NEU WELLNESS
Redesigning Northeastern University's daily COVID wellness check.
Solo project
Skills Used: Product Design, UI/UX, Prototyping
Date: February 2022
*Disclaimer: This was not sanctioned by Northeastern University, it was for a class project.
PROMPT
Redesign Northeastern University's daily COVID-19 wellness check. The wellness check is currently a three-question survey that can be accessed either on an app or on the web.
CURRENT WELLNESS CHECK
USER RESEARCH
I conducted user interviews with Northeastern students to gain fundamental information for the project. Some of the topics in the interviews include daily technologies, COVID-19 concerns, and Northeastern COVID-19 policies. I inquired about the interviewees' experiences with the Northeastern wellness check. I gathered information on when they take the check, what they like and dislike about the check, and what they might change if they had the chance. I observed the interviewee completing the wellness check on their phone. I reviewed the interview notes and arrived at a conclusion of three main problems with the current wellness check.
PROBLEM 1: INEFFICIENT
The current wellness check takes an unnecessary amount of time to navigate to and complete. Even within the app, it is difficult to find the wellness check. While completing the check, the process is complex and requires zooming in to view the questions and click the buttons.
“Nothing is easy about it. I have to click so many times just to take it. The pathway to open the check and while taking it is so convoluted.”
I gathered screenshots of mobile app features and pages that address similar issues of inefficiency. The Clue app has a successful UX flow for recording symptoms, with a large '+' button that leads to a comprehensive questionnaire. The iPhone home screen's widgets allow a user to immediately open an app's feature. The iPhone Apple Wallet grants efficient access to saved documents. Duolingo notifications create a quick path to the app.
PROBLEM 2: DOES NOT PROMOTE WELLNESS
I found that the interviewees completed Northeastern's wellness check as a means to an end. They only completed the check on the days they had COVID-19 tests and completed the check on the way to the testing center. The interviewees did not use the check as a reflection of their health and well-being, only to satisfy a requirement. Interviewees stated that the cold, messy interface promotes the check as a compulsory data collection method rather than a wellness check-in. Interviewees wished that the check would provide more information when they reported symptoms or close contacts.
“It isn't rewarding. It is more of an annoying survey.”
Based on the interviews, I searched for examples of apps that promote wellness and daily check-ins. The Daylio Journal app promotes reflection by prompting its users to record their daily moods and activities. The Daily Shine app has a similar concept with a daily check-in. Costar provides users with a daily horoscope to reflect upon. The Headspace app creates a daily schedule of meditations for the user.
PROBLEM 3: ENCOURAGES DISHONESTY
Due to the large variety of symptoms listed, interviewees often answered dishonestly. If they answer 'Yes' to having a headache then they cannot attend classes or enter campus. This results in common dishonesty when it comes to minor symptoms. Interviewees stated that they would be inclined to answer honestly if they would not receive severe results for minor symptoms.
“I constantly have headaches so if I were to answer truthfully I could never go to class.”
I gathered a few examples of existing COVID-19 symptom checks that address the range of symptoms and severity of having a single symptom. Both the Banner Health COVID-19 Symptom Checker and the Highmark Symptom Tracker (screenshots below) request specific symptom information to provide an accurate and appropriate result.
IDEATION
From initial user flows to hunch sketches to wireframes, I began ideating a variety of solutions for the wellness check.
MY PRIORITIES
After completing the user research and beginning to ideate, I outlined three priority changes for the wellness check.
Informative
I focused on creating a home page where the user can easily access the wellness check, test scheduler, QR code for testing, and other COVID and health resources.
Efficient
I wanted to allow the user to access the wellness check quickly. I prioritized creating a card on the home page that would display the user's wellness check result, allow the user to retake the check, and expand the information.
Easy to use
I centered on streamlining the process of completing the wellness check. I wanted to simplify the questions and speed up the
ITERATION 1
USER TESTING
I completed user testing on the first iteration of high-fidelity designs. I observed users navigating the app and asked them to complete various workflows. From the testing, I outlined three main areas for improvement within my designs. The first is that the copy was not always completely intuitive, the language of the first two questions did not change and this caused confusion. The second issue was that users could not easily recover from errors while completing the check. The third problem was that users were not constrained from moving on to the next question before answering the current question. In Iteration 2, I sought to address these issues.
Before starting the final iteration of designs, I developed a thorough user flow map with all possible pathways.
ITERATION 2
Click through the prototype!