Project Overview
Who is allwayswithyou?
Based in the U.K. Allwayswithyou provides B2C and B2B platforms that allow older adults in need of care, to thrive at home longer with the support, transparency, and tracking provided to all caregiver types and care beneficiaries.
Identifying the issues
Age-tech that integrates wearables + smart devices into an easy-to-use, informative portal. Providing family caregivers with the information they need, at the right time, in order to make better decisions about their loved ones' home healthcare.
How might we provide the familial caretakers the right health information at the right time in order to best support their loved ones in home health management?
Providing a solution
A mobile based remote care management platform
Real Time Monitoring: Monitor your loved one’s health and well being by tracking their vital signs, location and medical adherence.
Alerts & Important Updates: Stay up-to-date on your loved one’s medical care and diagnosis.
Record Database: Quickly access your loved one’s health records and documents. Keeping health records in a safe and secure centralized place is important and provides peace of mind.
Market Research
We conducted market analysis of caretaking applications and wearable platforms to determine their potential fit for our target audience’s needs and preferences. Exploring these products gave us a chance to craft more informed questions for our users needs and help uncover a deeper understanding to the pain points surrounding our problem space.
Takeaways:
Simplified UI removes clutter and ensures a clear CTA
Accessibility to information and action items for quick response and resolution
Importance of content structure and layout to complex data
Utilizing visual aids to show health data trends and habits
Who are the users?
In lieu of creating fictional user personas, my team had the opportunity to work with Noreen & Katie, a mother-daughter duo. Katie is the primary caretaker for her mother, Noreen, who has dementia. Our collaboration with them primarily took place during the research phase. They graciously provided us with invaluable insight and perspective into the issues they face. Much of what we learned from them served as inspiration for the product.
Noreen, 82
Older adult with dementia
Noreen, a senior living with dementia, is committed to maintaining her independence. Her daughter, Katie, supports her desire to continue living at home. Noreen is exploring strategies to adapt to her condition and manage her symptoms, including memory aids and cognitive exercises. Despite the challenges of her condition, Noreen's resilience is an inspiration and a reminder of the importance of empowering older adults to maintain their autonomy and dignity.
Katie, 55
Noreen’s daughter & primary caregiver
Katie has reduced her work hours to care for her mother, Noreen. Her mother has been diagnosed with dementia, and her condition has deteriorated in the past year, causing the family great worry. The family has put a roster in place to take turns looking after her, but with family commitments and work, they can't be there all the time, which causes stress and guilt. She respects her mother's wishes to remain at home but worries about her safety and wishes she had a system in place to monitor her well-being.
Designing Components
Having drawn on the style and branding guide in place, we began to develop the look and feel of the app by utilizing visual design principles and best practices. Our aim was to piece together the UI work already done, while giving the app a fresh new look and feel.
At this stage it was also crucial to allow for the flexibility and adaptability of the app as we prepared to validate our design decisions with our users. As such, my team focused on creating a collection of components and design elements which could be easily adapted and expanded upon in future iterations.
Beginning of a Design System
Bottom Navigation
Users were not sure how to access the AI chatbot. They did not recognize the center icon in the bottom navigation bar as the chatbot. To address this, the location was updated to only appear in contexts where it was relevant. The Alerts page was also difficult to find. To make it easier to find, we moved it to the bottom navigation bar.
Home Screen
Out first iteration of the home screen included horizontal tiles which emphasized biometric and other health data. Based on stakeholder feedback and usability testing results, the next iteration aimed to not overload the user as much. Only the most needed information is shown: Noreen’s overall health status, location and medication adherence.
Alerts
During V1 testing, the most significant issue that arose was confusion around whether alerts have been addressed/read or not. This was because too much color and styling were being used, neither of which conveyed a read state. Testing participants also expressed hesitation with tapping “Approve” or “Deny” as it relates to medical updates. To soften and clarify the wording we changed it to “Update Now” or “Dismiss.”
Schedule
The first version of this screen also suffered from an overuse of color which came up during testing. Users were unsure what the various colors represented or meant as it had to do with event types. They also were not able to successfully comprehend the current time of day indicator. Following this, we limited our color usage and enlarged the time of day marker for improved clarity. In the final version, a darker shade of red represents missed events that may require the caretaker’s attention.
AI Chatbot
Ask AWY, the AI chatbot we playfully named, was initially found on the bottom navigation and users found it difficult to interact with. They expressed wanting it to be more conversational and less of a “more info” type screen. We redesigned it to reflect this feedback by suggesting contextual prompts to the user.
Records
Our goal was to create a central space where a caregiving team to share, review and store all of their loved one’s medical documents and information. In the first iteration, many users couldn’t recognize the share icon.This was easily corrected by changing it to the more widely-recognized iOS share icon. In addition, we removed the alerts and “recent” category since it only added visual noise. In it’s place, the health profile, emergency alerts and Ask AWY log were added. We also added upload and export options so the care team could easily share and store important medical documents.
Impact & Reflection
Key Metrics: Additional testing and methods should be conducted to collect metrics that can be used to evaluate the user experience.
Usability
How satisfied users are with the product, measured through usability testing and interviews.
Task Completion Rate
Average time taken to complete a task correctly and with minimal error.
Net Promoter Score
How likely are users to refer the Allwayswithyou platform to others?