Olive Health
Olive Health is an easy-to-use app that acts as a hub for the medical information for entire families, and allows patients to visualize, analyze, and share that information in any way they choose.
Olive Health connects to multiple patient portals, popular fitness and diet tracking apps, and gives patients the ability to upload files and new information to their accounts easily.
ROLE
UX Team of One: UX Research, UX Design, UX Writing, Content Strategy, UI/Graphic Design.
SETTING
UX Design student with CareerFoundry.
DURATION
March-November 2022
The Problem Space
Children with special medical needs often have to see multiple specialists that are all part of different hospital systems, with different patient portals, and sometimes no patient portals at all. Keeping track of all of this information is a difficult task that usually falls on the moms of these kids who do not have an easy or effective way to share information between doctors.
The Solution: Olive Health
Olive Health is a single app that acts as a hub for medical information for entire families and allows patients to visualize, analyze, and share that information in any way they choose. Olive Health connects to multiple patient portals, popular fitness and diet tracking apps, and gives patients the ability to upload files to their accounts easily.
Design Philosophy
All of these parents have a lot on their plates, and most of them really struggle to find ways to keep up with the health information for their kids with special medical needs. Olive Health was intentionally focused on solving the most difficult issues our patients face in an easy, accessible way because I believe that edge-case-focused design leads to products and services that are excellent for everyone.
UX Research
I sat down with three moms of kids with special needs to talk about health apps. These interviews were very informative and helpful, and these moms are full of great ideas for how technology could be improving their lives but often, it is making their lives more difficult. To see the full presentation of insights gained through this research, click here.
User Personas
In order to demonstrate my premise, that edge-case-focused design can create apps that serve everyone well, I used the above research to create three distinct user personas. I believe that solving the problems for the persona with the most roadblocks will naturally create an easy and joyful experience for the user with the least roadblocks.
User Journeys
Each user has their own journey while using Olive Health. I based these journeys and scenarios on the goals and needs of each user while demonstrating how Olive Health can reduce frustrations and pain points.
User Flows
Next, I imagined a task for each user based on their needs and goals. These tasks also demonstrate some of the core features of Olive Health. Users can upload files, create custom permissions and security for each family member, and enter information into custom fields that are pinned to their dashboard.
Designing a Solution
After gaining a deep understanding of the issues these moms (and my personas) were facing, I was ready to start coming up with solutions. The early iterations were bare, but I was able to test them and start making improvements. Throughout multiple iterations that grew in fidelity, and with input from peers and real-world test subjects, Olive Health became easier to use, more accessible, and a real candidate to address these moms' needs.
A Baked-In Accessibility Feature
Olive Health was designed from the start with moms in mind, and I designed the primary functions of the app to be easily used with only one hand, allowing moms holding fussy babies the ability to access their information easily.
This also allows disabled and temporarily disabled people to use the app easily.
Future iterations will include a setting that allows users to choose between left-hand and right-hand modes, which would switch the orientation of the menu buttons.
The progression from my earliest paper prototype to the final digital prototype.
Testing the Solution
Beginning with paper prototypes, and all the way through the high-fidelity digital prototypes, every step of the design went through extensive testing, peer review, and critique from experienced professionals. The primary screens went through 3 rounds of user testing, as well as peer review from fellow UX students and from fellow UX Designers in the User Experience Design group on LinkedIn. The Onboarding screens were preference tested on UsabilityHub. Every screen has been critiqued by my mentor and tutor at CareerFoundry.
Proving the Solution
Before we move on and start evaluating the wireframes and prototypes, let's remind ourselves that we are trying to solve the real problems that real users have (as represented by our personas). If we haven't solved those problems, there's no need to keep moving forward until we do.
I think we're on to something here. It looks like Olive Health does solve the problems of our personas, and it appears that my hypothesis about edge-case-first design is proving to be true.
Revising the Solution
I used both Adobe XD and Figma to design Olive Health before combining the artboards into Figma for the final prototype. Learning two different programs took longer than just learning one, but I feel more confident that I can find the right tool for any of the design tasks I will face in the future.
The Final Prototype
The final prototype, which features all of the needed revisions brought to light by the extensive testing, reviews, and critiques can be found below, and it looks gorgeous on the mobile Figma app. Click here for the direct link to the file.
Style Guide
I have always had strong opinions about things like UI Design and typography, but I have never felt particularly good at either (at least to my picky satisfaction), so this part of designing Olive Health was difficult for me. But, I know enough about Adobe Photoshop to be dangerous, and so little about Illustrator that I'm really dangerous, so I made my best attempt.
Conclusion
The final round of user testing led to some very disappointed moms who were wishing this app was going into development. It is rare that moms of kids with special needs feel heard or catered to in any meaningful way, and I am certain that if a company were to develop a product like this, they would have desperately loyal customers who get to reclaim their most valuable resource... time.
Takeaways
I have learned so much more than I anticipated I would through this process. I had to overcome fears of doing interviews via video, and being on camera, and I became proficient in new software with a steep learning curve. These are significant steps that prepare me to do UX Design in the real world.
Struggles
Perfectionism - I often forget that done is better than perfect (and not finished)
I'm still learning to not internalize critiques of my work, but it's easier every day
Joys
Creating something that I am truly proud of
Finishing a massive project despite the obstacles this year threw at me
Achieving clarity about what I want to focus my UX career on
Surprises
As an introvert, connecting with users was surprisingly rewarding
I really enjoy the tedium and minutiae of editing wireframes and the text/content of the project