DEMENTIA CARE APP

Helping people with dementia and their care partners treat behavioral symptoms through evidence-based routines & rituals.

CHALLENGE

Design the MVP of an app that helps individuals living with Alzheimer's and dementia remain active, engaged, and connected to loved ones.

TEAM

The Generation Connect team approached me with wireframes for the app with a goal to ship an MVP in 60 days for a conference demo. The team was comprised of 2 cofounders (with design & consulting backgrounds) & 1 software engineer to implement my designs.

STEP 1

Get to know the problem & users.
3 user personas: (1) caregiver, (2) family member (3) admin

User interviews & empathy building to understand who we are solving for

Key Insights

  • Many caregivers are also elderly and caretake in their spare time.

  • Music & videos can be calming/grounding.

  • The goal isn’t to remember or help trigger a memory; the goal is to create a safe & calm space.

  • Family members want to see moments of joy. Caregivers have a lot of photos & videos to share — can be overwhelming to manage.

  • Family members know patient best, but aren’t always the one caretaking. Need a line of communication that empowers caregiver to do their job without feeling micromanaged. Caregiver (in many cases) will end up spending the most time with the patient.

STEP 2

Review wireframes & prioritize requirements.
Decision: Start with family member user type

STEP 3

Start exploring/designing

Tools: Sketch, Zeplin, InVision, Dropbox Paper

Onboarding - Welcome

My goal: humanize the experience through relatable, joyful, diverse photos

Onboarding - Background

My goal: light "hand-holding" to guide the user and establish trust and connection

Design decisions: start by letting the user know what to expect, progress bar to show progress, inactive "next" state until action had been completed, "skip" to reduce friction/frustration, large font for legibility

Onboarding - Topics

My goal: make it really easy for the user to add topics and spark ideas

Design decisions: photos for visual delight, "featured" options for quick select, allow user to search or select by topic to narrow down options

Onboarding - iPad view

Tablet was a critical device for sharing photos & videos with patients. I didn’t have as much experience with designing for tablets, so this was an interesting challenge for me in leveraging white space & creating a responsive experience!

Caregiver UX

My goal: capture the moment in the moment, add cues to make it easy to add context (built into the experience vs. additional step caregiver has to remember)

Home

based on user type

Slightly different UI/UX based on user type — e.g. “your mom” to show relationship, more options for family member (add topics or music), caregiver has the option to add a moment

vs.

Family member

Caregiver

STEP 4

Testing & Development

Tools: Zeplin, InVision, Slack, Weekly Retros

Screenshot of InVision prototype

While we were on a tight deadline to ship the MVP by the conference date, given the team’s relationships with caregivers, we were able to do some lightweight user testing and interviews. This helped us iterate quickly and make informed decisions.

We also held weekly design retros for me to sync with the developer and make any necessary tweaks to the UI/UX.

Once the app was in TestFlight, I was able to test it and log any bugs.

LOOKING BACK

Outcomes & Takeaways

Outcomes

  • Successfully demo'd app at Visiting Angels National Conference

  • Over 1000 moments shared by caregivers in the first 8 months

  • Became part of one of the first studies to explore how tablets could benefit people with dementia and their caregivers

Takeaways

  • Be open to being surprised

  • The simplest solution is often the right one, especially with a less tech-savvy user

  • The smallest thing can provide the maximum delight (like relatable photos!)

Next steps I would take

  • Dig into the admin experience to simplify setup

  • Further explore ways to delight and support the caregiver, as this is an often emotionally taxing job

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