Background
Mukki Gill, a Northeastern student and founder of ZOR, is developing a wearable device to track and manage epileptic seizures. As part of her goals, she assembled a team to create a mobile app to help people with epilepsy better understand and handle their seizures. She wanted an Beta version of the app, where users could log seizures, symptoms and patterns, and see how seizures might correlate to things like heart rate, appetite, and medications. The team of 7 consisted of developers, designers, and marketers. We met bi-weekly to brainstorm ideas, design and implement features, and gather feedback.
Project Overview
We worked together to define the core features for the app's Beta version based on research with people living with epilepsy and talking to physicians and other experts in the epilepsy patient care space.
We came up with:
A logging system for tracking seizures, medications, lifestyle metrics, like sleep and stress, and other key symptoms
Reminders for appointments, medications, and other tasks
A calendar view for tracking seizure, medication, appointment, and lifestyle metrics history
A trends page for viewing visualizations and identifying patterns
The ability to export data for medical use
A profile with medication info and caregiver contacts
Extensive Research
User Research
Mukki attended the Epilepsy Therapies & Diagnostics Development (ETDD) Symposium and shared findings from patient and caregiver interviews about what they were looking for in an app.
Commonly requested features included:
Seizure tracking: The ability to log seizures, including information about the onset and kind.
Medication management: Reminders to take medication and information on potential side effects.
Lifestyle Trends: Tracking lifestyle metrics like heart beat and sleep quality and a way to identify trends.
Emergency support: Features for emergency contacts and a pre-planned seizure action plan.
Barriers to Use: Lack of awareness, user fatigue, privacy concern, complex app interfaces and limited integration with healthcare systems.
Competitor Research
We looked at existing epilepsy and wellness tracking apps, focusing on their approaches to data entry, visualization, and personalization. This research was crucial in understanding current user familiarity and identifying key opportunities for ZOR! to differentiate itself, introduce innovative features, and establish competitive advantages by addressing what other apps do well and where they fall short.
Inspired by Apple Health
A huge inspiration for us was Apple Health's display of information. We particularly noted its clean, intuitive Summary view, which lets users quickly understand key health metrics. The app's use of interactive charts and highlights to show trends over time, and the ability to pin favorite categories for quick access, was a valuable reference point for designing ZOR!'s data visualization and personalization features.
Considering Accessibility
We thoroughly read established guidelines like WCAG, focusing on factors such as color contrast and blindness, dynamic text sizing, intuitive navigation, and compatibility with assistive technologies. We also considered the impact of animations and visual patterns on individuals with photosensitive epilepsy, to prioritize safety and usability for all. This deep dive into accessibility ensures ZOR! can be used by a diverse range of users.
Building Information Architecture
Sitemap
We discussed what screens to include for the Beta version. Then, we mapped out how features would connect and support users in managing their epilepsy.
User Flows
We designed flows for each page and main functionalities, like creating an account, logging a seizure and daily survey, seeing trends, viewing the calendar, and updating information. The goal was to keep everything simple and intuitive.
Many, Many Iterations
We created sketches and low-fidelity wireframes for each page and flow. Mukki shared these with members of the epilepsy community and healthcare professionals, and we used their and other team members' feedback to continuously make improvements.
Brainstorming with Sketches
We hand-drew numerous layouts for each app page, focusing on the core information architecture and the order of content. A significant challenge at this stage was determining how to best represent complex data visualizations in a simple, comprehensible way. I explored various data visualizations, from simple line graphs to more complex scatter plots, to determine which type would best communicate patterns and insights to both patients and healthcare professionals.
Lo-Fi Prototypes
Building on our paper wireframes, we created low-fidelity wireframes for each user flow. Our primary goal was to get feedback on ease of use, navigation, and the intuitiveness of the personalization and customization features. This process involved numerous iterations, particularly for the Trends page, where we focused on refining the data visualizations to be as clear and insightful as possible. Feedback and usability testing from Mukki, our team members, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and members of the epilepsy community were crucial in driving improvements and ensuring the final design was truly user-centered.
The Final Product
After weeks of iteration and testing, we built a full high-fidelity design and prototype for the app's Beta version that was ready to be handed off to the development team. I primarily designed the Calendar, Trends, Profile & Settings, and Home Pages.
Calendar
Data appears in a calendar view, giving users a familiar way to view their seizure, medication, and lifestyle metric logs and a progress circle. Each day can be tapped to show and edit the full entry for that date.
Trends
All logged data populates directly into this page. Users can see a comprehensive view of their seizure occurrences and medication history, and explore how different factors relate to their seizures. A dedicated Highlights section generates key insights automatically, helping users quickly understand the data. Users have full control to customize which data they see and can export this information to share with their medical team.
Profile
Users can customize their medication list and seizure types, choose the metrics they want to track and any allergies and diets, and add caregiver information. They also can update preferences, including notifications, and give feedback.
Home
This is the central dashboard designed for quick navigation. It uses a widget-based layout to give users a snapshot of key data, such as their last seizure date and medication reminders. Each widget acts as a shortcut to a specific page.
What I Learned
Designing ZOR!'s Beta Version was a balancing act between functionality, usability, and the distinct needs of patients and caregivers. We centered the app around accessible data logging, visualization, and personalization to build a strong foundation that can be expanded in later versions. To achieve this, we made intentional trade-offs, like putting the Appointments feature on hold to keep the initial experience focused. Through thoughtful design and user feedback, ZOR!'s Beta provides a solid base for future development. I'm excited to see how the app continues to evolve!
