Gutsy

The future of gut health management with a conversational interface.

UX & UI Design
UX Research
Brand ID & Marketing
Graphic Design

The Problem

People with chronic digestive disorders—especially IBS, IBD (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease), celiac disease, and GERD—face significant daily challenges managing symptoms that disrupt basic activities like eating, working, family time, and even starting their day. Restroom urgency, pain, and stress make consistent routines difficult. Lifestyle modifications like diet, exercise, and stress management are important, but medical professionals and existing health solutions like apps and therapy fall short in providing individualized health support, require tedious data entry and time-consuming check-ins, and regularly rely on broad assumptions rather than on individual symptoms. As a result, users are left feeling hopeless that their unique personal health complications are being addressed.

The Solution

Gutsy is designed as a personalized health management platform using an AI chat interface that is easy to communicate with, and focuses entirely on the user as an understanding and knowledgeable health companion. The app streamlines data entry to provide accurate tracking of health factors, and individualized feedback with discreet and simplified voice-, text-, and widget-based data logging for optimally efficient health management.

Role

Researcher
Product Designer
UX Designer
UI Designer

Timeline

February - August 2024

Mentors

Kira Wilson
Bradford Prairie
Sheba Najmi

Platform

Responsive
Mobile App (Figma)

Process

Design Thinking

Design Thinking: Problem space research

Understand, explore, and materialize

I followed the Design Thinking framework throughout my process of exploring the fundamental issue of chronic digestive disorder (CDD) management and forming a solution based on user research.

Design Thinking: Problem space research

1. Empathize

Problem space research

I researched the problem space intensely, seeking to answer questions such as the following:

What are CDDs?
Who is most directly affected by the management of CDDs?
From what symptoms do they suffer?
What are their life and health management experiences currently like?
Why do they need help managing their health?
What is the broad scale of the digestive disorder management issue?
What current solutions exist to manage health, and how effective are they?

To simplify a significant amount of data about such a complex problem space as chronic digestive disorders (CDDs), I created the below infographics. (All illustrations and icons are my designs):

Competitive usability analysis

As I gained understanding of the problem space, I looked at what solutions are currently on the market to help people manage these conditions. I reviewed 13 popular CDD health apps, noting their strengths and weaknesses. All in all, I found that most of them offer similar basic features—symptom and bowel movement tracking, food diaries, etc.—ostensibly to help users figure out how to manage their health effectively. Despite recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) that give artificially intelligent conversational interfaces, I was interested to note that none of the apps I audited seem to truly take advantage of these technologies to provide personalized insights or make managing health easier.

Interviews of potenital users

I interviewed 6 people representing the following demographics:

2 women, 4 men
Age range: 26 through 50 years old
Conditions: ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, IBS
Ethnic heritages and cultures relevant to gut health statistics included Asian, European, Eastern Mediterranean, African-American, South American

6 out of 6 of the subjects said that living with IBS and IBD affects every aspect of daily life.
6 out of 6 of both the subjects' symptoms and the management of their conditions involve a significant amount of physical and mental anxiety and stress, and all subjects listed depression and mental health conditions as part of their regular experiences.
6 out of 6 of the subjects revealed that diet plays a significant art in their overall wellbeing, but none of them were on the same diet.

4 out of 6 users are frustrated with medical staff and professionally recommended solutions (such as specific diets, medications, physical therapy, and alternative remedies):

Everything they tell me is generic and not tailored to my needs as an individual, but are broad and impersonal. . . everyone's different, so every suggestion should be specific to each person—which you never get doctors to agree with."

Brenda L.
High School International Coordinator
Crohn's Disease

3 out of 6 users don't like having to track their daily health because it's time-consuming, frustrating, and often produces fruitless results.

I'm so busy with work and my family that I don't feel like I have the time to input my data a bunch of times a day, even though I know I should."

Gupi F.
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Ulcerative Colitis

5 out of 6 users feel better overall when they stay on top of their diet and health factors.

I track my health pretty regularly on average, and feel pretty good when I stay on top of it. . .I always regret it when I get lazy with it."

Officer Leslie
Law Enforcement Officer
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Suspected Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

4 out of 6 users feel that tracking health is complicated, and is fragmented across too many specialists and platforms:

I do use like 5 apps to track my food and symptoms, but everything's scattered. . . there's no one-stop shop that I know of."

Rudy R.
Truck Driver
IBS-Related Diabetes & Arthritis
Developing IBD

2 out of 6 users complained about the trial-and-error approach, which causes them physical and mental pain and exhaustion, and hasn't led to a sufficient remedy so far.

I've tried every diet: FODMAP, carnivore, vegetarian, Mediterranean, paleo; I just eat what I want overall because everything hurts anyway. . . I'm so tired of trying new generalized diets, and wish my doctors would just focus on me, telling me what hurts and what helps."

Kalani S.
Restaurant Server and Student
Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis
(Lost his colon to precancerous colitis 9 years ago)

Empathy mapping

I gathered the data from my interviews and made sticky notes with key quotes and insights, grouping them into categories of what the subject thinks, feels, and behaves, in order to better understand their wants, needs, frustrations, etc.

Users are willing to try a new solution if it consolidates their efforts.
They are stressed out: both by their actual conditions, in which stress plays a key role, and by the necessity of managing their daily health.
They are frustrated with current medical professionals and their solutions, feeling like they're being herded into a general group, and not being attended to as individuals.
They are hopeful that better solutions will come, and are eager to identify ways of living optimally, considering their health setbacks.
They understand that having IBS or IBD limits them, but most of them believe they could achieve better health.
Most of them struggle staying on top of daily health management, and are not consistent with it.

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2. Define

User personas

Having done initial research, I developed detailed user personas to simulate real user needs, pain points, and behaviors, based on insights from my "empathize" phase.

Problem statement

People with chronic digestive disorders struggle to manage their health due to lack of personalized support for individuals with gut health issues."

User journey maps

I determined that user goals are to manage health-related factors in order to stay out of pain and function optimally.

Tracking user health to draw conclusions of things that help and hurt the user as a whole.
Logging health-related factors such as food and nutrition, physical and mental wellness, pain levels, and other factors, such as hydration and stress multiple times a day.
Identification of food and situations that trigger adverse health and flareups.
Regular feedback and suggestions concerning user progress, overall health, and factors that motivate them to form a habit of regularly visiting the app and keeping on top of their health.
A personalized and non-generic method of health management tailored to each individual, considering as many aspects of their conditions and history as possible.
A single, comprehensive place in which users can manage their health, without the need of multiple apps or other solutions.

This led to the question:

HMW help people suffering from chronic digestive disorders manage their health with minimal stress, and in a personalized, engaging way?

3. Ideate

Low-fidelity wireframes

Working out on paper and in Figma and Illustrator how this app could function, I produced wireframes of various user flows to get a feel for the usability of the app. I like to sketch by hand at first, and then digitize promising solutions as they come.

Developing visualizations: charts, graphics, plots, and other information

Being led by user feedback to provide both an uncluttered and informative interface, I went through several iterations of chart types including line, pie, and trend charts; progress bars; radial gauges; and more. I was inspired by apps such as MyFitnessPal and others known for good UI.

Dashboard visualizations

Hierarchy of charts and visuals

Trigger and healthful food identification

I developed a color-coded system with numbers for intuitive and accessible food identification to give the user a clear visualization of their personal reactions to the different foods they've tried, reworking the design to focus on legibility, color contrast, and white space for optimal clarity.

4. Prototype

Mid-fidelity wireframes

My initial design went through a significant evolution after two professional portfolio reviews, leading me to learn more about how to incorporate Artificial Intelligence via Large Language Models (LLMs) into the design to update the app and make it optimally user friendly, as well as to keep it relevant and competitive in our fast-paced, technologically advanced society.

Everything will soon be represented by a conversational interface. . . a personal AI."

Mustafa Suleyman,
CEO, Microsoft AI
TED Talk April 2024

Conversational AI interface

The simple, familiar, and personal interface of a chat message enhances user experience to limit stress and encourage regular interaction.

Voice command for hands-free UX

NLP (Natural Language Processing), speech recognition, and voice synthesis allow for a hands-free, conversational interface, similar to popular voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri.

Text interface

A conversational texting option (non-audible) is necessary for more discreet data entry in public places, and for accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users.

Widgets

I theorized that incorporating gamification with engaging widgets and responsive haptics as an alternate mode of data entry could create a satisfying experience that maintains user retention.

Brand identity

Drawing is thinking: I explored at least 5 different avenues of how my app could maintain a strong and attractive brand identity. Everything from diabolical bacteria villains to a malfunctioning futuristic gut biome featuring exotic flora found its way on my paper. I came up with the name Gutsy after several iterations, which signifies both a digestive, as well as a courageous, identity. For the logo, I went through multiple ideas to visually depict a sense of gut health, internal "plumbing," and a connected, flowing wordmark that suggests digestion, while avoiding being obscene. Based on user research indicating an affinity to the idea of a personal health companion, I included a cute little mascot with the idea of an external digestive system to give the companion a face, potentially augmenting its gamified, friendly, compassionate, and user-centric feel.

5. Test

Potential user and professional feedback summary

I did two rounds of formal testing to work out usability and design issues. Key themes included modification to the interface including color, typography, and consistency; the potential connectivity with external voice-activated AI speakers like Alexa and Google Assistant; and a simplified bottom navigation. In order to diversify the logging link on the bottom nav, I made the central button morph into three smaller buttons as the user holds it, revealing the "voice," "text," and "widget" data input options.

Key learning #1

Gain more diverse and a larger base of users to interview for qualitative research:

Throughout development for Gutsy, I wondered how different the app would have been had I interviewed more users and demographics. Also, some of my interviews were briefer than the others, so next time, I will time the interviews better so as to be able to to get through my set of questions with each potential user.

Key learning #2

Save time by implementing rapid prototyping and iterative testing earlier in the process:

My time management skills in design have sharpened as a result of Gutsy, through mostly trial-and-error outcomes, and I learned to be more systematic in development using an agile-based iterative method.

Key learning #3

Manage time and workflow better for optimal A/B testing and design evaluation:

While I was careful not to jump the gun and begin significant ideation before defining the problem, henceforth I will develop a more structured approach to A/B testing using simple prototypes earlier on. The bottom nav I needed to change, for example, went under the radar until late in the Prototyping phase, causing a delay in the end prototype.

Mahalo (thank you) for viewing Gutsy!

My hopes are that Gutsy's potential to provide real solutions to the problem space of chronic digestive disorder management will become a reality, to the benefit of a large user base. My development of Gutsy is thus not complete, and I am taking steps toward making the app a usable health management solution. Thank you so much for your time exploring my process, please see more of my projects below, and I'd love to hear from you!

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Gutsy

The future of gut health management with a conversational interface.

The Problem

The Solution

Role

Timeline

Mentors

Platform

Process

Design Thinking

Design Thinking: Problem space research

Understand, explore, and materialize

Design Thinking: Problem space research

1. Empathize

Problem space research

Competitive usability analysis

Interviews of potenital users

Everything they tell me is generic and not tailored to my needs as an individual, but are broad and impersonal. . . everyone's different, so every suggestion should be specific to each person—which you never get doctors to agree with."

Brenda L.High School International Coordinator Crohn's Disease

I'm so busy with work and my family that I don't feel like I have the time to input my data a bunch of times a day, even though I know I should."

Gupi F.Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)Ulcerative Colitis

I track my health pretty regularly on average, and feel pretty good when I stay on top of it. . .I always regret it when I get lazy with it."

Officer LeslieLaw Enforcement OfficerIrritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)Suspected Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

I do use like 5 apps to track my food and symptoms, but everything's scattered. . . there's no one-stop shop that I know of."

Rudy R.Truck DriverIBS-Related Diabetes & ArthritisDeveloping IBD

I've tried every diet: FODMAP, carnivore, vegetarian, Mediterranean, paleo; I just eat what I want overall because everything hurts anyway. . . I'm so tired of trying new generalized diets, and wish my doctors would just focus on me, telling me what hurts and what helps."

Kalani S.Restaurant Server and StudentCrohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis(Lost his colon to precancerous colitis 9 years ago)

Empathy mapping

2. Define

User personas

Problem statement

People with chronic digestive disorders struggle to manage their health due to lack of personalized support for individuals with gut health issues."

User journey maps

HMW help people suffering from chronic digestive disorders manage their health with minimal stress, and in a personalized, engaging way?

3. Ideate

Low-fidelity wireframes

Developing visualizations: charts, graphics, plots, and other information

Dashboard visualizations

Hierarchy of charts and visuals

Trigger and healthful food identification

4. Prototype

Mid-fidelity wireframes

Everything will soon be represented by a conversational interface. . . a personal AI."

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AITED Talk April 2024

Conversational AI interface

Voice command for hands-free UX

Text interface

Widgets

Brand identity

5. Test

Potential user and professional feedback summary

Key learning #1

Key learning #2

Key learning #3

Mahalo (thank you) for viewing Gutsy!

MORE WORK

Firescale

Carcloud

Brenda L.
High School International Coordinator
Crohn's Disease

Gupi F.
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Ulcerative Colitis

Officer Leslie
Law Enforcement Officer
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Suspected Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Rudy R.
Truck Driver
IBS-Related Diabetes & Arthritis
Developing IBD

Kalani S.
Restaurant Server and Student
Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis
(Lost his colon to precancerous colitis 9 years ago)

Mustafa Suleyman,
CEO, Microsoft AI
TED Talk April 2024