Erasmus MC
Summary
The challenge
How can we simplify fluid balance tracking for both patients and nurses?
The solution
An app that helps patients with fluid restrictions monitor their daily water intake.
Project info
Team
Disciplines
UI design
UX design
UX research
Responsibilities
Tools
User research
Key insights on
current situation
After user testing and personally navigating the PAWW-application flow, I found multiple usability challenges. The design needed to be more intuitive, less overwhelming, and optimized for mobile users.
Fluid restriction
Insight 1
Patients with fluid restrictions are the group that’s most susceptible to incorrect data input.
Quick and familiar
Insight 2
Healthcare professionals need a product that is easy to adopt, as they have limited time to train patients.
Paper-based tracking
Insight 3
Data is currently recorded on paper, but it’s often lost or inaccurately transferred between shifts. This makes it difficult to track down errors.
Research
Getting to know
the users
We conducted a cultural probe where we self-imposed a fluid restriction for a week, tracking the amounts of fluids we consumed and how we felt throughout the day. This first hand experience, combined with interviews with experts, provided valuable insights into user behaviours and challenges. Based on this research, I created personas that reflected both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
Tracking my daily fluid intake with ‘Mijn Eetmeter’ app
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Negative persona
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Positive persona
Testing
Combining
solutions
After pitching three concepts to the client, they shared that their target audience primarily uses mobile devices and expressed a preference for concept 2, which included speech-to-text technology. Taking these insights into account, we decided to combine concepts 2 and 3. This with the goal of making the solution more accessible to a wider range of users.
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Solution 1
Smart containers with sensors to measure drinks and food.
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Solution 2
A smartwatch with speech-to-text technology.
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Solution 3
A mobile app with object recognition technology that scans products to determine moisture content.
Testing high-fid Figma prototype
Designing
Building a
dynamic
prototype
Together with another designer, I created a dynamic Figma prototype using variables to react to different input methods. The animations I added made the app more interactive, such as showing the water level rise in response to input. This gave users a clearer indication on their water intake.
Figma prototype flow
Prototyping dynamic water levels in Figma
The final product
Health app to
monitor daily
water intake
The prototype generated excitement from the client, who praised the professional design and functionality of the HydroTrack app. With three input methods, the app is accessible to a wide range of users. They were especially impressed by the speech-to-text feature and are considering it for future development.
What did I learn?
“To not shy away from expanding my design expertise by trying out software capabilities like variables”
