Ease of care: UX for better living
UX/UI Design / Wireframing
When
August 2023 - October 2023
client
Allevi Group AB (Internship)
The summary
As part of Allevis first cooperative project between 2 different product teams, the task was to create a digital implementation plan that were to be usable both in elderly care homes as well as LSS homes.
I was one of the UX Designers that was tasked with generating wireframes and mockups for a potential MVP. Through research and interviews we pinpointed the biggest frustrations users have with the current implementation plan procedure and designed a digital version that were a lot more intuitive and user oriented. In our vision I created a mobile as well as a desktop version, accompanied with a "setup wizard" that assisted the users while first admitting tenants into the homes.
The user
Employees at care homes, nurses, coordinators, QA facilitators
Role
UX Researcher / UX/UI Designer
The challenge
In care homes, especially retirement homes, the implementation plans as the are at the moment are very lackluster. While setting up an implementation plan for new tenants, this procedure usually takes place writing the tenants needs (both medical, physical and mental) down on a piece of paper. This paper is usually tucked away in a cupboard collecting dust until it is forcibly updated six months later. Allevi saw that there was room for a lot of improvement in this matter if the document was digitalized with analog backups, which would make the process much easier for the common user as well as assuring that the service quality in the care home were upheld to a certain standard.
The process
I was introduced to the process when the first round of questionnaires sent to various care homes tarted coming back. Going through these with my colleague we started to form an understanding of what the biggest pain points of the users were at the moment; the implementation plans were a stale document that felt like a chore they needed to do, nothing else. There were frustrations with users all filling in the form differently, with different wording and lingo. All in all, there was room for a lot of improvement.
As I joined the project in a later stage, some ground work was already laid. Taking inspiration from competitors as well as the teams own opinions I set about designing multiple versions of the product in Figma.
From the start I wanted to create a mobile-first platform, since the digitalization is making more and more companies utilize smartphones in their workday. If you as a user were to admit a new tenant into a care home, chances are higher that you've got a workphone closer at hand than a laptop when performing the onboarding process.
While designing the mobile version of the platform I put emphasis on making the symbology clear to the user. As a majority of the users responding in the questionnaires were ~45-55 years old they are part of the generation that was introduced to the digital world quite late in life. By minimizing the use of large chunks of text and instead focusing the design on large, clear symbols and buttons, the transition from writing the implementation plan on a piece of paper to using a smartphone becomes more frictionless.
However, as the platform currently stands there's no certainty that the users has smartphones at hand at all time. Therefore, my suggestion for the MVP took the shape of a desktop version, where nessecary information about the user were presented in different tabs on the screen. The choice of subjects in the tab bar, as well as the information presented on screen, consisted of what Socialstyrelsen by law requires the users to enter, as well as features that would improve the overall QoL of the users according to the answers in the questionnaires. Also, planning for the future digitalization I added the symbols used in the mobil version to each tab, in order to create a sense of familiarity when the users eventually would get the same platform to their phones.
In order to assist the users with putting up a implementation plan in an easy and intuitive manner, I took inspiration from desktop install wizards. The wizard itself was designed in a way that sent all information the user entered straight into the database for the implementation plans overview.
As filling out an implementation plan is required by Swedish law it was important for it to be accessible from the get go. Therefore I took design choices from NN Groups 10 heuristics as well as the gestalt principles in order to make it instinctively easy for any user using the platform.
As this was only in the theorycrafting stage our "MVP sketches" were handed over to the product teams for further development in the product design process.
Lessons learned:
This is getting out of hand, now there’s two of them:
It is always useful to surrounding yourself with people who share your passion. In this project I came to realize the value of having another person taking on the role of a "rubber duck debugging", i.e discussing your issues(often code) with someone who just listens to what you have to say. In this case the other UX designer on the project was a pillar of stability in my daily work. Doing this, you often come up with solutions while reading whatever challenges you out loud. This process was surprisingly easy implemented on UX design as well, as similar troubleshooting in written text can occur.
This is the way:
Trust in your own ability. Working on this I sometimes caught myself with having imposter syndrome. What if this is not good enough? Am I doing this right? I can do this better, I know that, but how? Those were some of the toughts going through my head, and is probably something many other designers feel as well from time to time. Fight those thoughts. Break the silence and do not be afraid of discussing it with your peers, because doing that will visualize that what you're actually doing is something of value.