A next-generation medical news and research aggregator customized for doctors
Setting the Stage
Our Role
A nascent start-up approached us to provide creative inputs, build a design strategy, and the product prototype of their health-tech digital product.
A nascent start-up approached us to provide creative inputs, build a design strategy, and the product prototype of their health-tech digital product.
Product Description
A targeted medical news application providing bite-sized summaries of medical news and research.
A targeted medical news application providing bite-sized summaries of medical news and research.
Target Audience
Medical professionals, students, and researchers primarily in the millennial age group
Medical professionals, students, and researchers primarily in the millennial age group
Project Outcomes
Brand Image
Prototype
Investor Pitch Deck
Brand Image
Prototype
Investor Pitch Deck
Client
UC Berkeley candidates
- 2 engineers
- 1 MBA candidate
- A medical student
UC Berkeley candidates
- 2 engineers
- 1 MBA candidate
- A medical student
Duration
6 months in a part-time capacity
6 months in a part-time capacity
UX Research Methods
Survey
Cluster Mapping
Storyboarding
Iterative Prototyping
1:1 User Interviews
Competitor Analysis
Survey
Cluster Mapping
Storyboarding
Iterative Prototyping
1:1 User Interviews
Competitor Analysis
"How might we make it easy for busy medical professionals to stay up to date with research and news in an engaging way through a mobile application?"
User Interviews
We conducted semi-structured interviews with medical students and resident interns to get a glimpse of their daily schedule, their likes and dislikes about how they currently consume medical news. We also interviewed the clients to get an understanding of how they viewed their product and what kind of impression they were looking to establish.
Competitor Analysis
We evaluated existing industry competitors on 3 main criteria so that we may build MedBytes to fit ideally in their intersection.
Personas
Storyboarding
A day in the life of a doctor - illustrating the problem area that Medbytes addresses.
Information Architecture
Based on the journey observed of our personas, we used behaviour mapping to identify barriers that Medbytes needed to overcome through its user flow. We then built a suitable information architecture illustrating MedBytes key features.
Mid Fidelity Wireframes
Based on our analysis, we finalised the following broad features in consultation with the client:
Preferences at Sign Up, Personalized News Feed, Explore, Trending and Personal Profile
Preferences at Sign Up, Personalized News Feed, Explore, Trending and Personal Profile
Initial Prototype and Product Survey
The client had a set of features that they wanted to include in the product for our initial prototype. After sketching out the basic look and feel of the MVP, we conducted a bit of research and testing through a survey to assess users’ impression of the look and features of the MVP.
Iterated Final Prototype
We combined insights and inputs from the user survey as well as engineers from the client team. We improved the user flow to make it more readable, better-spaced, and clean by changing usage of color, placement of elements, and some visuals.
We also made modifications based on technical considerations from the engineers e.g. lack of availability of images for journal articles since the app focus narrowed down to peer-reviewed journals only as a result of user feedback.
Our additional value-add:
The ’Explore’ feature with the swipe function was a new value-add from us that was not part of the original list of features by the client. We used behavioral analysis using the initial interview data, thus leveraging not just visual design, but UX design as a whole. This feature offering was inspired by its success in other apps, albeit in very different domains.
Design Elements
The design system was derived from the key themes that stood out from our initial interviews.
For example, we decided to stray away from the frequently used blue color associated with the medical field and went with a more energetic, yet relevant shade of red.
Self Reflection
Method and Justification
Owing to the pandemic and logistical restrictions, it was only possible to get call interviews with medical students and professionals. Ideally, we would interview them in person to allow us to pick up on more non-verbal cues and details of their pain points.
Additionally, we might have received more nuanced insights if we were able to test the product in the field and gain observational data, but this was not possible at the time. Technical restrictions on the client team at that time also prevented us from having a working prototype to gain click data. Therefore, as a workaround, we used a survey to test people’s responses to the basic product look and features, which still helped us make very fruitful iterations.
Design Challenges
Given the nature of the product and its focus on research journals, it was an added challenge to make a clean, intuitive, and visually appealing design with almost no pictorial element for such a text-heavy app, especially given the combination of a fun, youthful look with a somber, academic tone.
Continued Engagement
We intend to conduct usability testing in the field to gain more concrete feedback, especially over longer durations to observe usage patterns and frequency. We also expect to A/B test some added features in the near future. We look forward to continued engagement with the client as this product progresses in the fund-raising stages.
