Pill Reminder App
My Role
Product Designer
Timeline
6 weeks, Feb - Mar 2023
Chanllenge:
In response to the growing issue of medication non-adherence, our team designed a health management tool to help individuals and families stay consistent with their medication schedules while providing reliable treatment information. This project addressed a critical challenge: ensuring users can remember their doses, manage treatment plans, and make informed healthcare decisions with confidence.
By integrating customizable reminders, treatment tracking, and a global medication database, the solution empowers users to take control of their health, reducing missed doses and uncertainty about their medications.
Process
RESEARCH ↓
To propose adequate solutions, we must understand the causes of non-adherence to medical plans. What are the pain points that prevent a patient from following prescribed treatment?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the causes of non-adherence to medical plans can be grouped into 5 dimensions: Social and economic, Health system-related, condition-related, patient-related, and therapy-related.
A survey of 600,000 patients from Express Scripts determined the core causes of medication non-adherence.
According to Express Scripts, “In contrast to the common belief that patients are non-adherent due to cost or clinical concerns, we found that over two-thirds of non-adherence was due to inattention and procrastination - 39% of non-adherent patients simply forgot to take their medications, 10% procrastinated on getting their refills and 20% did not renew their prescriptions on time. Taken together, forgetting to take medications, failing to get medications refilled and procrastinating on prescription renewals account for most non-adherence.”
Medication non-adherence is a growing concern to healthcare systems in the United States. Many individuals struggle with remembering to take their medications on time and lack access to reliable information about treatments, side effects, and cost-effective alternatives, making it challenging to manage their own and their loved ones’ health effectively.
“How might we help individuals and their families stay consistent with medication schedules while providing accessible, reliable information to make informed healthcare decisions?”
Interview
I sent out a survey with 55+ responses and conducted 5 interviews to gain a better understanding of the target users’ needs and notes from the professionals.
DEFINE ↓
User Persona
I created three user personas profiles inspired by the participants: young adults, middle-aged workers, and older retired people, to empathize and understand the struggles of diverse users and their respective situations.
Competitive Analysis
I test many of our competitors’ products, such as Medisafe, MyTheraphy, Pill Box, etc. I created a chart to show what features they have and lack for each product—and things PillPal could do better.
IDEATION ↓
Low-Fidelity
The primary use case is to ensure accurate and effective medication intake tracking. I developed low-fi interactive prototypes and used them to conduct user testing with 5 users to validate their functionality and any pain points.
TESTING ↓
Usability Testing
To evaluate the effectiveness of the design, usability testing was conducted with four international students, focusing on five key tasks. The sessions were moderated through both remote and in-person interviews to gather qualitative insights.
The study aimed to assess the clarity and relevance of information, ensuring users could easily understand terms and content. It also explored the ease of navigation, identifying any steps that felt unclear or caused friction. Additionally, participants provided feedback on the effectiveness of contextual tips, sharing how useful they found them and their preferred format for receiving guidance.
Homepage
Main Insights
• Friendlier User Experience: Replaced full name display with a more casual format for a warmer, more approachable feel.
• Improved Calendar Navigation: Switched from arrow-based navigation to smooth scrolling, enhancing intuitiveness and responsiveness.
• Enhanced Time Filtering: Added full date display with “All Day,” “Morning,” “Afternoon,” and “Evening” sub-filters for better schedule control.
Add Medication
Main Insights
• Photo & Barcode Upload: Added an option to upload a medication photo or scan a barcode for auto-filling details.
• Streamlined Form Entry: Consolidated fields, introduced pre-filled dropdowns and auto-suggestions to improve efficiency.
• Improved Responsiveness: Added visual progress indicators to address unresponsiveness in the first section.
• Clearer Dose Labels: Refined dose labeling to reduce confusion and added a note section for doctor instructions or tips.
• Multiple Alerts: Enabled users to set multiple reminders for the same medication.
The essential criteria for choosing color solutions were that the colors evoke certain emotions in users, such as blue symbolizes reliability and professionalism, and green creates a feeling of liveness and health.
FINAL DELIVERABLE ↓
High-Fidelity Prototype
Onboarding
Discover how effortless it is to manage your health with features designed for quick tracking and reminders, insightful health reports, and the convenience of photo and barcode scanning.
Home Dashboard
The home dashboard is designed for seamless navigation, featuring a smart calendar, quick toggle options, an intuitive medication schedule display, and easy access to all the app’s core features.
Add Medication
Effortlessly add medications and supplements with a simple, user-friendly flow designed for convenience and clarity.
Scanning
The scanning feature streamlines the process of adding medications, prescriptions, doctor notes, lab reports, and other health forms, making it faster and more efficient.
TAKESWAYS↓
Insights:
The PillPal app fosters a perception of being a helpful and dependable friend who understands users’ needs and desires for managing their medication. A peer’s feedback encapsulates this sentiment: “This app has made pill intake an easy and fun experience.”
What I learned through the process:
In the design journey of the app, I realized that the initial concepts serve as a foundation. Usability studies and peer feedback emerged as critical elements in refining the app design, ensuring it effectively caters to users’ needs.
