Imagine living on the countryside and needing a doctor. Imagine even needing a rare specialist physician. And imagine the time getting to and waiting for a doctor’s appointment. Imagine having a medical issue on a weekend or simply outside of office hours – maybe a visit to the emergency room is not necessary. Or imagine being abroad and needing trustworthy medical consultation. There are many reasons in terms of availability, time and cost why telemedicine is a useful extension to primary health care.
But also think about people not feeling comfortable with face-to-face visits. People who want a little more privacy. Who don’t want to talk about their concerns in the waiting room or even in front of the doctor.
Initial research showed me, that there is a need to combine these different demands while making people feel comfortable and secure sharing their sensitive data. The idea for T. health care was born, an app for remote, quick and competent medical consultation, offering communication tools that meet the individual needs and a simple and clear interface, inspiring confidence.
Product Strategy • Competitive Analysis • Business Requirements • User Stories • User Research • Persona Development • User Journeys • Task Analysis • User Flows • Information Architecture • Low Fidelity Wireframing • Mid – High Fidelity Prototyping • Usability Testing • Accessibility • Styleguide
02 The situation
Background statistics
1/3 Regularly postpone visits to the doctor, mainly due to time reasons Source
64% suffer negative effects due to the postponement Source
60% Can imagine communicating digitally with their doctor (1. phone, 2. video 3. chat) Source
40% Are likely to avoid talking to a doctor in person about health issues they feel uncomfortable with Source
Problem statement
People need a way to get remote, and prompt medical consultation, because they spend a lot of time waiting for and getting to doctor’s appointments, where presence isn’t always required – often under difficult conditions such as acute illness or impaired mobility. They also need different communication tools to address their individual needs, because while many prefer a quick telephone conversation, some feel uncomfortable talking with someone about their health problems.
Challenge
„How might I design an application that helps users to get remote medical advice while feeling comfortable and save?“
Solution
A web app for remote, quick and competent medical consultation, offering communication tools that meet the individual needs and a simple and clear interface, inspiring confidence.
03 Market research
Competitive analysis
Starting out with an analysis of the current market by looking at competitor marketing profiles and creating SWOT profiles, I aimed to spot opportunities and potential threats for my app.
Key objectives – how do they stand out?
Overall strategy – what do they focus on, and how? SEO, PR?
Market advantages – what sets them apart from others?
SWOT Analysis
Business requirements
The creation of a business requirements document helped me to compile all findings and corresponding conclusions, including the business risks and opportunities, the business objectives, and how these can be measured, as well as the overall scope of the project.
Target audience
All persons aged 35-65 years who have medical problems themselves or care for dependants.
People below or above that age demographic are assumed to be in need of a different kind of interface and content for getting medical advice.
04 User research
Online survey
To gain first insights from potential users, I conducted a survey. The quantitativedata collection helped me to get a better understanding of their goals and pain points and to refine my initial product ideas.
14 Participants
14% Have used telemedicine before
24-42 Age
Some of the key findings:
There is a demand for receiving medical advice using the tools video call 64%, phone call 50% and chat 36%.
57% would want a consultation from the next available doctor or accept some waiting time for a preferred doctor, depending on the issue.
64% would like initial contact depending on the issue, by either speaking to a medical assistant or filling out a form themselves.
User interviews
By conducting interviews with potential users (moderated and in person) I was able to gain further qualitative and valuable insights.
Getting a sense of their feelings and opinions on the subject of telemedical consultation
Understanding user behavior when needing medical assistance
Understanding the circumstances and how they would want to get telemedical help
6 Participants
12 Interview questions
3.5 Hours recording material
User research analysis
To get a better overview of the transcribed interview data, the creation of an affinity map was very helpful. I was able to form 5 clusters with the main needs and pain points of the users.
Personalization
Reliable information / Security
Flexible communication tools
Comparability
Guidance and support
Affinity Map
User personas
In order to better tailor the product to certain types of users, I have created the strategically most important personas. They helped me to focus on the identified goals and to keep their pain points in mind. I will limit the case study to the first persona in the following.
The working parent
The man of action
Persona: The working parent
I was then able to reconsider my problem statement and reconcile it with the personas.
„I believe that by creating a simple web application that allows to get prompt remote medical advice for Lisa, I will achieve having Lisa get quick and professional assessments of emerging health problems in her family and make efficient use of her scarce time.“
User journeys
To get a clear picture of where Lisa comes from and what she wants to achieve with the app, the creation of journey maps was a helpful tool. With them I was able to identifyopportunities to enhance her user experience with my app.
User Journey: Quick assessment of a health issue
User flows
I have mapped out Lisa’s main paths through the application using various scenarios. This allowed me to focus on the flows rather than the individual pages and helped me to identify the type of pagesneeded in my app.
User Flow: Appointment with a doctor of choice
05 IA
Sitemap
I outlined the app’s structure in a sitemap and ran a (hybrid) digital card sorting test to help me understand users‘ expectations and understanding of the topics. Tool: Optimal workshop OptimalSort.
6 Participants
3 Given categories
13 Topics
The test results made a few label changes and minor adjustments to the structure necessary.
Sitemap
06 Prototyping
Wireframes
I started drawing simple low fidelity wireframes using pen and paper to get my thoughts structured.
Low fidelity wireframes
Prototyping
Once I was clear about the overall structure and basic features of the pages, I moved on to a digital visualisation and linked these mid-fidelity screens to a clickable prototype to be able to run a usability test.
Mid Fidelity Wireframes
I worked in grayscale and without elaborating on individual elements so that I could concentrate on the usability of the application. This also proved to be helpful during the subsequent usability tests, where the participants could concentrate on the task flows and leave design considerations aside.
07 Testing
Moderated in-person usability test
Potential users that met key characteristics were then given two scenarios and corresponding activities to perform on the clickable prototype. This allowed me to gather initial feedback on the usability of my design solution and find out if my goals were met.
Goal was to find out, whether the communication methods offered were suitable and manageable for the target persons and if they felt comfortable and secure with the way of getting medical consultation through the app.
I chose moderated testing because as the prototype was still missing certain functionalities at this early stage, I was able to give guidance to handle it.
I decided to do an in-person test to observe the body language of the participants and analyse how their facial expressions correlate with their actions and words.
6 Participants
1 iPhone
20 Minutes each
Rainbow spreadsheet
To help me recognize patterns and prioritize problems that have occurred according to their severity, I have created a rainbow spreadsheet. I also added corresponding possible solutions for improvement.
Rainbow Spread Sheet
Iterations
Using the home screen as an example, the improvement becomes visible with every design iteration. Particularly structural and formulation problems were revealed by user tests.
08 Visual design
Style guide
To help safeguard the integrity of my design, I created a set of standards.
Click to see more
09 Prototype
I created the high fidelity prototype of the app using Adobe XD. It allows to explore the identified key user flows and will be used for future user testing and further development of the app.