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Dismissed endometriosis symptoms
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Endometriosis Has An Average 12 Year Diagnostic Wait-Time.
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Host: Casey
Co-host: Sasha
Education
Symptoms
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Education
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Endometriosis Has An Average 12 Year Diagnostic Wait-Time.
Starts in 4 minutes
32 guests
Host: Casey
Co-host: Sasha
Education
Symptoms
Education & Resources
Amateur and professionally written articles and blogs, ranging from educational resources to lifestyle advice
In-app symptom tracker allows users to record and manage their condition and identify symptoms
AI Diagnostic Questionnaire
Allows users to share symptoms and medical history to receive an accurate diagnosis
Can lay the groundwork for personalized treatment plans
Vetted Community Interactions
Only confirmed endometriosis patients will have access
Verified users can connect with each other through live audio chatrooms and blog posts
An all-in-one community platform with in-app health management and user-created content.
The Solution:
While it seems clear that endometriosis is a serious and complex condition, the related care and research often do not consider symptoms beyond fertility and menstruation issues.
Therefore, many patients are not given the proper care that not only do they need, but also personally desire.
So... what IS endometriosis, actually?
Endometriosis is more accurately defined as a full body chronic inflammatory disease with autoimmune-like behaviors.
We began by simply looking up how reputable medical organizations currently define endometriosis, and comparing the results to the research that our client provided for us.
Not only did we simulate potential users trying to learn about this condition, it also helped us see the stark difference in how endometriosis is explained in the medical world, versus what it actually is.
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Understand
Understand
Context
Research
Competitive Analysis
Define
User Journeys
Problem Statements
Validate
Usability Tests
Test Analysis
Design Iteration
Design
Sketches
Lo-fi & Hi-fi
Wireframes
Prototyping
Branding &
Style Guide
The Journey
Due to the sensitive and complex nature of endometriosis as a medical condition, our client provided us with most of the necessary research we would need to understand the impact of this disorder on our user base.
Instead, we focused on reviewing the research on endometriosis and planned our design journey around creating a high quality user experience based on our client’s needs for the final product.
The Challenge
How do we start?
Check out the (Social) Competition
We also looked into social media competitors in order to better understand the type of platform our client requested.
Because the scope of our client’s project was primarily focused on developing a community platform, we were tasked with analyzing two unique social search engines: Diem and Clubhouse.
Key Insights:
Users should feel safe and comfortable using Unity - private information should remain private
Users should be able to browse and search content through sensibly organized categories
Take inspiration from and improve on Clubhouse’s audio rooms for Unity’s live conversation feature
User interface of every feature should be simple and intuitive to learn
Define
Delayed Diagnosis & Care
Lack of Education & Knowledge
Lack of Sympathy & Support
AI Diagnostic Questionnaire
Resources, User-Created Content, and Symptom Tracker
A Community of Vetted Endometriosis Patients
User Stories
To help design the structure of Unity, we wrote some user stories based off our own and Unity’s research, and reviewed the problem statements we gathered from our research.
Our user stories helped keep our designs user-centered, and even turned many of our discussions with our client into teachable moments. By clearly defining the main goals of our users based on our research, we helped our client continue to make informed decisions about our designs and the project as a whole.
Rethinking the Problems
Some of our biggest challenges were the complexity and depth of our subject matter, as well as our unfamiliarity with audio-first social platforms like Clubhouse. We needed to thoroughly understand how we can help resolve the three problems we highlighted during the early research stages (as well as our defined user journeys) using the type of social platform that our client requested.
With the resources our client was collecting and developing, we were able to identify and refine solutions for the initial problems. All we had to do now was to design a simple and sensible structure for the mobile platform that incorporated these solutions without overwhelming or confusing our users.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Now that we have finalized our scope and design choices, it was time to start visualizing our ideas and concepts. Because our client had rough mocks and a relatively clear idea of what they wanted, we were able to move straight to creating low fidelity screens for the product.
The questionnaire screens for both the AI Diagnostic and vetting process were simple to design as our client provided us with relevant copy, so most of our energy went into building screens for our users’ main flows.
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MindoAI
This test will help us gain a deeper understanding of your health history, and you will receive results once the test is completed.
A 5-minute AI diagnostic test
AI Diagnostic Complete!
Jane,
From your assessment input, you have
been diagnosed as most likely to have endometriosis. A common chronic inflammatory disease with autoimmune like behaviors affecting 1 in 9 women, transgender and non-binary people.
You are not alone.
Just like you, 85% of Unity members also experienced chronic pelvic, nausea, and spotting. Here are your care options we recommend to relieve your symptoms.
learn more
An easily accessible and thorough AI Diagnostic questionnaire that can provide quick and accurate diagnoses, and care management advice
Let’s apply for unity!
At unity, we strive for a safe and supportive community for individuals living with endometriosis.
To become a unity member, submit an application to be reviewed by our vetting committee. Once you’re approved, you will gain access to the unity member-exclusive community.
Let’s get started!
Yes, let’s go!
I’m not ready
Screening process to verify medical history and ensure that all members have confirmed endometriosis symptoms, regardless of professional diagnosis
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Keep track of symptoms and pain areas by date and time
Symptom Diary
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Digestive
Constipation
Bloating
Diarrhea
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Loss of appetite
Food intolerance
Respitory
Shortness of breath
Chest pain
Coughing up blood
Mental Health
Brain fog
Anxiety
Depression
Fatigue
Insomnia
Mood swings
Other
Chronic fatigue
Back pain
Leg pain
Sciatica
Headaches
Joint pain
Muscle pain
Obstetrics and Gynecology (Ob-Gyn)
and Urology
Irregular menstrual
cycles
Pelvic
Heavy Bleeding
Painful Menstruation
Spotting between
periods
Painful Menstruation
Infertility
Nausea and vomiting
Painful urination
Urinary frequency
Painful Menstruation
Infertility
Nausea and vomiting
Painful urination
Urinary frequency
Urinary urgency
Incontinence
PMDD
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Endometriosis awareness month! Let’s talk about it & spread awareness!
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Endometriosis awareness month! Let’s talk about it...
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Participate in live audio rooms to discuss various topics and support each other in a nonjudgmental environment
A comprehensive and simple UI that allows users to quickly and easily navigate the app
Design
Brand Guidelines
After analyzing the results of the user testing and developing solutions, it was time to apply Unity’s branding to our low fidelity screens.
Our client had a general style and aesthetic in mind, and we were given the freedom to make adjustments to certain aspects of the style guide.
Usability Testing
Users had a unanimous appreciation for the way the community is meant to function in this application. Regardless, there were still some areas where we definitely had room for improvement as far as execution and design was concerned.
I detailed the main problem areas, discussed the issues with my team and our client, and collaborated on solutions that would be reflected in our high fidelity prototype. For issues beyond our scope, I highlighted the problems that users experienced during the test sessions for our client to pass on to relevant teams.
Our client connected us with users that experience endometriosis symptoms, whether they have been diagnosed by a doctor or not. I contributed to refining and finalizing the test script, and led most of our user testing sessions.
I then synthesized our teams’ notes and recordings from each session, and compiled our findings for our client’s convenience.
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Questions that may not be exactly relevant or reflective of a user’s unique experience with endometriosis symptoms may cause additional discomfort and confusion.
I recommended to our client that this questionnaire should be developed in a way that will omit certain questions that will not be relevant to the user without discrediting their experience.
How might we better curate our questionnaire to a broader audience without alienating or confusing potential users?
AI Diagnostic - More Responsive Questionnaire
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Endometriosis awareness month! Let’s talk about it & spread awareness!
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Hi Jane
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Live Conversations
Blog
Dismissed endometriosis symptoms
Spot top 5 misdiagnosis & avoidable surgeries
What to look for in a specialist
Trending
Conversation Tags
Education
Referrals
Endometriosis Has An Average 12 Year Diagnostic Wait-Time.
Starts in 4 minutes
32 guests
Host: Casey
Co-host: Sasha
Education
Symptoms
Conversation Tags
Education
Referrals
Endometriosis Has An Average 12 Year Diagnostic Wait-Time.
Starts in 4 minutes
32 guests
Host: Casey
Co-host: Sasha
Education
Symptoms
Though we wanted to convey the sense of exploration when it came to the home page, users were unsure of the difference between ‘Explore’ and ‘Search’.
We decided to go with the tried and true method of universally recognizable icons - both to reduce confusion, as well as visual clutter.
How might we help users better navigate and interact with the app on their own?
Iconography - Decide on which icon means what
Some users were unable to understand the overall flow of the Live Conversation rooms, and were confused at the way hosts and participants were displayed in a room.
We turned this into a teaching moment for our client, and assured them that clear hierarchy in UI can still be personable without sacrificing functionality.
Our client wanted the Live Conversation rooms - the flagship feature of Unity - to be unique and ‘organic’ in appearance. However, it was clear from the usability tests that the initial design of these rooms caused unnecessary confusion.
How might we improve the interaction experience of the Live Conversation Room for participants?
Live Conversation Rooms - UI Overhaul
Validation
Next Steps
Since our team was primarily called upon to design the overall look and experience of Unity and had a limited time frame in which to make the designs, we had to prioritize the validation of Unity’s basic features with users and the final design/interaction experience of the prototype. As we will no longer be working on this project, we provided some suggestions for next steps with the prototype for our client to make note of.
1.
Additional (and more extensive) usability testing with the high fidelity prototype to validate the various changes from the first round of testing and gather data on users’ impressions of Unity’s branding and style guide
2.
Explore, research, and test more options for Live Conversation functionality - as a relatively new concept in social media, it would be beneficial to understand how audio-only social spaces function, especially when it comes to more sensitive content.
Final Thoughts
As many might expect and understand, time was our team’s biggest enemy. Between a slew of technical and scheduling issues and personal obstacles that every member of our team, including our client, had to deal with, we had to make adjustments to both our designs and our project plan in order to ensure the final product was still of the highest quality we could manage.
That being said, we also learned a great deal about flexibility and making educated decisions during each moment of crisis, and had many opportunities to teach our client about UX/UI as a whole. Our user stories helped keep our designs user-centered, and even turned many of our discussions with our client into teachable moments. By clearly defining the main goals of our users based on our research, we were able to help our client continue to make informed decisions about our designs and the project as a whole.
Conclusion
Understand the Current User Experience
Once we had a better understanding of what endometriosis really was, we reviewed and analyzed the market research that our client provided in order to identify the current problems surrounding patients’ medical journeys and support systems.
We were able to highlight three overlying issues that endometriosis patients have been enduring: delayed diagnoses, lack of education about their condition, and lack of sympathy by close peers and professionals.
Delayed Diagnosis & Care
On average, it takes about 11 years for a patient to receive a diagnosis from an endometriosis specialist.
American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2019
Lack of Education & Knowledge
72% of people with endometriosis were not provided with any relevant information or advice when diagnosed.
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Endometriosis, 2020
Lack of Sympathy & Support
90% of people with endometriosis report being disbelieved, dismissed, or ignored by friends, family, and doctors
The Alliance for Endometriosis, 2021
Timeframe
Feb 2022 ~ April 2022
Role
Product Designer
Tools
Figma, Figjam, Miro, Google
How might we provide
meaningful medical and emotional support
to endometriosis patients?
Problem Space
Endometriosis is a chronic disease that impacts roughly 10% (190 million) of women and people AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth). However, it can be extremely difficult for patients to access care and treatment that they need.
Not only is there fewer specialists available for the amount of patients that need help, endometriosis is also often misdiagnosed, mistreated, and misunderstood.
Project Overview