Proto Persona
Survey Data
PharmaGenie - UX/UI Design Project Case Study
OVERVIEW
Finding the right medication for your individual needs and health profile can be a frustrating, intimidating, and costly experience that can have harmful mental and physical effects. PharmaGenie, a website that empowers users to make data-driven decisions about their health, was inspired by my undergrad studies with pharmacogenetics—how our genes affect the way we respond to medications. Teamed up with my partners Jenna Ross and Lauren Walker, we created a platform that uses genetic testing data to show patients which medications will be the best fit for them, presented in an understandable and meaningful format.
Problem
Most clinicians use a “one-size-fits-all” approach to prescribing medicine, which leads to a trial and error process in order to find the right medication. This costs the patient time, money and potentially very adverse reactions to a medication.
Tools Used
Figma
Figjam
Trello
Google Suite
RESEARCH
We created a survey using Google Forms in order to generate data pertaining to user’s experience with getting medication prescribed and how important they feel personalized medicine is to them.
11 questions
49 participants
65% of participants have difficulty finding the right medication dosage for them
68% participants find it important to have access to personalized medication options that consider their individual genetics and health history
After we deployed our survey we knew we also needed to better understand patients priorities and concerns when using their genetic testing data to provide personalized medicine.
We conducted five user interviews that included a few introductory questions in order to gauge the users knowledge of pharmacogenetics and precision medicine, as well as their experience with genetic testing.
Research Objectives:
What concerns do users have when using precision medicine?
What gaps do users experience when understanding medications and how might they impact the user as an individual?
What benefits would precision medicine provide for the user?
We began by creating a proto-persona of a user that served to align our best guess at understanding who would be using our platform.
Together we constructed Tara Andersen, a data analyst living in San Francisco who is social and busy but struggles with anxiety. She wants to take control of her health and avoid her daily life being impacted by adverse reactions to her medications.
Sample Interview Questions:
How confident are you in the accuracy and reliability of genetic testing data used to inform precision medicine practices? Are there specific factors or sources of uncertainty that contribute to your concerns?
When you are prescribed a medication how do you go about learning how the medication may impact you specifically or interact with other medications your are taking?
How important is it for you to have access to healthcare solutions that are tailored to your unique genetic profile and health needs and why?
We gathered our insights from each user interview and categorized similar ideas using an affinity diagram. We found that users generally rely on their healthcare providers for information about medications but often feel as though they aren’t receiving enough personalized information about potential side effects or drug reactions, which is causing them to research independently. The majority of users have also experienced a negative outcome when trying a new medication and expressed interest in the idea of using genetic testing as a way to gain insight into their specific needs.
Combining our generative data from the survey with the insights gained from the user interview data analysis, we were able to synthesize an empathy map from the perspective of our user Tara. We chose an empathy map because we wanted a deeper understanding of Tara from her perspective; not just knowing who she is but what she feels and how she behaves.
Users need a reliable and convenient way to determine whether their medication will be a good fit for their individual health because they aren’t confident that their doctor is providing them with enough details about potential drug reactions or side effects to make an informed decision.
How can we make genetic testing for healthcare purposes more accessible and understandable?
How can we provide users with digestible and personalized information about their medications?
How can we empower users to feel more informed when talking to their healthcare provider about medications?
User Interviews
User Data Analysis + Insights
Empathy Map
DEFINITION
User Insight
The Challenge
IDEATION
Value Proposition Statement
We used a value proposition chart to connect Tara’s needs with the value of our product. The information generated from our chart was organized into a statement:
Our platform PharmaGenie is developing a website offering genetic testing resources to help people who are unsatisfied with the side effects of medication they have been prescribed and want recommendations for better personalized alternatives based on genetic testing data.
Our website is better because we aim to bridge the gap between a one-size-fits-all prescription protocol and provide a tool to help facilitate a productive conversation with healthcare providers.
We’re believable because we make genetic data understandable while providing personalized medication recommendations to empower our users to make the best decisions for their health based on their specific needs.
Journey Map
PROTOTYPING, TESTING + ITERATING
Competitor Analysis
DIRECT COMPETITOR
Strengths:
Different genetic reporting options
UI is easy to navigate and guides users toward “Get Started”
Original Task Flow
Our first iteration of the task flow allowed us to outline a simple progression of steps that Tara would take from starting out at homepage of the site, navigating through the registration, uploading results, adding medications, viewing alternative medication recommendations and finally uploading the results to her provider.
Our original task flow included two separate task flows—one for a user who had not completed genetic testing but was interested and then would be directed to genetic testing resources, and the other for a user who already had completed genetic testing and had their data ready to upload into PharmaGenie.
Original User Flow
We used the information from our task flow to create a more detailed user flow for Tara.
Our original user flow started on the homepage, giving Tara the choice to explore genetic testing resources or register for an account and upload her own genetic testing results. We can see her decision making process develop through viewing her genetic report, seeking better medication alternatives and sharing her results with her provider.
Lo-Fidelity Wireframes
DIRECT COMPETITOR
Strengths:
Users can add medications for tracking and see warnings
Friendly icons to indicate level of drug interaction
We started in Figma to create a lo-fidelity prototype based on our user flow for Tara. We focused on making sure we would be able to test this prototype for our key features of the product.
Role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
Round 1 Usability Testing
User Flow Iterations
Style Tile + Moodboard
Mid-Fidelity Web Design
Round 2 Usability Testing
Team
Sophie Caprella
Jenna Ross
Lauren Walker
These are some features that I would like to go back and add to our website in the future:
Add resource pages for those interested in finding genetic testing sites
Develop integrations with providers’ offices
Mobile app for tracking when you take your medications
Solution
A website that bridges the gap between the one-size-fits-all approach to medicine and the gene-drug interaction information provided by genetic testing, while making genetic testing results accessible and understandable to the patient.
Timeline
3.5 weeks
Key Terms
Pharmacogenomics: the science of drugs and how they affect genes and their functions
Precision medicine: Medical care that takes advantage of large data sets of individuals such as their genome or electronic health record in order to tailor their healthcare to their unique attributes
Genetic testing: medical test that identifies changes in genes, chromosomes or proteins
Pharmacogenomic testing: analyzes DNA for changes in genes that affect how certain medicines are tolerated
We compared two direct competitors and one indirect competitor before we started prototyping to gain a better understanding of their competitive advantages before we started prototyping.
DIRECT COMPETITOR
Strengths:
Easy to navigate and find information
Content chunking helps to break down the large amount of information
GOAL
Due to the complex nature of genetic testing, we chose usability testing to get feedback on our user flow to ensure it was intuitive and make sure that any unnecessary complexity could be removed.
EXECUTION:
We performed 4 usability tests focusing on 3 tasks:
Registration process
Adding a medication
Uploading results to the provider
RESULTS:
3 out of 4 users struggled to understand the registration process
4 out of 4 users had no issues adding a medication
General confusion about how the testing results could technically get to a provider
After our first round of testing, we used a prioritization matrix to prioritize the feedback we received in order to implement the following iterations to our original user flow:
Removed duplicate buttons for “Get Started” and “Learn More” and added copy to make the registration path clearer
Removed the option to upload results to your provider
Add the feature to compare your results to an alternative medication side by side
We also decided as a team to cut out the secondary path for users who had not completed genetic testing. We ultimately came to this decision by considering the scope creep of the project—our timeline was limited and we had to prioritize Tara’s needs and goals with the product.
Once we had our user flow updated, we began compiling inspiration in the form of a mood board and eventually creating our UI style tile to guide our mid-fidelity prototyping. We wanted to keep blue part of our color palette to give users a sense of reliability, trust, and calmness, while incorporating a bright pop of orange to draw attention to the interactive and call-to-action elements of our website.
After we aligned on our UI elements of our website, we jumped into Wix to start designing our mid-fidelity prototype. You can check out the full website yourself here.
GOAL
We wanted to conduct usability testing again because we made changes to our user flow and wanted to make sure users could still complete the tasks and understand what they are looking at while testing.
EXECUTION
We performed 4 usability tests focusing on 4 tasks:
Registration process
Adding a medication
View medication details
Comparing your medication to an alternative
RESULTS:
Make the registration overlay smaller so it fits the screen without scrolling
Add more details about the impact of side effects
Make it clearer to select multiple medications when using the compare feature
Medication button looks unfinished, could use more styling
Creating a journey map of Tara’s experience with PharmaGenie allowed us to visualize the steps and emotions she goes through while using our product.
I am really proud of how PharmaGenie turned out despite this being our first time working in Wix. We started out with the very complex ideas of genetic testing and precision medicine and we were able to turn those into a user-friendly, accessible and understandable product for patients to use and feel empowered and informed when making decisions about their health. Some of our biggest challenges were battling scope creep, wanting to tackle too many features, and time constraints. Simplifying our task flow and user flow early on in the design process not only saved us time but it allowed us to create the best product for our user, Tara.