Concept App
Team
3 Designers
Duration
4 Week Sprint
My role
UX Research
Lead UX/UI design on Logging and Dashboard Features
Contributed to UX Strategy on all features
Objective
Design app features to support pregnant women diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (GDM) manage their health from the moment of diagnosis until giving birth.
Solution
5 features to streamline the GDM health intervention plan and provide additional resources to women experiencing GDM.
Project Outline
My team and I initially began this project as part of a hackathon, and continued to develop our features for a month following the hackathon.
Our goals were to understand the target user - pregnant women who had been recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and to design features that would promote the best mental and physical health outcomes for mother and child.
Background on Gestational Diabetes
Gestational Diabetes (GDM) is a type of diabetes that occurs only during pregnancy and poses serious health risks to both mother and child.
Intervention
With rapid and consistent intervention, women can mitigate the impact of GDM during and after their pregancy.
Research Inquiry
How are women currently reacting to their diagnosis and implementing the necessary changes?
Research Sources: 5 open ended interviews with women who had experienced gestational diabetes, medical journal research, blogs and vlogs from women with gestational diabetes
Persona
Mari visualizes and represent the challenges, motivations, and pain points that patients typically face.
Ideation
We identified four challenges we could address with our app solution
Ideation
We brainstormed features and rapidly iterated through the round robin method to clarify our team vision.
Given our timeline, which limited our ability to conduct more research to get more in depth understanding of the range of target customers, we prioritized core parts of logging, tracking, data collection, and nutritional education.
MVP Features
We decided on five features to assist women manage their health following their diagnosis.
MVP Features
Dashboard
Priorities
Incentivize Consistent Tracking
Motivate User to Continue Managing Conditions Despite Shame
Jobs to Be Done
Keeping Mari on top of her doctor’s plan for managing her blood sugar (eating five meals throughout the day that meet her nutritionist’s requirements, tracking her blood sugar levels after breakfast, lunch , and dinner, and walking after meals)
Staying on Track
Following her doctors’ health management plan crucial to Mari’s health plan.
Given that the changes in eating patterns an introducing testing blood glucose can be overwhelming, I included a snap shot of what is coming up next in her day, and a recommendation on what to eat that fit within medical guidance.
To provide easy access to seeing her day’s full log, while avoid overwhelming her, we have a toggle option for quick reference throughout day and an extended one for reflecting at end of the day.
STAYING ON TRACK / NUTRITION EDUCATION
When diagnosed with GDM, the patient often is not accustomed to counting carbs, and this may even be triggering to do for the patient. By providing suggested snacks that fall within the health recommendations, there is less focus on calculating calories and more focus on choosing the snack that sounds good and is available.
I included this as a pop up on the home screen for quick reference during the day, while the Full Library can serve as a meal planning source..
MOTIVATION AND SUPPORT
Given that a diagnosis of gestational diabetes brings additional emotional challenges to the existing life changes of carrying a child; the dashboard is a place where Mari can find encouragement and gamified elements to keep her on track.
A daily quote and greeting provides warmth and encouragement, alongside the Peach avatar and warm, peachy colors.
A visual timeline shows her her progress towards the finish line (giving birth and meeting her baby) is in site, addressing the research that women are motivated by this being a temporary condition, and the health of their baby.
Updates about the development of the baby at this stage aims to bring the patient happiness and motivation in thinking about her baby and not just the dietary restrictions she is facing.
MVP Features
Food and Glucose Logging
Priorities
Simplifying Logging
Incentivizing Consistent Logging
Providing Accessible Nutrition Information
Simplifying Logging Meals and Blood Glucose Levels
STAYING ON TRACK
Push notifications keep her on track throughout the day for glucose and food logging.
FEEDBACK
After each log, she receives feedback on whether her glucose level and carb intake is within range.
EFFICIENCY
Quickly add and save frequently eaten meals.
RECOGNITION SOFTWARE TO SAVE TIME LOGGING
We filter and prioritize the most important information for the patient (carbs, serving size, food type), and indicate whether items are within range.
Complete nutrition information is also available for patients that want to learn more.
NOTE
Further research on shame triggers would be important to find the line between education, knowledge, and triggering shame and potential issues around food.
MVP Features
Recipe Library
Priorities
Connecting the User to Medical Practitioners and GDM Community
Providing Accessible Tools and Information about GDM
Providing Nutritional Information and Simplifying Logging
Simplifying Logging Meals and Blood Glucose Levels
STAYING ON TRACK
Push notifications keep her on track throughout the day for glucose and food logging.
FEEDBACK
After each log, she receives feedback on whether her glucose level and carb intake is within range.
EFFICIENCY
Quickly add and save frequently eaten meals.
Reflections
This project gave me the opportunity to empathize with users, dive into competitive research, and consult with teammates on feature prioritization. We designed Just Peachy from scratch, and I am happy that we took on the challenge to design multiple features to assist women who are experiencing GDM.
I honed my problem solving skills as we strove to understand the users and find creative ways to help women adjust after receiving a scary diagnosis.
If you would like to hear more about this project, please reach out. I look forward to working on more projects like this.