Cabinet Health
An end-to-end project from concept ideation to interaction and prototyping.
Project Overview
Healthcare feels daunting, and sometimes just doing the bare minimum for wellness feels overwhelming and like a chore.
Cabinet is a solution for users that looks toward alternative healthcare as well as traditional medicine.
The focus is on the human side of medicine that values living well.
It’s about adding a human element to the physical pill box—virtually.
Details
Role: UX/UI Designer
Client: Design Lab UX Academy
Duration: 2 weeks, March-April 2020
Tools: Figma, Sketch, Whimsical
“The Council for Responsible Nutrition Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements reveals the highest overall dietary supplement usage to date, with 77 percent of Americans reporting they consume dietary supplements.”
No matter what age they are, most users are taking some kind of medication or a variety of vitamins and supplements. I personally take supplements recommended to me by my chiropractor, along with a mix of medications prescribed to me by my doctor. Keeping track of when and how to take all of these combined has always been a strain.
With medications/supplements taken more than ever and with more accessibility, users express the need for physicians and healthcare professionals to somehow stay connected to be able to advise on adjustment or even whether to start or stop treatment.
This is an app that helps users form good habits around taking their medications, while making sure they take the treatment in the appropriate way and in needed amounts—saving time and money on unnecessary medications and office visits.
Objectives
- Create a name, brand and logo for the app.
- Design a mobile app interface going through the main features.
- Develop an app that is able to sync with doctors, chiropractors, and healthcare professionals for consultation and feedback, while notifying users when and how to take the treatment.
Goal
How might we create a more human and delightful experience for something that usually causes worry or even shame?
Could we create a better and easier way for patients and healthcare professionals to interact outside of office visits?
How can we make reminders something to be welcomed, versus overwhelming users with more noise and interaction?
Needs
- To be reminded to take medication when and how it’s needed, especially for post surgery medication or antibiotics, etc.
- To know how the body is being affected by the medicine and to be able to be affirmed and heard by a professional.
Wants
- To make taking medications habitual, eventually not needing reminders.
- To get professional approval when introducing new supplements into regimen.
- To have accountability and be able to be reminded by a family member to take things.
- To have alarm notifications for when and how to take the medication.
Desires
- To be able to communicate with healthcare providers outside of office visits for check ins and questions.
- To know if a medication is absolutely necessary or just supplementary, like for pain management, etc.
- To get real feedback on how a medication or supplement should be affecting the body from professionals.
- To have the kind of relationship with a healthcare professional where the user feels comfortable enough to contact them outside of scheduled visits.
Marketplace Analysis
There are many pill pack physical products that have alarms built in, but not as many apps in the space that are focused on medication reminders. Of the marketplace, Medisafe is the clear winner with integrations and design that far exceed the capabilities of the rest. Many of these apps have drug interactions information synced into their databases, but none of the information is being personalized to who is taking the medication.
There isn’t a doctor actually saying, “Since you’ve been feeling drowsy, maybe we can go down on dosage for this medication. Make sure to take it with a source of protein.”
With gamification in one app and the ability to change the sound of the alarm in another, it’s clear that the marketplace is looking to make such reminders more friendly.
There is a market gap in focusing on users looking to keep track of alternative medicine and communicating with integrative medicine practitioners.
Opportunities for Improvement
- App notifications and ability to set them with how to take and how much to take.
- App notifications and ability to set for when it’s time for a refill.
- Ability to input medication or supplement with amount to keep track of each item.
- To sync with family members and nudge or be nudged to take medication.
- To be able to communicate with healthcare providers outside of visits for feedback and check ins.
Design
Wireframes
Brand
After a few sketches and iterations, I went with a logo that alluded to what the app serves to do yet still remains friendly and light.
The shapes that were used are pills and medications, but when they are combined like this, users noted seeing a flower, a clock, and even a heart. Aesthetically, I sought to create a brand that stood out from the more clinical marketplace.
I made sure to keep blue in the brand colors to still fit in with the marketplace and exude a feeling of trust, but I also added in green for health and yellow for friendliness and optimism.
Healthcare should be human, every time.
Cabinet is friendly, accountable, understanding, and human.
Mid-fi UI Designs
Test
Test Goals
- To observe users’ interactions with the app and evaluate
their experiences with the key features.
- To identify potential pain points.
- To define the quality of accessibility, flow, navigation,
information architecture, and general design of the addition.
Iterate
Next Steps & Prototype
- Add a summary of what was input while at the end of logging a medication.
- Move adding the medicine action to the cabinet page and make the adding alarm action on the home page.
- Put “Done” instead of "Skip" and note which steps are optional in a different way.
- Auto complete capability when inputting medicine.
- Add a photo next to the healthcare provider in messaging.
- Potentially add an image or icon next to the medication listing.
Questions for Future Iterations:
How might we educate users so that they feel empowered and in control of their health?
- Maybe integrating a database that notes the effects of drug and supplement interactions, and side effects when taken with certain foods.
- Maybe allow the app to sync with body metrics taken during office visits, ie blood pressure, vitamin levels, etc.
How might we create an experience that feels accessible, not only in design but in approaching healthcare as a whole?
- Maybe with the ability to order more medication or supplements directly from the app.
- Create a desktop Dashboard experience for healthcare providers to interact with patients in a way that doesn't feel cumbersome or complicated.
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