Grit is a concept and design for a symptom tracker iOS app to help chemotherapy patients take control of their treatment by tracking and visualizing their symptoms in a positive way.
Our first step in this project was to create a survey for chemotherapy patients in order to better understand their needs and difficulties as they undergo the treatment process. We posted the survey on numerous cancer forums and received 17 detailed responses from a variety of people of different demographics and with a range of different types of symptoms and treatment plans. These responses informed our design process and concept.
We designed the app around simplicity and ease of use in an attempt to make it usable for chemotherapy patients of any age and to accommodate a wide range of treatment cycles. The main screen shows the current treatment cycle including the active and rest period, and displays symptoms over time at a glance. Grit also reminds users of important upcoming dates, such as their next doctor’s appointment. Each day users can track the symptoms they experienced by indicating the occurrence and severity of the five most common symptoms or by adding their own.
In the profile users can update their treatment plan, track their medication, and set reminders for important dates in the calendar. Finally, users can access historical data to see their symptoms over time and observe their progress, or to show their doctor a summary to better calibrate their medication.
Through this process we learned how to approach sensitive subjects and design something appropriate, maintaining a balance between an aesthetically pleasing but also helpful and valuable tool. No matter how hard we tried to empathize with patients through reading their responses, at the end of the day we are always detached from the situation because we are not experiencing it.
We had to be truly involved in what we were doing, think twice about each step and make sure we were not crossing any lines. Designing with great respect to our audience and target group was the most important learning of this week.
