oeases | Product Designer

Overview

œases

(pronounced "oh-ae-suhs)

Overview

This project is a part of a UI/UX course, "Disruptive Technologies for the Everyday", taught by Lusiné Corsini. My teammate, Stacia Seetoh, and I were both interested in the experience of chronic conditions, because we saw it as a unique experience with no specific guaranteed cure, only methods to delay or relieve the discomfort or pain. We were particularly interested in how individuals diagnosed with a chronic condition actually managed their symptoms and triggers while going through life. Having had friends and family diagnosed with chronic conditions, we were inspired to design for them.

Timeline

Tools

Figma

Illustrator

Rhinoceros

Procreate

Canva

Apr 5 - May 24

2022 (7 weeks)

Team

Skills

Supatra Tachaplalert

Stacia Seetoh

User research

UX mapping

Info architecture

Visual design

Wireframe

Agile & Kanban

Sprint planning

Prototyping

User testing

Project Brief

Oeases is a personalized routine manager which nurtures consistency and positive habit building for people with chronic conditions. With a virtual oasis as a main feature, users can visually track their consistency and progress, as well as feel a sense of accomplishment and find companionship through other features such as a gamified reward and a community platform.

The goal of this project is to develop a fun and intuitive interface that can improve the experience for people living with a chronic condition–helping them to better manage their symptoms and triggers while adapting to lifestyle changes.

Assumptions

The Experience:

Part 1: Our Initial Assumptions

Going in to this project, my partner and I had some assumptions about the experience of having a chronic condition. As a person with eczema myself, I have personal experiences, however, we did not want our assumptions to become biases and alter our user research process. As we list out assumptions out, we kept them in mind to validate/invalidate them after the user research process.

Those new to chronic conditions require assistance with integrating a flexible and buildable routine into their current lifestyle.

Those more familiar with their conditions have the habit of managing their symptoms mentally.

People are less likely to continue using a habit-building app that requires too many steps.

Suffering from chronic conditions can be mentally exhausting and often a lonesome journey.

Research

Part 2: Survey

To gain a general understanding of our users, we conducted a survey and shared it to several health and chronic condition-related forums including Reddit, Facebook, and other support group sites. These results would guide our initial concept and the app's feature-set.

Demographic (out of 85 responses)

Tracking

Track their symptoms

62%

Do not track their symptoms

38%

Coping/managing methods

Physical therapy/exercise
Medication
Diet changes
Avoiding triggers
Pacing
Self care – improve mental health
Distraction techniques
Family/friends support

Key insights

Most people are diagnosed with their conditions for 10+ years (lifelong)
Most people track their conditions
Most people journals or uses phone applications to track their symptoms

Part 3: Interviews

To gain a deeper understanding of the user's experiences, we conducted 12 interviews with people with varying chronic conditions. Throughout the process, we focused on 4 aspects of their experiences: routine management, lifestyle changes, emotional wellbeing, and app functionality. Here are the insights:

noun-research-validation-3767721_edited.

Routine Management

Monitoring with photos
Relying on reminders
Goal-setting
Tracking with planners

Lifestyle Changes

Avoiding irritants/allergens
Avoiding physical exertions
Dietary changes
Adding regimes

noun-emotional-intelligence-5278743_edit

Emotional Wellbeing

Constant discomfort & pain
Prevention through sacrifices
Low moods, low energy
Feeling helpless

noun-strategy-with-purpose-3767728_edite

App Functionality

Personalization
Low upkeep
Incentives and reminders
Sense of community

Part 4: User Persona & Experience Map

To better pinpoint the common pain points and fully understand our target audience, we crafted a persona, Oliver Green, and his journey in an experience map to help us further analyze any potential gaps in our understanding.

(Click to expand!)

User Painpoints

The Problem

Part 1: Painpoints

After consolidating all of our research, we identified the key painpoints that would inform our feature-set and design direction.

Inconsistent Routine

Individuals often forget to take their medication/complete their task, hence worsening their conditions and could result in a downward spiral.

Unappealing Incentives

Routine Modification

There is not enough incentives with their current tracking methods, or the incentives are not appealing enough for them to follow through with their tasks.

Individuals are uncertain about how to go about modifying their daily routine to better suit their conditions. It is difficult to find a flexible method that is effective.

Lack of Support & Understanding

The lack of understanding results in loneliness and helplessness. Individuals also report bad mental health links to worse physical conditions.

Opportunities

Part 2: Opportunities

The painpoints listed above led us to various design opportunities which includes:

Personalized Routine:

A customizable feature to help them manage their condition/mental health.

Reminder Companion:

A reminder companion for medication, tasks, breaks, self-care, etc.

Physical Wearable:

A physical, wearable device to further aid as a reminder.

Sense of Community:

A platform where they can connect, share, and rant, to feel a sense of community.

Initial Concept

The Solution:

Part 1: Initial Concept & Wireframe

Through the emotional gratification of donating to non-profit organizations, individuals can ensure task completion through a reminder app linked to a wearable device.

Initial Feature-Set:

Streaks
Gamified reward system
Pain & progress monitoring
Routine manager
Friends & Community
Widget
Wearable

Concept Feedback

Combining streaks with habit building reinforces a sense of accomplishment.

Donating money is not enough of an incentive for everybody.

A buddy system or a community helps keep you accountable.

The physical product might become a hassle/extra step to the process.

Revised Concept:

Taking the form of an oasis, the personalized routine manager nurtures consistency and positive habit building for people with chronic conditions.

Onboarding: Account + routine setup

Initial name: EASE

Oasis: Editing, shop, and progress

Oasis with current points (earned through completing tasks), shop for buying more elements, and warning for withering oasis.

Homepage: Overview of today's tasks, access to editing + adding tasks

Section with upcoming tasks & edit + add options

Other visual ideas for the task reminders

Routine Manager: Add, edit, and create

Swipe to complete a task

Edit, add, and create new routines/tasks

Navigation bar: Friends, Oasis, Progress

Freinds

Friends list with their stats and oasis preview

Wireframe feedback:

"The homepage should be more clear/bold, with the function to complete tasks."

"The aesthetic is soothing! It looks friendly and inviting to use."

"I want to be able to give gifts to my friends."

"Having a shop required too many steps. The reward system should be more streamlined..."

Concept Development

Part 2: Concept Refining & Mid-fidelity Prototype

The primary rounds of user testing has validated our initial assumptions and ideas, as well as valuable feedback for us to refine and develop our feature-set, information architecture, and visual design.

Removed the wearable aspect

Removed the donation incentive

Removed and simplify the gamified oasis aspect

Added a more extensive friend

& community feature

Users commented that the wearable might be an unnecessary touchpoint.

Users commented that donating money is not enough of an incentive for some.

Users commented that having too many steps/features to interact with their oasis could be distracting to the app's main function of habit-building and routine management.

Users commented that sharing their progress and block can keep them accountable.

Key Changes:

Information Architecture

Click to expand

Revised Feature-Set:

Streaks & milestones
Gamified reward system
- Personal oasis
Progress monitoring
Routine manager
Friends & Community

Welcome

Homepage

Oasis

Flare-up routine

Adding tasks

Home (alternative)

Discover friends

Screen Shot 2022-11-16 at 11.24.55 AM.png

"The oasis should be on the homepage. Linking the reward to the tasks directly will be better."

"The streak should have its own page since it's important."

"The orange is a little alarming. Maybe try a cooler-toned color. The grey is also quite dull."

"The app looks very friendly and calming, but the font looks a little too young."

Final Prototype

Part 3: Design System & Final Prototype

From the user feedback of our mid-fidelity prototype, we've polished the app's design system including the fonts, colors, and layout. We also established the gamified reward system and modeled the oasis components to go with our standardized UI system.