Helping seniors stay independent while adopting useful technology
A design project for iOS
Older adults want to feel in control of their lives.
It is expected that the number of people over the age of sixty will more than double by 2050.
Problem
As they age, seniors may face many barriers to tech adoption, from physical problems to the loss of memory and concentration.
Seniors tend to adopt technology they feel is useful. Some more tech-savvy seniors feel they could use help managing their medications, devices and health.
Solution
VitalRX is an intuitive, easy-to-use application for medication management designed to be encouraging and supportive for seniors.
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Slightly larger text and touchpoints for easy selection by shaky or arthritic fingers.
Daily reminders give medication details and images for easy confirmation and to help decrease confusion.
“Yes, this is very intuitive!”
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Confirmation of every detail through the medication input process.
Confirm all selections or go back for mistakes. Stay on track through the input process with the progress bar.
“I love the big green check mark!”
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Update, review or add information at any time.
Medications, contacts, doctors, appointments and notes are easily found on all pages with a sticky bottom nav bar.
“Adding the photo is a great idea!”
VitalRX is simple, useful and easily navigable while being engaging enough to be adopted by seniors for daily use.
MY ROLE:
Lead UX/ UI designer with the help of a mentor
February 2021/ 80 hours
RESPONSIBILITIES:
User research
Concept ideation
Designing user flows
Prototyping
Visual design
User testing
Incorporating user feedback
into design iterations
Process
I followed the design thinking process to create a product that users found appealing. Through multiple iterations, I also streamlined the content and information architecture from my original plan and created a more simplified layout to increase the usability and simplicity of the app.
Hypothesize
Research
Interviews
Empathy Mapping
Who are the users?
Personas
Problem statements
User stories
Customer journey mapping
What are the user’s needs and insights?
Sitemaps
Sketching
Wireflows
Wireframing
Brainstorming for creative solutions.
Digitize wireframes
Medium fidelity prototype
Build a representation of the idea.
Usability tests
Rainbow spreadsheet
Wireframe iteration
Style tile
UI prototype
Test the idea with users for feedback.
Empathize
After initial research to become familiar with the problems of aging and technology, a competitive analysis of four medication management apps was conducted.
Although there were many apps with good features…
No medication management apps are geared towards seniors with the possible physical and cognitive issues they may have as they get older.
User Interviews
The five senior interviewees had various levels of smartphone savviness.
All participants had daily prescription medications and/ or very complicated medications or medical devices.
Some medications or devices were managed by the insurance or pharmaceutical companies via apps and automatic refills.
Participants were split on the need for help managing their medications.
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![Photograph of Interviewee: Donnie.]()
Donnie: 74 y/o, retired
“I need a reminder for the bi-monthly shots, I put on the wall calender when and where I took it to keep track.”
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Kathy: 75 y/o, retired
“I get a three month prescription via the insurance mail pharmacy, they send email reminders when you are ready for a refill.”
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Leslie: 53 y/o, attorney
“My medical devices have alarms to tell you when they need to be recharged and changed but they don’t have snooze options.”
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![Dave: 74 y/o, retired]()
Dave: 74 y/o, retired
“I have morning, evening meal and before bed meds. I use the “double” weekly container to keep track of them all.”
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Cindy: 72 y/o retired
“Why are there no printed instructions, I can’t see two screens at the same time for online instructions.”
Dave’s “double” weekly pill container to keep track of his medications.
Interview insights:
The most critical feelings and attitudes of participants regarding technology, their medications and how it affects their lives:
Participants remember their schedules due to habit.
Participants don’t bother with tech or apps they see no use for or can’t figure out how to use easily.
Creating an efficient and easy to use and navigate medication reminder app can follow the best features of currently available options while considering the specific needs of seniors.
Define
To identify why senior users would be interested in using VitalRX and how they want to use it, personas, user stories, a customer journey map and problem statements were created.
Barbara: a composite “persona.”
Barbara was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and needs to pay more attention to her lifestyle.
She has family support to help her stay on track with her goals and keep up to date with technology.
Creating a user journey map helps to understand Barbara’s actions, thoughts, and emotions over time
Where are the biggest opportunities for Barbara?
1. Family support if and when she needs it.
2. Discover the VitalRX app through her doctor or pharmacist.
3. Confidence to set up the VitalRX app and use it to stay healthy and independent.
User Stories
Two user stories were created for Barbara’s main objectives when using the VitalRX app:
Adding medication details.
Turning off reminders.
Later, the user stories were followed to create wire flows, or Barbara working through the tasks.
Have a look at the user stories.
Ideation
Site maps, wire flows and wireframe sketches were used for idea generation.
Points to keep in mind while sketching:
Fit all the elements on one screen to reduce scrolling.
Text and touchpoints needed to be larger than normal.
Medications may have long names but should fit on one text line.
Consistency between the visuals, elements and interactions for reducing cognitive load and increasing learnability.
The final sketches featured nested scrolling for the daily medication reminder list and upcoming appointments or calendar entries.
Prototyping and Testing
A medium fidelity prototype for testing was created from the wireframe sketches.
Two testers including Donnie, from the user interviews, tested the prototype via Zoom.
The Design Lab Slack community followed up with another nine testers using Maze.
Iterations
Several major adjustments were made based on the testing and mentor consultation, who also discussed the iOS guidelines that were part of the project.
PROBLEM #1: Simplify Actions and the Homepage screen
PROBLEM #2: Nested scrolling confuses users in small spaces
PROBLEM #3: Time picker does not meet heuristic guidelines
UI Development
The name of the app should communicate the below traits:
1. usefulness, support and self-confidence
2. encouragement and control of your life
“Vital”
absolutely necessary or important; essential
full of energy; lively
“I love the bottom progress bar of medication, dose, time, notification, refill - easy to see!”
“I think it was great that the process had only one question on each screen. That makes the entire process of adding medications and reminders much more digestible.”
Reflections…
Having the option to create a project like this reinforces my reasons for a career change.
Following the principles of user-centered design, I created a product that would consider senior users’ needs and goals and therefore deliver the value required to overcome the reluctance to use technology that may exist.
Talking to seniors in the original interviews and then during usability testing was very satisfying and inspiring.
Donnie mentioned in his user interview that he didn’t feel the need for this kind of app.
After the usability testing, however, he felt it was something that he could use and would be needing, possibly sooner than later.
The Next Steps…
Retesting for efficiency and usability on adjustments made to the prototype based on the first round of usability testing.
Use live sessions with “seniors” using the Figma Mirror function for mobile.
All navigation, layout and UI are easily and efficiently recognizable and learnable.
Continue with redesigning the balance of all pages (and onboarding and tutorial instructions) with confirmation through iteration and testing the efficiency and usability of the entire site.
Ensure all accessibility and iOS guidelines are met, but also confirmed through testing.
Phase Two Objectives…
Design and develop the “History” tool to show weekly and monthly reports regarding the medication schedule and adherence.
Ability to print medication usage and history reports and all calendar notes.
Ability to directly notify the “Support Circle” profile contact when medication reminders go unanswered.
Design a responsive tablet version as 60% of older adults in higher income brackets own tablets.
