MedSup+
Role: Research,Designer
Duration: Oct-Nov 2022
The project
MedSup+ is a medicine or supplement reminder service, running on both app and desktop versions. Its primary target are users under prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as users consuming supplements for their well-being or personal goals.
The problem
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131 millions of people are under some form of medication in the United States. Only 50% of them follow their prescribed treatment properly. Some forget or are confused about how or when to take their prescription
Challenges
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Incorporate a way for users to easily set up a reminder
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Add a feature for family, caregiver and coach to follow up medication/supplement consumption
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Design for screen sizes variation to fit specific users's needs
To Begin with:
To start, I asked myself a few questions.
Who is the primary user? What kind of goals do they have? Why would someone want to use this application? Do they have specific needs? What are the benefits of using reminders?
What are some features that will help users to stay on top of their consumptions?
After interviewing participants, it became noticeable their goals were similar: Use and set up medication/supplements as easy as possible while having an eye of their treatments consumption through app or website
Meet the Users
Name: George L
Age: 65
Family: Married ; 1 child
Occupation: Retired
George is a 65 years-old retired engineer who had been recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Because of this, he has to take a lot of medications everyday for life, at different times during the day; and it's hard for him to remember when and dosis to take these medications. He wants a tool that can assist him on this, not only on his mobile phone. Even if he is somehow tech-friendly, setting up app is sometime difficult for him.
Name: Juan P
Age: 21
Family: Single
Occupation: Student/pro-athlete
Juan is a 21 years-old student and a future track and field pro-athlete. He also works as a part-timer barista in a coffee shop. He has a very busy schedule-everything is timed with precision, starting with his food and supplements that he has to take during the day. In order to perform in his sports, he needs a mobile app to remind him when to take his supplements at a specific time.
Competitive Analysis
In order to build a solid foundation for MedSup+, I evaluated what prominent medication reminder apps already offered and what user goals they were not reaching. I looked into several user-reported features that are considered vital and identified which ones MedSup+ could capitalize on that would give it an edge over other applications.
I found that all the main competitors allow users to set up reminder on their apps but none of them propose this service on their websites.
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I found that 2 of 3 competitors send reminders for a refill
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Medisafe provide a good amount of setting options but the navigation flow is frustrating
Ideation, Wireframes & Mockups
Quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address pain points. My focus was specifically to add features to set reminder intuitively and share daily consumption with family and caregiver.
After sketching, the ideation, and some of the paper wireframes, I created the initial design of the medication/supplements reminder app. Incorporation of accessibility consideration was added at early stage
Information Architecture
Challenge 1
The app has been designed with the user in mind and aims to simplify the process of setting medication/supplements reminder.
This app would allow the user to have reminders sent to their phone or email before they forget. This will help people with ADHD, Alzheimer's, and other memory disorders.
Challenge 2
Most people don't realize how important it is to take their medication or supplements as prescribed. For some, it's a matter of life or death. For others, it's a question of maintaining their quality of life. That's why it's so important for family members, caregivers, and coaches to be able to follow up on medication and supplement consumption. By adding a feature to our app that allows users to track and share this information, we can help ensure that everyone gets the care they need.
Challenge 3
Designing for the user's needs is always important. Here are some steps that will help ensure the app works well no matter the device, and look attractive on any screen size or resolution.
Style Guide
Utilizing a soft gradient consisting of a balance of cool and energetic colors felt like the perfect fit for MedSup's branding. The blue help to evoke calming and harmonious feelings to the users. Magenta portrays a welcome friendly feeling and supports a sense of relaxation.
The main typeface of choice for the app is Poppins. I felt this typeface best fit the app do to it's extreme versatility through uppercase and lowercase styling, as well as dark and light text fills.
Takeaways
Designing for a social good project make the entire process more challenging. Diligently going through each step of the design and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.