Seniors' Health & Wellness App

User Research / Prototyping / Visual Design
Health care provider teaching a senior how to use health & wellness app on a mobile
client
Pupal
project type
User Research / Prototyping / Visual Design
project year
2023

Background

With technological advances, there is ever growing need for supporting health & wellness requirements for seniors, particularly after covid-19 pandemic. With increasing life expectancy and trend for independent living on rise, there is a huge demand for accessible and user-friendly innovations to manage seniors’ health and well-being.

Discover

Problem

Seniors do face challenges in managing their health and wellness because of limited access to user-friendly tools, age-related ability and physical changes, and lack of resources. This makes the way for purpose-built Health & Wellness App to address specific concerns and giving a user-friendly platform for seniors to monitor their health, access resources, and connect with HealthCare providers.

Goal

The primary goal of the project is to create a user-centric health and wellness for seniors.

The app will serve as a platform for managing health requirements, tracking activities, accessing resources, and helping in communication with healthcare providers.

Business requirements

Based on the interview with client, following requirements have been noted:

i. Track the health: Users able to monitor health metrics(e.g. blood pressure, blood sugar levels, heart rate, etc.).

ii. Medicine Management: User should be able to schedule, track, and receive reminders for their medications.

iii. Fitness Schedule: User should be able to personalise exercise routines for physical well-being.

iv. Appointment Integration: Setting up appointment with health care professionals, ensuring seniors can receive timely medical advice and care.

v. Resources: User should be able to access articles, videos, and resources covering health topics relevant to seniors.

Identifying Users & their needs

i. Active Seniors: Seniors wanting to track physical activity levels. Tailored exercise routines suitable for their age and fitness level & setting up the goals.

ii. Seniors with Chronic Conditions: Easy scheduling, tracking, and receiving reminders for medications. Record and monitor symptoms related to their chronic condition and communication with healthcare professionals.

iii. Seniors with Limited Mobility: User interface that is easy to navigate. Access to consultations for healthcare needs. Tailored exercises to improve mobility.

Research plan creation

Creating a comprehensive research plan is a crucial step in understanding the needs and preferences of our target audience for the Senior's Health & Wellness App. Here's a detailed research plan tailored for this project:

1. Key Research Questions

A. User Background and Behavior:

i. How seniors are currently managing their health and wellness?

ii. What are their daily routines in terms of exercise, nutrition, and medication management?

iii. How comfortable are seniors with using mobile apps?

iv. What are the common challenges seniors face when mobile apps?

B. Technology Usage and Familiarity:

i. Which digital tools or apps are seniors currently using for health and wellness purposes?

ii. Are there any specific features or functionalities they find particularly helpful or challenging in existing apps?

iii. How often do they use technology for health-related activities?

C. Specific Health Needs and Concerns:

i. Do seniors have specific health conditions or concerns that require special attention?

ii. What are the most critical health metrics or information they need to monitor regularly?

D. Preferences for Health & Wellness Apps:

i. What features and functionalities do seniors believe are essential in a health and wellness app?

ii. How important is customization and personalization in an app for seniors?

E. Accessibility and Usability:

i. How do they prefer to navigate through apps (e.g., menus, icons, search functionality)?

ii. Are there any specific pain points or challenges they face when using digital interfaces?

F.Motivation and Engagement:

i. What motivates seniors to use a health and wellness app regularly?

ii. How do they prefer to receive feedback for their health-related achievements?

G.Support and Communication:

i. How important is the ability to communicate with healthcare providers through the app?

ii. Are there any preferred channels for seeking help or support within the app (e.g.,chat, email, video call)?

2. Research Methods

i. User Surveys:

Participants: Sample Size: 20-25 participants.

Duration: 8-12 minutes per survey.

Key Topics:

Technology usage and familiarity.

Health and wellness preferences and priorities.

Preferred app features and functionalities.

Starting with screener questions so that survey is being filled by target audience, following with survey questions.

The demographic data is asked at the end of the survey reducing the possibility of abandoning the survey mid-way as may participants may feel them bit tedious.

Based on the survey, following results were concluded

- 64% seniors do use smartphones and have used some kind of app for travel, food ordering, news, health care.

- 80% prefers clear and high contrast text as well as images for better understanding.

- 73% wants some kind on in-built guide for teaching how to use the app.

- More than 80% respondents want medication reminders and tracker for monitoring body vitals.

Click here to go to user survey link

ii. User Interviews:

Participants: Seniors aged 60 and above. Sample Size: 5-10participants. Duration: 30-45 minutes per interview.

Key Topics:

Daily health routines and challenges.

Current health and wellness practices.

Experience with technology and digital tools.

Preferred features in a health app.

Click here to view the questions prepared for the interview

iii. SWOT Analysis:

The major competitors MediaSafe, Mighty Health, Side Kick Health, Ada Health and Telus Health

Here’s the SWOT analysis report

SWOT analysis for the competitors in senior's health care

Persona

Based on the feedback & responses received from the initial research, the following personas were developed to focus on.

Image of persona for the project

Click here to view persona in Figma

Define

1. Develop the User Stories

Personas hold the lights for developing the user stories. Initial focus is to develop as many user stories possible to identify every possible use case.

Here’s the list of user stories developed from the persona to work on:

Story 1 :

As a user, I want to be able to easily track my daily physical activity, so I can monitor my progress and stay motivated to stay active.

Story 2 :

As a user, I want to receive personalized reminders for my medication schedule, including dosage and frequency to ensure I take my medications on time and as prescribed.

Story 3 :

As a user, I want to have access to a library of easy-to-follow exercise routines that are tailored to my age and fitness level, so I can maintain my strength and flexibility.

Story 4 :

As a user, I want to receive alerts and notifications for important health updates and news relevant to my conditions, so I can stay informed about my health.

Story 5 :

As a user, I want to be able to log and monitor my vital signs (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate) and receive insights if any measurements are outside of the normal range.

Story 6 :

As a user, I want to have access to a variety of nutritious meal plans and recipes that cater to my dietary preferences and any specific health conditions I have.

Story 7 :

As a user, I want to be able to easily connect with my healthcare provider for consultations or to ask questions about my health.

Story 8 :

As a user, I want to have the option to engage with a community of other seniors who share similar health goals and interests, so I can provide and receive support and encouragement.

Story 9 :

As a user, I want the app's interface to have clear, large fonts and easy navigation, ensuring that I can use it comfortably and without confusion in my smartphone.

Story 10 :

As a user, I want the option to set preferences for notifications and reminders, including the ability to adjust the frequency and timing to suit my daily routine.

Story 11 :

As a user, I want to be able to easily access educational resources and articles about health topics relevant to seniors, so I can continue learning and making informed decisions about my well-being.

Story 12 :

As a user, I want the app to provide a secure and private platform for storing and managing my health information, ensuring my data is kept confidential.

2. Prioritize the User Stories

Once all the possible user stories are crafted, the task of prioritization of stories begin. Here, the Pareto principle (80-20 rule) is considered to select the stories keeping in mind that 80% of time users use 20%of features.

Going ahead with this thinking, following user stories are prioritized for building the website.

Story 1 :

As a user, I want to receive personalized reminders for my medication schedule, including dosage and frequency to ensure I take my medications on time and as prescribed

Story 2 :

As a user, I want to have access to a library of easy-to-follow exercise routines that are tailored to my age and fitness level, so I can maintain my strength and flexibility.

Story 3 :

As a user, I want to be able to log and monitor my vital signs (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate) and receive insights if any measurements are outside of the normal range.

Story 4 :

As a user, I want to be able to easily connect with my healthcare provider for consultations or to ask questions about my health.

Story 5 :

As a user, I want the app to have a guide that can guide or teach me how to use the app without confusion.

Story 6 :

As a user, I want to be able to easily access educational resources and articles about health topics relevant to seniors, so I can continue learning and making informed decisions about my well-being.

3. Crazy 8s

Crazy 8s helps me to push beyond my first idea, which is often the least innovative, and to generate a wide variety of solutions to the challenge.

photo for hand written Crazy 8's

4. User Flows- By Hand

Once Crazy 8s are done, I have created user flow to take care of all the focus areas discovered in the ideation phase. User flows are first done by hand, to generate more possible potential flows. Sketching by hand provides me more flexibility and fluidity to rearrange the flows.

Photo of hand written user flow

5. User Flows- in Figma

The finalized user flow is been done in Figma.

Here’s my finalized user flow for the project .

Image of user flow designed in Figma

Click here to view user flow in Figma

6. Site Maps

The site maps are next created to show the overall hierarchy of the application and also depicts the relation between subsequent pages.

Here’s my site map for the project.

Image of site map designed in Figma

 

Click here to view the site map in Figma

7. Wireframe

As a design deliverable, I have next developed the wireframe to ensure that features, scope, and product intention are clearly understood by all stakeholders before anyone starts creating visual assets or writing code.

8. Lo-Fi Prototype

With wireframes done, I have now converted them to lo-fi prototypes for testing and stakeholder feedback.

Here’s my lo-fi prototype for the project.

Thumbnail image of low fidelity prototype designed in Figma

 

Click here to view the Lo-Fi prototype in Figma

9. User Testing

The lo-fi prototype is being now tested with the interested participants from research phase to collect feedback and check if the concerns and requirements have been addressed or not.

Here’s the feedback that has been received about the lo-fi prototype

  • Option to edit the already added medication, as doctor may suggest to change the dosage
  • For exercises, show the relevant exercises based on the requirement from the user. Many a case, the seniors may want special attention to their particular body parts. Also, option to change the requirement by the user to be made available.

10. Incorporate the Feedback

The feedbacks are being incorporated into wireframes to align the design as per the client requirements.

Develop

1. Create the Mood Board

Mood boards are inspirational and directional, so I make sure to includes anything that will help me establish a foundational look and feel for visual design.

Here’s the mood board for the project.

Image of mood board designed in Figma

Click here to view the mood board in Figma

2. Finalize the Typography

I have selected Rubik due to availability of several font weights and variables. It will help to present the design and content as clearly as possible.

Image of typography for project designed in Figma

Click here to view the typography in Figma

3. Color Palette

I have decided to use dynamic color based on the logo of the app.

Here’s the color palette based on logo for the app

Image of color palette for the project designed in Figma

Click here to view the color palette in Figma

4. Hi-Fi Prototype

After setting up the typography, color palette and mood board, it’s the time to work on hi-fi prototype

Here’s the hi-fi prototype for the project –

Thumbnail image of high fidelity prototype designed in Figma

Click here to view the hi-fi prototype in Figma

Deliver

1. Usability Test

The hi-fi prototype is being now tested with the interested participants to collect feedback and check if the concerns and requirements have been addressed or not.

Here’s the feedback that has been received about the hi-fi prototype -

  • Body vitals like temperature and weight to have multiple units of measurements like Celsius/Fahrenheit and Kg/Lb.
  • User should have the option to edit/cancel the doctor appointment.

2. Incorporate Feedback

The feedbacks are being incorporated into hi-fi mock-up to align the design as per the feedback.

Conclusion

What I learnt

The righter questions that I can ask will give a clear path to develop the product.

Once the product developed its also important to have usability tests so that so important user-friendly features which might have been previously missed gets incorporated.

Simplicity is the key, the designs that are simple and easy to use are more intuitive for seniors, as they tend to hesitate less.

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