CASE STUDY - ADIA
Freelance project
2017
Assisting women on their fertility journey
CONTEXT
Zinc is a social entrepreneurship incubator that supports new tech companies in solving the developed world’s toughest social issues.
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In 2017, the mission was focused on mental health of girls and women. Following my passion for mental health, I joined Adia (adiahealth.com), a startup that aims to assist woman on their fertility journey founded by Lina Chan.
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From September 2017 until July 2018 I worked as a UX designer, taking the data from the research previously made to create user personas, journey maps, user flows, illustrations, prototype and test.
1. The problem
In the UK, one every five pregnancies ends in loss. Information online is too broad and fragmented, access to support via National Health System is not simple to get.
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Research showed that women who face a miscarriage can become depressed, feel guilty, and anxious about trying to conceive again.
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The subject is taboo, and many women go through this journey unassisted and not knowing what to do next.
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2. The solution
Adia is a mobile first web application that assists women who want to conceive.
Offering support before and during pregnancy by:
- Facilitating taking test & interpreting the results
- Connecting women to doctors & fertility specialists
- Connecting women in the same journey to share their experiences - Providing a 24/7 coach chat
- Providing guided meditation designed for fertility
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DESIGN PROCESS
RESEARCH
1. Personas
Based on previous interviews and research made by the team, I put together 2 user personas containing the struggles, motivations, and goals of real users. ​
2. Key insights
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Confusion: Women are overwhelmed with information and find scientific issues are confusing and difficult to understand and translate into action.
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Lack of Access: Women struggle to access relevant information (including diagnostic tests), support, and expert advice along their journey.
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Fragmentation: Women struggle to get consistent support and advice throughout their journey.-
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Mental health: Women face stress and anxiety during conception and pregnancy; and struggle to understand how to manage it.
DEFINE
1. Key experience principles
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Clarity: easy to read information, may that be reproductive health content or diagnostic test results
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Frictionless access to health care: connect women to mental and reproductive health specialists
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Continuous support: an adviser available 24/7 to answer any questions and guide women through their journey
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Guidance: plans and programs with clear milestones and steps, so the user knows what to do and when
2. Beta product
Before designing the screens for the MVP, we created a beta version of the product using different tools (slack, e-mail, survey monkey) that combined would help us get insights about users’ expectations and test the value of what we were aiming to offer.
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Sign up: via website; capture user's name and email
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Quiz : Via Survey Monkey; start understanding the woman's health and habits
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Book call: Last question on survey: ideal time and date
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Fertility report: Via email, high level report generated from the quiz answers
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Call with coach: Via Skype; talk about fertility report, next steps, etc.
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Slack invite: Chat with coach; channel with peers; ask specialists; request fertility test
3. Experience Mapping
In order to better understand the woman’s journey throughout the first 3 months on trying to conceive, I designed an experience map based on one of the personas. That helped me seeing more in detail each step the user would take and how we could better assist them on each stage.
IDEATE, PROTYPE, TEST
1. Sketching
Having clarity on what users needed to do with the product, I started putting ideas on paper
2. User flows
After discussing the sketches, I created medium fidelity wireframes and turned that into a clickable prototype to test the main features they could currently provide.
Learning
Looking back to this project after almost 2 years, I can see what could have been done differently that would have helped the team to achieve results quicker, such as:
Actively participating in user research is essential
As I joined the team when research was already done, I didn’t have much direct contact with the end user, and was designing based on what I interpreted from the research they made. Speaking directly with users makes it easier to empathise with them, which is crucial to ensure we’re making the right decisions, especially on a product where I would never be the user myself.
Design Sprint could have been very helpful
Every startup that is doing something new should start off from a design sprint, as it’s the most effective way to prove value quickly. We could have made more progress if we tested the main assumptions sooner and knew what works and what doesn’t from an early stage.