A unified and simplified medical care app for older adults
UX/UI Design
Design for Social Good
Project Type
Personal Project
My Role
Product Designer
UX Researcher
Timeline
Oct 2023 - Jan 2024
Tools
Figma, Illustrator
OVERVIEW
Witnessing my grandparents struggling with everyday tasks while living alone, I was motivated to devote my design profession to alleviating their challenges. Meanwhile, I was astounded by how the rapidly advancing digital world has left older adults behind, and I was determined to bridge this gap. Armed with these beliefs, I embarked on this project intending to address their issues, with healthcare emerging as the primary concern through user research.
How might we help seniors reduce their daily living difficulties?
How might we simplify the user experience of digital products and make them more accessible to older adults?
PROBLEM
TARGET USER
Senior citizens (typically over 60 years old), especially those who live alone.
An app called “MEldCare” has been developed to tackle older adults' medical-related challenges. Serving as a unified and simplified medical care platform, this app provides convenient booking, companion service, and emergency alerts for senior citizens. The app helps create a worry-free and smooth medical consultation process.
OUTCOME
RESEARCH
To understand older adults' daily challenges in sectors such as dietary, healthcare, social contact, and usage of digital products.
Through literature reviews, I discovered a significant aging trend both in China and globally. More than 20% of the Chinese population was over 60 years old, with around half living alone. Another finding was that the popularity of the Internet and digital products was still low in aging populations in China. The physical and cognitive decline of senior citizens, complicated interfaces of digital products, and concerns about information safety and privacy are three main obstacles that prevent older adults from becoming internet users.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
I interviewed three people from 61 to 82 years old living in different cities in China. One of them was living with her 50-year-old daughter, another was living alone with her husband, and the last participant was staying with her 89-year-old mother. Each interview lasted 40-60 minutes, covering the four major sectors of their daily life stated above.
USER INTERVIEWS
The target user group of seniors encompasses diverse demographics, including variations in age, physical well-being, and social connections, all of which impact their overall quality of life. Therefore, to ensure comprehensive user research, I employed a survey as an additional research method in addition to conducting interviews. A questionnaire containing questions similar to the interviews was designed and distributed to participants over 60 years old. In the end, 31 responses were collected, with 27 being valid.
SURVEY
I utilized the affinity diagram approach to synthesize the interview data, summarizing key themes and insights. Color stickers are quotes from the interviews. The green sticker represents consolidated insights from the survey.
SYNTHESIS
DEFYING KEY PAIN POINTS
Poor health conditions, lack of companionship in hospitals, and low digital literacy are significant difficulties for seniors.
Significant pain points and needs appeared within the three categories below:
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Poor Health Conditions
Due to the decline in bodily functions, issues such as weakened immunity, chronic illnesses, and osteoporosis are common among older adults. Thus, they often experience higher hospital visits, particularly for emergencies.
Lack of Companionship in Hospitals
Due to age-related cognitive decline and complicated medical consultation procedures, elderly people with advanced age or mobility challenges often require companionship or assistance during hospital visits. However, their adult children may not always be available, or they may hesitate to burden them.
Low Digital Literacy
Older adults rarely use online convenience services such as shopping and booking appointments. Participants in the interviews and the survey said: “They are too complicated to learn,” “I always forgot how to use those functions shortly,” and “I’m worrying about the information safety and privacy problems.”
FACTORS AFFECTING DIFFICULTIES OF HOSPITAL VISITS
Health-related issues were a focal point of the research insights. Thus, I analyzed the factors affecting the challenges faced by older adults during hospital visits. Seniors of advanced age or without adult children’s companions (living alone) constituted the primary demographic in need of assistance when going to hospitals.
The research findings guided the design toward addressing the challenges older adults face in accessing medical care and their low digital literacy.
So, what will senior citizens experience when visiting the hospital, and why do the current medical care products hinder their willingness to use them?
The diagram below illustrates older adults’ flow of hospital visits under various circumstances, including regular medical consultation and emergency, with and without adult children’s companions.
FLOW OF HOSPITAL VISITS
To understand the reasons behind participants' reluctance to use digital medical care products, I conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis of such products in their locations. The pros and cons of these products are valuable references that inform my subsequent design process.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
*Interfaces are all in Chinese, as all the participants live in China.
IDEATIONS
How might we make hospital visits more convenient for older adults while addressing their low digital literacy problem?
With the insights from research and analysis, I formulated several “How Might We” (HMW) questions to help brainstorm various solutions to the problems.
HOW MIGHT WE…
HMW find someone to accompany seniors to hospitals?
HMW notify medical institutions, older adults’ children, or their emergency contacts about their emergency conditions?
HMW simplify the appointment process and make it easier for seniors to use?
HMW teach older adults to use the product and help them to become familiar with the process?
......
Next, I came up with as many solutions as possible to the above HMW questions in a limited time. After that, I started to evaluate the ideas and choose feasible ones to implement in the later design stage. Below are ideas selected for execution.
BRAINSTORMING SOLUTIONS
Based on the favored ideas generated, I developed the structure of the product that I would be creating.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
LOW-FIDELITY DESIGN
Developing a unified and simplified medical care app that is accessible to older adults.
The homepage showcases all functionalities in the app, including making appointments, booking companion services, checking consultation procedures and medical reports, emergency status, and voice assistance.
Homepage
Users can either make quick appointments with previously visited doctors or select from the list of all doctors.
As retirees usually have flexible schedules, the latest time slot starting from the next day will be selected by default to simplify the booking process. However, users can also edit the date and time if they want to make a change.
Appointment
If elderly patients live alone without family nearby, they can book a companion service through the app for hospital visits. The companion is matched based on the user's chosen hospital and department. Users can switch or edit their preferences if dissatisfied with the assigned companion.
Companion Service
Users can view their booking records and the detailed visit flow. The flow is linked to the hospital's online system for real-time updates. An AR route guide is embedded in the flow to help users navigate to their destination. Online consultations are also available in this section.
My Booking
In this section, users can access and download their medical check reports to their devices.
My Report
In case of an emergency, which is common among older adults, users can activate the emergency status with a simple click or by saying phrases like "help," "emergency," or "call an ambulance" to start the voice assistant. The ambulance, companion service, and emergency contacts will be immediately notified based on the level of emergency.
Emergency
A voice assistant is embedded into the app to address the low digital literacy of older adults. Users can ask the voice assistant for help with any feature within the app, avoiding the need to navigate each step independently.
Voice Assistant
ITERATION
Improving usability and accessibility at the early stage of design.
DESIGN CRITIQUE
I sought feedback for my early design from my mentor and other designers.
I also conducted a moderated usability testing to gather valuable opinions from users. Five tasks were given to the participants to finish within the lo-fi prototype. Afterward, I asked participants about their feelings on different tasks and overall thoughts about the design.
USABILITY STUDIES
FINDINGS
From Usability Testing
Lack of inclusiveness of the companion service’s preference filters.
The button for editing the selected date and time during booking was unclear.
From Design Critique
When booking with previously visited doctors, it was intuitive for participants to check the booking records instead of clicking “Appointment” directly.
The difference between quick and regular booking procedures was confusing to seniors.
DESIGN REFINEMENTS
Change filters to improve inclusiveness to companions
Instead of using age and gender as companion filters, their professionalism should be a more significant concern. Therefore, the filters were replaced by professional factors such as their years of experience, customer ratings, languages they use, and prices.
Display the “edit” button next to the date or time for a clearer indication
Instead of placing the “edit” button at the bottom of the screen, confusing users about not knowing which choices could be changed, I put a “change” button next to the date and time, respectively, applying the proximity rule in visual design principles for a more precise indication.
Add finished sessions to booking records for re-booking
Some older adults may have experience shopping online, where repurchasing sometimes occurs within the past purchase section. Therefore, besides designing an exclusive entry point that allows easy re-booking in the appointment section, finished consultation sessions are added to the booking records, aligning with users' intuitive habits and facilitating convenient re-booking.
Unify the quick and regular booking processes
To reduce the confusion caused by the differences between quick and regular booking procedures, I consolidated the two different designs. The latest time slot will be selected by default in both quick and regular bookings. Users can change the date and time if they want.
FINAL DESIGN
Creating brand visual identity, developing visually appealing design, and adding more details to the prior skeleton.
The digital medical care product developed specifically targeted older adults. Thus, its visual identity was crafted to blend the professionalism of medical practitioners with caring for senior citizens.
VISUAL IDENTITY
Color Scheme
Logo Design
HIGH-FIDELITY DESIGN
Users can book both offline and online medical consultations. The booking process is simple, with direct access to previously visited doctors and a suggested time slot selected by default.
Easy and simplified booking process
If no one accompanies the user to the hospital, they can book a companion in the app. The companion will be matched according to users’ booking details, such as the chosen hospital and department.
Easy matching companion service for older adults visiting hospitals alone
When the user arrives at the hospital, they can find a detailed flow guide for the whole visit. Even though they visit the hospital alone, they can figure out what to do next and where to go within the guide.
Clear guides for medical consultations
In case of an emergency, users can activate the emergency status with just two simple clicks. Once the emergency status is enabled, relevant parties will be notified to ensure timely assistance. The high-level emergency status can also be activated by capturing emergency voice words.
Efficient emergency help
Easy to operate with the voice assistant
As users of the app are mainly older adults with low digital literacy, a voice assistant is embedded into the app. Users can ask the voice assistant to finish any task within the app, skipping the complicated clicking process.
REFLECTIONS & NEXT STEPS
I spent most of my childhood with my grandparents. When I witnessed their struggle to adapt to rapidly evolving digital products, improving technology accessibility for older adults became my primary goal as I entered the UX field. However, as this project came to an end, I was thinking about how to extend the easy-to-use product beyond older adults to a broader audience, while still catering to the specific needs of seniors. This has sparked my interest in exploring the inclusiveness of design further.
As for this project, a participant in the first round of usability testing doubted the necessity of pre-selecting a time slot, as it could add an extra task of changing the date and time. Despite this feedback, I retained the current design to simplify the booking process. But I plan to test the effectiveness of the current design among real users after launching the product (I hope so), which will inform us which design decision is better. Before launching, conducting comprehensive usability testing on the current hi-fi design is also essential.
