my product vision with my team and our stakeholders, I drew up a few storyboards with scenarios that express how mediGO is supposed to be used.

side by side image of woman and her elderly mother utilizing the GOband happily

Marissa is worried about her mother, who has dementia and prone to falling. She is able to go about her day rest assured, knowing that she can track her mother's condition and location throughout the day.

schoolgirl happily walking with her GOband

Daisy is a 6 year old with type 1 diabetes who wishes to be independent with her school life. With her band, her parents are able to have assurance that they will be notified right away in case of any incident.

Elaine is a seizure prone 22 year old living alone in New York City. With the band, she can ensure that anyone who finds her will know what to do once they scan it.

Barry is a 62 year old man with a rare chronic medical condition. With his band, he can instantly share critical medical information with first responders in case of emergency.

Creating a User Flow

After determining what functions we wanted the app to have, and how our different products would interact with each other, we began our app development process by mapping out a user flow that would help us imagine how each user (patient, caretaker, first responder) would interact with our application. During this step, we were careful to minimize the number of steps it took to complete a task.

chart of how we approached our user stories, highlighting each step with a text marker

Envisioning the interface

Using Figma, I began creating low-fidelity wireframes that captured just a portion of our original vision. During this process, I continuously conducted market research on how popular applications in the same space (health, tech) organize their information. My goal at this step was to keep the app consistent with what our users would be used to. Cohesive to the feedback we received from our interviewees, I decided to split the app into five main categories: the home page, health insights page, activity log, profile, and at the very center: location.

low fidelity wireframe of our original app design

IV. VISUAL DESIGN PROCESS

Shaping our visual narrative

While mediGO's vision is to provide our users with their information in a logical and concise type of manner, our goal for the app was to create an intuitive, reliable, and inviting space for our users. We used both solid and gradient cool-toned colors such as blue and purple to establish a comfortable and calm environment and tone.

visual design system with all the icons, text, elements, and colors we used.

V. CRITIQUES, ADJUSTMENTS, AND HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPING

Design Critiques

During the first round of reviews for our product, we were able to pitch our product and concept to the class and professor and receive our first round of critiques for our low fidelity prototype. During this time, we also sent the link for a few of our "users" from our initial round of interviews to review. A summary of the notes we received from each group are:

From the Professor:

"Simplify and Highlight"

Our professor recommended that we remove a few of our features so that the most important ones could be prioritized. He also encouraged us to look into data on which health metrics would be most beneficial for our users, and to organize it in a hierarchical manner.

From our Classmates:

"Update and Modernize Interface"

Our classmates had the most feedback on the interface (icons and buttons), saying that it could be updated to fit modern standards. A few also mentioned how the icons did not fit the tone we were trying to express - it was too "casual," whereas our product was "sophisticated"

From our Users:

"It's too complicated"

Our users found the activity log most useful. Most expressed uncertainty about using emergency related location services, as they are not likely to rely on the app in case of emergency. They also mentioned that they would like all the important features to have high visibility so they wouldn't have to look for it.

Secondary Adjustments

Using the critique we had received and additional brainstorming within the team, we adjusted our approach by reducing the number of features in app and instead highlighting features that were more likely to be used. A question we often had to revisit is "what makes our app unique," and "would this be what the users want." We had to constantly keep ourselves in check to ensure our vision was on par with reality.

Thus, the solutions we implemented following the class critique and final rounds of brainstorming include:

highlight important, remove nonessential

We realized that there was no informational hierarchy in our design, and this was making it difficult for users to navigate through

update user interface

Up to this point, we had been neglecting the aesthetic, tone, and overall feel of the project for the sake of focusing on functionality.

organize metrics and simplify

The feedback we got from users suggested that our design took a significant amount of mental effort/ cognitive load to understand and navigate.

REFLECTION

Takeaways

One of my greatest takeaways from this project is the importance of strong team chemistry, a byproduct of hardwork and trust. While I joined this class with the goal of implementing and practicing my knowledge in design, I was unable to focus on that aspect because I was being spread out with other responsibilities. As the "CEO," I learned that each individual in a professional space is equipped with their own strengths, and it is the responsibility of those in leadership to guide them along that path in order to create the best possible product.

Beyond the project...

This project was definitely an interesting experience as a designer, because for the first time I had to juggle my priorities between aesthetic, basic function, and my various responsibilities as a part of leadership. As I reflected, I noticed two main philosophies I carried that speak about me as a designer and as a team member.

1. There is always a minimum standard for my work. If I cannot accomplish this during work hours then it will be done after. (This normally applies to aesthetic - it is my joy to create beautiful products)

2. Either everyone wins, or everyone loses. If someone on my team is lost and cannot complete their core tasks, then everyone on the team has failed.

All in all, I had a lot of fun working on this project, especially while thinking of my grandmother who could have totally benefited from a product like this. I dedicate it all to her!

Thank you! Feel free to contact me if you would like to talk more about this project! Thank you for following along :)

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Work

Resume

Play

About

The Future of Optimizing Patient Care

1

encouraging independence

2

in case of emergency,

3

in that case..

consistency is key!

maximizing efficiency

in critical situations...

40% of US Adults

12% of medical device users

40% or more people with chronic ailments

45% of US adults

1. Accessibility

2. Practicality

"I get anxious that something will happen to my grandmother every time I leave the house"
‍

"I need to be logging things throughout the day, but I'm quite forgetful, and I hate opening apps"
‍

"it would be useful if we could see patient vital records for our elderly patients who have poor memory"
‍

From the Professor:

"Simplify and Highlight"

From our Classmates:

"Update and Modernize Interface"

From our Users:

"It's too complicated"

highlight important, remove nonessential

update user interface

organize metrics and simplify

intuitive and simple home screen

Easy to read and understand, while having all crucial points of information

post-it themed notes screen for accessible reminders

UI that brings real-life examples to the digital world

comprehensive health dashboard

everything you need - including how to read and understand the data

thanks for stoppin' by!

let's chat!

Work

Resume

Play

About

The Future of Optimizing Patient Care

1

encouraging independence

2

in case of emergency,

3

in that case..

consistency is key!

maximizing efficiency

in critical situations...

40% of US Adults

12% of medical device users

40% or more people with chronic ailments

45% of US adults

1. Accessibility

2. Practicality

"I get anxious that something will happen to my grandmother every time I leave the house"‍

"I need to be logging things throughout the day, but I'm quite forgetful, and I hate opening apps"‍

"it would be useful if we could see patient vital records for our elderly patients who have poor memory"‍

From the Professor:

"Simplify and Highlight"

From our Classmates:

"Update and Modernize Interface"

From our Users:

"It's too complicated"

highlight important, remove nonessential

update user interface

organize metrics and simplify

intuitive and simple home screen

Easy to read and understand, while having all crucial points of information

post-it themed notes screen for accessible reminders

UI that brings real-life examples to the digital world

comprehensive health dashboard

everything you need - including how to read and understand the data

thanks for stoppin' by!

let's chat!

"I get anxious that something will happen to my grandmother every time I leave the house"
‍

"I need to be logging things throughout the day, but I'm quite forgetful, and I hate opening apps"
‍

"it would be useful if we could see patient vital records for our elderly patients who have poor memory"
‍