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CLIENT
Personal
ROLE
UX Designer (1 of 2)
TIMELINE
May 2024
STATUS
Closed
Overview
Background
Over the past few years, a fellow UX Researcher (Teresa Mathieu) and I have watched our friends become parents and struggle to keep track of everything they need to raise their children. We wanted to learn how we could help.
Problems
New parents really struggle with keeping track of appointments, vaccinations, health ailments, milestone progress, feeding, nap schedules, medical records, etc across multiple patient portals. Many parents said they feel overwhelmed with how much information there is to keep track of and how spread out it all is.
How might we help parents stay organized and feel less overwhelmed and anxious about their children’s well being?
Solution
We designed a mobile app concept that consolidates health information and tracking in a single place. Concept features included multiple tracking tools, medical profiles, nurse chat lines, appointment reminders, first aid tips, symptom lookup, doctor/hospital/emergency room locator, and emergency contact management
Without prompting, all parents involved in user testing said they would use this app if it launched, noting that they appreciated having all of the different information in a single place.
Track what's important
And feel reassured, not pressured
Track growth, vaccinations, milestones, and more! If your child isn't hitting growth or behavioral milestones, don't stress! Health disclaimers will tell you if there's anything to ask your doctor about, or if it's all part of the normal curve. Children grow at their own pace!
Choose what to track
Based on your family's goals
Step into settings to further refine what you want to track, including which vaccines you want your child to receive* and whether or not to include "preemie" timelines for tracking tools. ​
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* subject to state laws
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Create health profiles
For each of your children
Create customized health profiles for each child, include the contact information of all their doctors, medical data, upcoming appointments, allergens, prescription lists, and more. Easily export your as a CSV or PDF format.
The Design Process
01
Research
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Competitor analysis
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User survey
02
Design
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Low fidelity user flow
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​High fidelity iterations
03
Test
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Usability testing
01 | Research
Competitor Analysis
As this project was primarily concerned with alleviating parental anxiety, I chose to focus this competitor analysis on user perception rather than signing up for accounts on mobile apps, doctor portals, etc.
I surveyed friends and family for their opinions of parenting apps they currently used, and read 1, 3, and 5 star app store reviews of mobile apps in ‘Child Tracking & Growth’ and ‘TeleHealth’ categories. This helped me get a broad sense of the features users felt were great, could use improvement, or were missing. ​
Review Trends
Tracking Variety (+)
Users appreciated apps with multiple tracking features, with growth, milestone, and vaccination tracking seen as especially helpful.
Summaries (+)
Users appreciated apps that showed 'at a glance' what needs improvement, such as summaries where their children are behind in tracking.
Harsh Language (-)
Users felt pressured by the language of some apps, saying they would start to feel anxious about their children missing milestones or goals.
Activity History (+)
Users appreciated the ability to check activities or entries from previous days. Apps without this feature received negative reviews from its absence.
Proprietary Data (-)
Some users left negative reviews when apps wouldn't let them export/transfer app data or upload data from third party apps, sites, or files.
Lack of Favorites (-)
Some users of mentioned frustration if they couldn't favorite tracking tools, especially with children who had different tracking needs.
Family Friendy (+)
Users with multiple children expressed frustration when apps only offered tracking for one child, viewing apps with multi-child tracking positively.
Subscriptions (-)
Apps with subscription models received large numbers of complaints, with users being more critical of all features if an app required a subscription.
Missing Milestones (-)
Parents of premature children would leave negative reviews if apps didn't have support for "preemie" milestones or growth tracking.
User Survey
Teresa developed a Google Forms survey to send to parents of young children, as our user base was parents with busy schedules who would struggle to make time for interviews. This survey focused on learning what data parents currently tracked about their children and what their current pain points were with that tracking.
Current Tracked Data
​Illness and fever
Growth milestones
Behavioral milestones
Vaccination schedules
Medications
Upcoming appointments
Growth of baby in utero
Pain Points
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Too much information to keep track of easily
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Scattered information
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Multiple doctor's portals
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Remembering the different abilities of each portal/app
02 | Design
Low Fidelity User Flow
I consolidated initial ideation sketches into a basic user flow and showed it to colleagues for feedback. Colleagues thought we were heading in a good direction overall, but were confused by the implementation of favoriting tracking tools and persistent reminders.
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The basic user flow for this project, accentuated with low fidelity sketches of each screen.
High Fidelity Iterations
To help myself keep track, I split the screens into separate flows defined by the onboarding process and main app bar tabs: Welcome, Onboarding, Settings, Tracking, Chat, Calendar, and Health flows.​​​ There were 5 total rounds of iteration and critique before I landed on designs that Teresa and I felt confident sending to usability testing.
Large thanks to SpeciApp Design System, the Figma UI kit that I used to create the basis for this high fidelity design system.
A brief selection of the first round of high fidelity screens.
03 | Test
Usability Testing
Teresa created usability scenarios, tasks, and a guide for moderated usability testing. While she created these artifacts, I focused on adding prototype flows to the relevant screens for each usability task.
Scenario A
You're considering growing your family and would like to know where in the app you can go to create a new child profile.
Task A
Where would you expect to find this option within the app?
Ideal Path
Home > Profile Picture > Edit Children
Scenario B
Your child has accidentally burned their hand while helping you prepare dinner.
Task B
Show me where you would find help on how to care for this injury.
Ideal Path
Health > First Aid Tips > Caring for Burns
Scenario C
You'd like to make sure your child is up to date on their vaccinations.
Task C
Show me where you can go to find this information
Ideal Path
Home > Tracking > Vaccines > Vaccine Schedule
Teresa synthesized the usability test results and came back with 3 main findings from user feedback, which I addressed in the next iteration of high fidelity designs.
USABILITY FEEDBACK #1
Spousal Support
One participant asked if they could sync information between multiple parents / caregivers. This made me realize I hadn't accounted for family planning or support.
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Onboarding Flow Changes:​
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Changed onboarding screen from “Your Children” to “Your Family”
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Added a section to add a partner’s email address to sync account information
​​
Settings Flow Changes:​
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Updated from ‘Edit Children’ to ‘Edit Family’
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Added spouse profile to the avatar stack
The before and after of spouse support options added to onboarding and settings.
USABILITY FEEDBACK #2
Adding a Child
Two participants had trouble adding a child during testing, saying they expected to see an "Add Child" icon on the Home Screen, not just in settings.
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​Home/Settings Flow:
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Added a blank ‘Add Child’ card at the end of the medical profiles carousel (both on home screen and in health)
The before and after of adding an "add child" option to the home screen.
USABILITY FEEDBACK #3
Customizing Cards
One participant asked if they could customize/arrange the cards on the tracking screen, because they didn't want to scroll to find their preferred trackers.​
​
Tracking Flow:
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Added an icon associated with dragging and dropping to the cards on the tracking home screen
The before and after of adding drag and drop icons to the tracking cards.
Final Designs
Welcome Flow
For first time downloads, or re-downloads, of the app. Includes graphical explanations of the app (credit to Storyset for the graphics).
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The welcome flow for first time downloads, or re-downloads, of ParentCare.
Onboarding Flow
For users creating a new account. Includes sign up/sign in options, self and family information, initial tracking preferences, and a confirmation screen.
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The onboarding flow for users creating a new account.
Settings Flow
For users who want to customize their app experience. Includes the ability to edit personal, family, health, and emergency contact information; edit tracker and vaccine preferences; update notifications and accessibility settings; change the language; and export data. Vaccination preferences setting screen shown.
The settings flow for users wanting to customize their ParentCare experience.
Tracking Flow
For users who want to track various health information. Includes the ability to access multiple trackers for each child, add logs, see prior logs, set preferences, and see visual progress. Shown are the growth, vaccine, and milestone tracking tools.
Various tracking tools available for ParentCare users.
Chat/Calendar Flow
For users who want to use ParentCare to contact doctors and schedule appointments/reminders. Includes the ability to contact participating doctors and nurses, access a 24/7 ParentCare nurse chat line, and schedule doctors appointments and daily reminders.
The chat and calendar, for users who want to chat with doctors and schedule appointments.
Health Flow
For users who want to have medical help on top of tracking tools. Includes the ability to manage personalized medical profiles for each child, store emergency contacts, search first aid tips and symptoms, locate hospitals / ERs / doctors, and manage emergency contacts.
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The health flow, for users wanting health profiles, to locate help, and search first aid/symptoms.
