Project | Google Aria
Client | Designlab
Role | UI/UX Designer
Duration | Five Weeks
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Developed by Alphabet, Google Aria is an Assistive Technology that helps people with asthma, monitor and manage their condition through the use of a combination of, a wearable patch, bluetooth sensors for inhaler, peak flow meter and a mobile app. I was given the task of creating an app for Google Aria by Designlab for asthma management that works in combination with the wearable to help asthma patients control symptoms and improve their quality of life.
Problem Statement
Asthma is a chronic, long term inflammatory disease that affects the airways of the lungs causing a variety of recurring symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing. Asthma can be aggravated by weather, pollution, food allergies and many other triggers. There is no permanent cure for asthma, but its symptoms can be managed and controlled with adherence to a proper treatment plan, changes in lifestyle and diet, taking necessary precautions and a copious amount of self management practices.
Shaped like a necklace, Google Aria's wearable patch can track a person’s heart rate, respiration rate, wheezing and coughing frequencies, sleep patterns and exercise activities; predict triggers, onset of an acute asthma attack, thereby reducing the burden of living with the condition. There are two attachment sensors for inhaler and a peak flow meter that works with phone's bluetooth to track medication and measure lung function without user intervention of logging data manually. Google Aria requires a mobile application to work in combination with the patch to aggregate and report the patient’s live health status.
Project Goals
‣ Design an Android mobile app for Google Aria that helps users monitor and manage their asthma.
The app should be in line with Material Design and other Google apps.
‣ Design a logo for Google Aria that is also in line with the Google family.
‣ Design a logo for Google Aria that is also in line with the Google family.
Stage 1 | Discovery
Understanding the implications of living with Asthma
As my knowledge within the realms of asthma management was insufficient enough to design an app, I created a research strategy to help understand,
‣ the health effects of asthma; its diagnosis, types, symptoms, triggers and goals of treatment.
‣ the ways through which asthmatics manage their condition; identify their needs, pains and their approach towards self management practices.
‣ how doctor's monitor a patient's progress; what vitals need to be recorded to chart progress.
‣ the type of information that would bring value to the patients.
I started out by conducting a secondary research using online resources to understand the importance of asthma management; why monitoring symptoms are essential for an effective treatment plan. I proceeded to conduct a competitor analysis of some of the direct and indirect players in the industry by reviewing their solutions, app features, interface design, customization functionalities, pricing and availability.
To help understand the treatment process I approached Dr. K Vijayasaratha MD, a leading pulmonologist with Fortis Malar Hospitals to gain more in-depth knowledge about - types of treatment available, control measures for managing symptoms, types of devices recommended and methods of monitoring a patient’s vitals.
With the knowledge from preliminary investigation I created an interview guide and conducted an empathy research by interviewing asthma patients and caretakers of asthma patients to understand their struggles from a personal standpoint.
Key Findings
From research findings, it can be inferred that designing an application that is dependant of device usage will not be completely beneficial to many asthma patients. As different asthma patients have different levels of illness severity and the usage of instruments can be unique to their condition. The app along with aggregating vitals from sensors should also cater to asthmatics who do not use a wearable by assisting and helping them develop a sustainable self management practice.
Once the problems that needed to be resolved were defined, I set about to establish premise of the project by creating an user experience strategy map to define the guiding principles, challenges, aspiration, focus areas, activities and measurements for success.
Stage 2 | Define
Synthesising user research findings
From my research findings, I identified two primary personas - an asthma patient and a caretaker of an asthma patient. I created persona profiles and empathy maps based on collective analysis of participants inputs from user interviews and secondary research data.
Further more, I built a customer journey map depicting the typical experience of the identified persona to align product services with business goals on a high level. This helped define what a typical 'asthma' user would want to achieve at each stage of the decision making process, their goals and expectations, actions, thoughts and feelings, emotional level, influences and touchpoint with the brand.
Based on the needs of the personas, I came up with POV statements that led to the creation of action-oriented HMW statement which acted as guide in establishing the MVP's and help ideate the best possible solution for each design challenge. To help define the functionality of MVP features I created a Product-Service Ecosystem Map, which explains the connection between users, type of devices used, the nature of information shared and the service provided in the application.
Stage 3 | Ideate
I created an application sitemap with high priority features for important task flows in the app which will be used by all asthmatic users.
After I developed the user flows, I began to flesh out wireframes for each of the tasks. At each and every stage of design I had to ensure that the microcopy, interface of the application should be easy for the user to comprehend and interact which will enable quicker task completions and adherence to treatment plan.
Branding
Once the base wireframes were ready for initial prototyping I started to work on creating a brand identity. I used word map technique to help assemble elements I felt would depict an abstract concept of 'managing asthma'. Google Aria’s logo is an abstract representation of managing asthma in a nurturing environment, by extension in the abode of ‘mother nature’, the embodiment of nurturing aspects. The waves are a simplified depiction of air in the surrounding that is constantly displaced through the propelling motion of a pinwheel. The pinwheel is a revered symbol in the Chinese culture which represents turning obstacles into opportunities. Aria’s devices provide asthmatics the opportunity to live a healthy life by overcoming the barriers in the environment that triggers their condition. I created a UI Kit using of Google's style guide to make it look like a part of the company's line of products.
Stage 4 | Prototype
I created a working high fidelity prototype of the designed screens using Invision. The task flows observed in the prototype are,
a. User Onboarding
b. Adding Medication
c. Daily Asthma Check
d. Starting an Asthma Action Plan
e. Measuring Peak Flow.
b. Adding Medication
c. Daily Asthma Check
d. Starting an Asthma Action Plan
e. Measuring Peak Flow.
High Fidelity Prototype
(Created using Invision)
Stage 5 | Test & Iteration
A usability testing was conducted using the high fidelity prototype of Google Aria's application. The test was conducted to assess usability, navigation, content & call to action in the built task flows; identify errors and gain user’s feedback on their preferences and recommendations and assess the overall success of the prototype. The test was conducted via a moderated remote setting. The participants who were chosen for the test were the same participants who were recruited for user research who had asthma. The overall test findings helped identify key areas for improving user interaction and identify error states.
An affinity map was created based on errors and issues observed during usability testing. The affinity map is segregated into groups of findings in navigation, interface and usability; content and call to action, preferences from participants and recommended course of action to address the issues. The prototype was further updated to accommodate the changes rolled out in affinity map.
Way forward
The updated prototype needs to be tested with the target segment for uncovering errors and possible improvements in usability and interaction. The next steps would be to develop data visualization for symptoms, peak flow, triggers and medication to help user's track their treatment progress over a period of time.
