Gutsy
a digestive disease tracker app
*UX/UI
*BRAND DESIGN
*MOBILE APP
*CONCEPT
a digestive disease food & symptom tracker app.
INTRODUCTION:
People who suffer from gastroenterological autoimmune conditions (especially Irritable Bowel Syndrome [IBS] and Irritable Bowel Disease [IBD], which incorporates mostly the conditions of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease) face several factors in their daily lives that require self-management in order to live their best life and maintain their overall wellbeing. This app concept seeks to form a solution to the question: How might we help sufferers of IBS, IBD, and other digestive conditions live optimally functioning lives?
MY SOLUTION:
Due to the difficulty of managing symptoms and dietary habits while navigating through complex and overwhelming information for IBS/IBD patients, I devised the Gutsy app to provide a comprehensive digital solution where users can easily track their symptoms, manage their diet, and receive personalized recommendations, empowering them to take control of their health, and improve their overall well-being.
SERVICES:
- UX & UI
- App Design
- Branding
- Content Creation
PERSONALITY:
- Positive
- Intuitive
- Supportive
- Healthful
ART DIRECTORS:
- Kira Wilson
- Bradford Prairie
- Sheba Najmi
COMPLETED:
- Spring 2023
- Interaction Design
- SDCC
USER PERSONAS:
*PROCESS
USER INTERVIEWS, AFFINITY MAPPING:
At first I felt that it wasn't difficult finding potential users to interview for Gutsy, as I knew many already, but it proved to be a bit more troublesome for inclusivity than I foresaw. I contacted 5 people of various demographics, but ended up only being able to interview 3 of them: all being caucasian men above 30 years old. Due to deadlines and scheduling conflicts, I wasn't able to continue interviewing a more diverse group. This taught me that I need to base my studies on more of a range of demographics for the sake of inclusivity, which I will certainly incorporate in the future.
Despite this, I still gained a lot of insight from my interviews, and plan on doing more research as the project evolves. I compiled key points from the interviews into an empathy map. The aggregate results were as follows:
- Users' pain points include being unable to manage symptoms or know what foods will hurt them, or contribute to positive health;
- Their feelings are somewhat negative and skeptical towards medical systems and their medical teams;
- Their goals are to get or remain in good health, and they are eager to try anything that promises remission;
- Their influences are the Internet, their medical teams, friends, relatives, and medical literature.
I compiled all this data into a spreadsheet to help inform my ideas for a solution, and came up with the following personas, which are the result of both my interviews, and research I've done into IBS and IBD.
USER PERSONAS:
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
*WIREFAMES
LOW-FIDELITY:
*WIREFAMES
MID -FIDELITY:
*WIREFAMES
-FIDELITY.
*USER INTERFACE DESIGN
LOW-FIDELITY.
SKETCHES:
LOGO:
*WIREFAMES
MID -FIDELITY.
*WIREFAMES
-FIDELITY.
*SCREENS
IMPACT AND KEY LEARNINGS:
Once I finalized the screens and functionality of Gutsy, I presented the concept at multiple critiques and reviews at my college, and also to the people I interviewed, as well as a few more casual observers and friends, totaling about 20 people.
So far, the feedback has been helpful, and I've gained a significant amount of useful feedback and suggestions, which I am currently working on implementing. Positive reception include the following feedback:
- Gutsy's general welcoming and friendly interface and UI elements;
- My organization of most of the app's data and functions;
- The placement of thoughtfulness of CTAs.
However, the most useful suggestions are aimed at what I can improve, and I'm always excited to pursue building on the critiques I receive. For Gutsy, these include:
- INCLUSIVITY: Due to school deadlines and other restraints, I was only able to interview three caucasian men within a relatively small age range (in their 30s and 40s). Although I had intended on a more diverse pool of interviewees, I learned to be more diligent in choosing candidates through screening more individuals for more accurate and inclusive results.
- ACCESSIBILITY: While some critics have given positive feedback on my overall thoughtfulness with regard to elements such as my rating system for food using numbers and a color, many have cautioned me that the text and various icons are too small, and that I shouldn't use the red-green combo for sight-impaired users. I added a number-based rating system with the latter in mind, but I'm looking into new systems to address accessibility.
- A.I. IMPLEMENTATION: The bulk of my work on Gutsy's general ideations and functionality took place in summer 2022—right before I became aware of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs). It didn't occur to me to incorporate these into Gutsy at the time, but I'm working on revising the interface to include A.I. for much more advanced functionality that is up-to-date and fresh.
*COMPLETED APP
FIRST PROTOTYPE:
While I am still in the process of completing a prototype for Gutsy based on the above suggestions that will be more inclusive, accessible, and will implement A.I. for increased functionality, I hope that the current screens showcase well my ongoing work on the concept, and display my research, sensitivity to user needs, capabilities with design software, and eagerness to continue to improve based on collaborative feedback and efforts.
