Welcome to DermaPal

A dermatology focused healthcare app that encourages users to be proactive about their skin care.

DermaPal

Introduction

Duration

  • May 2022- December 2022

Role

  • UX/UI designer and researcher

Background

Users fail to integrate skin health into their daily routines. In a practice like Dermatology, being proactive about skin concerns can mean the difference between a non-invasive procedure or surgery. One of the biggest challenges I faced during my time as a dermatology medical assistant was collaborating with patients to track and trace each of their skin concerns. This experience taught me that people need a way to stay on top of their skin health and wellness, but so often the stresses of work and life get in the way. There is this disconnect between meeting our personal goals VS our healthcare goals. Which sparked the question- How can we better integrate skin health and wellness into a busy lifestyle?

HABIT BUILDING IS KEY

    Cues are the triggers of the three step neurological pattern that is the basis on psychological human habit building, known as the habit loop.

    Habits are powerful, 45% of our every day behaviors are solely habitual*

loop

The Solution

image of app notification

Have a consistent CUE

  • A cue is the trigger, the rush of dopamine in the brain that brings about action.
  • Track, update, and organize your medication lists with ease.
  • Document your visits with your provider.
image of app home

Learn from the REWARDS

  • Feel more prepared than ever for your next visit with your dermatologist.
  • Track, update, and organize your medication lists with ease.
  • Document your visits with your provider.
image of app routine visits

Build a positive ROUTINE

  • Keep an accurate photo diary of skin concerns you may have.
  • Track, update, and organize your medication lists with ease.
  • Document your visits with your provider.

Market Research + The GAP

The competition had NO HABIT BUILDING aspect. While keeping this research in mind I analyzed health care apps that focused specifically on Dermatology and skincare. I found that none of these apps had elements of habit building or routine forming. This is where I began the journey to bridge this gap.

competitors

The Main Insight

After going through the process of interviewing and affinity mapping, it's apparent that apps that did not make themselves known regularly, are often neglected. It's clear that actions turn into habits when they are done at the same time daily.

insights

Personas

I found it helpful during my design process to create personas to better allow the users to come to life. Two target users were created and their perspectives were incorporated as though they were part of the design team.

image of persona 1
image of persona 1

Testing + Improvements

Notable Improvements to my design The next step was to put my design to the test. I conducted usability tests with six participants, being sure to make careful note of their comments while running through my clickable prototype. In addition to this test a A/B test was also being conducted for two versions of UI elements of the app.

image of change 1

Removal of the term "case" Based on the testing there was confusion surrounding the term case. This was deemed to be a high priority fix with the suggested change being to replace the term case with something more accessible like skin concern.

image of change 2

Seeing progress is rewarding When presented with tangible evidence of progress that was represented quantitatively, interviewees were more likely to stay motivated to reach goals they set for themselves.

Conclusions + Lessons

    Failure is part of the success.

    It truthfully took me quite a while to not fear mistakes during this process. Despite spending weeks constructing the "perfect" iteration in my mind, my initial homepage was met with confusion. This in turn pushed me to make improvements to finally create a page I could be proud of. reinforcing the idea that negative feedback is not failure, but rather a piece of the overall puzzle.

    It takes a village.

    Although I knew that the design process was anything but a solo endeavor, I didn't expect to receive so much support and guidance from my participants, mentor, and tutor. My final design has become exponentially better due to this network and I am immensely grateful.