Mily Sin • Senior Product Designer

INTRODUCTION

I was approached by Hans Ramzan, an esteemed industrial designer specialising in health-tech solutions, to collaborate on developing a companion app for a groundbreaking wearable device. The primary aim of this project is to empower women with iron deficiency anemia by providing them with the necessary tools and resources to take control of their condition.

MY ROLE

User research, prototyping, UX & UI design

THE TEAM

1 Product Designer (me), Hans Ramzan (Industrial Designer) and Cate Castleton (Project researcher)

TIMELINE

November 2021 (4 weeks)

OUTCOME

Igniting engaging conversations about this topic across a multitude of press platforms, sparking widespread interest and exploration

press features

Design Milk; Dip Tracker Empowers Women to Take Control of Anemia

Trendhunter; Anemia-Focused Health Wearables

Designwanted; The Dip wearable empowers women to take on Anaemia

Tuvie; DIP Anemia Tracker Wristband Measures Hemoglobin Levels in Real-Time

context

What is iron deficiency anemia

Iron deficiency anemia develops when the body has not had iron for a long time. Iron is a key part of hemaglobin, the part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen through the body and to your organs. It can cause low energy, significantly impact mental health and lead onto physical symptoms. Anemia can be diagnosed by having a full blood count test.

How many people does it effect?

Research suggests that as many as 80% of people in the world don’t have enough iron in their bodies and as many as 30% of people have anemia due to prolonged iron deficiency

Problem context

Detecting anemia can be challenging as its symptoms can gradually manifest and often lack specificity, making it difficult for individuals to realise they have a problem. Monitoring improvements becomes a waiting game, further compounded by the time gap between blood tests, leaving health-conscious women uncertain about whether their lifestyle changes have positively impacted their condition.

solution preview

Tracker x Companion app set up

Dip sits inside a soft silicone band which links wirelessly to your smartphone via bluetooth after pairing

Track to gather data

Users input data about their habits and symptoms, dip autonomously runs to track real-time data from the inbuilt sensors.

Analyse data driven insights

dip informs users of insights to indicate the best cause of action to improve your lifestyle based on the data captured and inputted

user research

Gaining knowledge through the firsthand experiences shared by women in their self-published YouTube journeys

Due to constrained timings, conducting in-depth surveys and user interviews was not a possibility

Videos of women who kindly shared their vulnerable and intimate journeys of their anemia diagnosis, treatment and life

At present, women depend on doctor visits to obtain a diagnosis and assess the effectiveness of their treatment

the onset of anemia can creep gradually, frequently with vague symptoms, therefore action is never taken right away

in the UK, the issue behind GP appointment waiting times within the NHS has been discussed for a long time, including how this can sometimes result in delayed treatment - leaving users frustrated

the journey post diagnosis can also be unnerving. typically women are instructed to increase their iron in take, but between long wait times until the next blood test, there is often a doubtful feeling of "am I doing it right"

process

Mapping the symptom discovery to diagnosis journey

User journey helped me empathise with users and better understand the roller-coaster of emotions they go through

key user quote

"you can be popping all the right things, but if you aren't seeing any changes in your numbers, you’re left wondering what you’re doing wrong"

↓

"when I introduce changes in my lifestyle to improve my anemia, I want to know if my body is responding well to it, so that I can be sure I'm doing it correctly"

ideation

Translating the key job story into a task flow to facilitate decisions for information architecture & interactions

Sarah has been trialling a new strain of iron tablets for 4 weeks now, she’s about to give up and move on until she is informed by Dip that her hemoglobin levels are on an upward trend

ideation

Low fidelity sketches were focused on data organisation and presentation

concept development

I developed mid-fidelity wireframes and flows that illustrate the interactions between the device and the application.

hypothesis validation

Moderated-remote usability testing to validate the designed feedback loop

I focused on two scenarios to concentrate my efforts to validating the solution conceptualised

Dip has just notified you that you have a new trend in your hemoglobin levels. how would you find out more?

You're having a particularly draining day and you would like to log this information. How would you do that?

key learnings

There wasn't a feature to view all tracked metrics at a glance

This led me to do some further competitor analysis and introduce a "calendar" feature using existing mental models, commonly used in health tracking applications such as Clue & Careology

Key design hypothesis validated

When asking users what they would do with the insight information - they responded that they would continue consistently taking their supplements.

ui highlights

Creating an interface that feels human and seamless with the human body

IMPORTANCE

Given the data-driven nature of the project, it is important to create an approachable and friendly user experience that is compatible with the wearable device. This is especially crucial considering that anemia can significantly impact mental health.

SOLUTION

I facilitated several workshop sessions with the client, where I presented a range of UI styles for consideration. In addition, I conducted preference testing with users, presenting them with shortlists to gather valuable feedback.

Dip

Get in touch

Let's connect