About Nonprofit
We worked with The Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit building hope for kids with cancer, to create a community and healthcare app for parents to emotionally support them along their children’s recovery journey.
1095 Project Objective
Roc Solid Foundation wants to make sure that these families know that they are not alone. This project will serve as their support system and resource through the ups and downs of their journey. The average treatment cycle of a child fighting cancer is three years, or 1,095 days, so Roc Solid Foundation wants to fill in the parts of the journey that their current programs cannot support: everything in-between. With this initiative, termed the “1095 project” (to represent the average number of days kids spend fighting cancer before recovering), we will expand access to support parents by providing a community of families like themselves, vetted resources, and healthcare tools.
Timeline
May 2023 - August 2023
(Design cycle done. Currently under mobile application development)
My role
Led research execution and ideation phrases, designed user flows and user testing of key features, and collaborated with the program manager to manage the project timeline and deliverable
Team
Irem Acar
Christina Chen
Sue Wang
Jessica Chen
About the Product
Our client already conducted a series of high-level user interviews such as focus group interviews to inquire users’ basic needs and concerns
💬 Based on the existing materials, we collaborated with our client to conduct more in-depths user research such as the contextual inquiry with client, interviewing child specialist, creation of user journey map, usability test with future users(families with children diagnoses with pediatric cancer)
✍️In a 4-month time period, we converted our client’s requirement, user research results, and stakeholders perspective into complete design solutions.
Research Process💭
Connecting with the client
We kicked off our project by arranging several meetings with our clients. We got to know more about the organization and the project’s goals - as well as having access to Roc Solid Foundation’s existing connections with pediatric cancer-fighting families and over 150+ partnered hospitals. Afterwards, we narrowed down the main objectives for our user research:
Go through the focus group results and hold expert interviews to identify pain points
Understand existing health management products to find potential strengths and weakness
Have a grip on the cancer treatment cycle for our product
Expert Interview
In order to get a better insight on the needs and experience of our target users, we observed the results of a focus group of 10 sets of parents undergoing the struggles of pediatric cancer and conducted an expert interview with a Child Life Specialist at RSF.
When undergoing this process from initial diagnosis to treatment, parents may cycle through many different stages of emotion, denial, and fear to try to adjust to the immense changes.
“The vast majority of kids, when they get that diagnosis, say when do I start treatment. Whereas adults are busy saying no this can’t be happening, this is the worst thing in the world.” - Bryan, Child Life Specialist
Our subject matter expert and parents of Roc Solid foundation noted a few essential considerations to take into account when designing the app:
Competitive Analysis
Considering the wide scope of our project area, we conducted a comprehensive competitive evaluation of more than 20 related products, covering aspects such as community involvement, hospital care, treatment provision, and emotional support.
The glaring pattern that we noticed was that there was no product on the market that offered a central hub for emotional support and tracking that could greatly help patients and their loved ones during the entire timeline, from diagnosis to recovery.
Prototyping🖌️
01. From Sketch to Lo-Fi Prototype
⬆️ During the "Crazy 8" activity, our sketchbook burst with so many diverse concepts💥, each pushing the boundaries of conventional design in an effort to tackle the user needs identified in the initial research phase.
⬇️Shifting from quantity to quality, we narrowed down to the following themes: Login Page, Home Page, Community Page, Resource Page, Tool page, and Profile Page
02. Plan the User Flow and IA
Designing an app is much like navigating a game – it needs clear rules and a smooth flow to meet user needs effectively. As part of the research team, I was responsible for crafting the user flow and structuring the information architecture. This groundwork was key for our team to advance confidently into the next stage of design.
03 Usability Test
Through each iteration of our prototypes, we went through multiple revisions and meetings with Roc Solid Foundation to properly incorporate their feedback into our design process. In order to collect user feedback and identify any opportunities for improvement, we conducted usability testing with 18 users.
Iterations based on usability tests
Focus on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’
7/18 users found the onboarding process lengthy and overly verbose. Additionally, the use of a dark theme with green and black colors obscured the app's identity as a caregiver platform. These users also expressed confusion regarding the app’s purpose and sought greater transparency about its offerings and the secure handling of user-provided information.
Unclear icons and wording cause confusion
Intuitive placement and readability are key
8/18 users had issues reading or finding information due to a lack of readability.
8/18 users experienced confusion on various tasks due to unclear icons and wording. Users cited issues such as confusion about the tonal connotation of Resource categories such as “Tips and Tricks” or sensitivity around the idea of sharing "progress”.
Final Product🚀
Last Round of Usability Test Result
After creating our hi-fi deliverables, 4/4 of our last round of tested users, real parents from Roc Solid Foundation, reacted positively to the app and found it to be impactful, simple, and user-friendly.
Our client was extremely happy with the final product, and we have completed the development hand-off. Our team currently plays a role of design consultants as Roc Solid is collaborating with an engineer team to fully implement the app. The expected launch date will be March 2024!🎉
My Learning through this role
Communication and clarity lead to client satisfaction
During the early phases of the project, we hit some roadblocks due to multiple levels of miscommunication on the timeline and scope of deliverables. Being transparent with the client about feasibility, avoiding technical jargon, working through solutions together, and involving them in every step of the design process created a connection a deeper level and helped set clear expectations.
How to practice empathy on a nuanced level
Working with such an intense subject as pediatric cancer and the diversity of those it affects has helped me understand the utmost importance of examining users through an empathetic lens. Seemingly minute details can make all the difference in a user's experience, and it is crucial to approach a contextual situation from all angles.
Thank you for reading!🩵