This challenge really pushed me out of my comfort zone. The topic is sensitive, and reading some of the survey responses really impacted me emotionally. But as designers, we don't always get to work on projects that are always fun. So, it's important to challenge ourselves to think creatively and critically because we deal with a variety of issues in our work.
Even though time was short and I opted for a survey instead of interviews (which would have provided more help in this situation by allowing me to ask additional questions and better understand user needs), gaining insights directly from people who have experience as caregivers or have direct knowledge of caregiving was immensely helpful in obtaining useful feedback.
My goal was to participate in this challenge to become a better UX designer. That's why, instead of creating the pitch (a 2-5 min. video presentation showcasing the platform), I decided to give myself more time to refine the prototype. Afterward, I plan to test it, get feedback and start iterating.
Once again, I proved to myself that if I put my mind to something, I can do it 100%. I managed to complete all this in my free time, while juggling working full time, dance classes, German classes, and other personal matters that required my attention.
RESEARCH RESPONSE RATE
of people responded with thoughtful answers within the first 8 hours (5 out of 33 reached).
CAREGIVING CHALLENGES
said coordinating tasks between family members was the hardest part.
EMOTIONAL BURDEN
shared they felt overwhelmed or isolated during the planning process.
FEATURE DESIRE
wished for a shared space to track care tasks and updates.
You won't believe how fast time flies when you start reading and researching a little bit about the topic! Knowing that in week 1 everything is about the concept itself, and not the proper research part, I tried to restrain myself from delving too deeply into researching the topic and just followed the direction I was given.
That is why, in this week, I laid out a lot of assumptions that I intended to validate (or throw out) in week 2.
Time was limited, so I decided to create a survey with mostly open-ended questions. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that 5 people (out of 33) took their time to fill it in seriously within the first 8 hours of me sending the survey.
Ideally, I would have asked around among friends or friends of friends, or even parents of friends, to have an interview with me to gather raw insights about this topic.
After I analyzed the respondents' answers, I started conducting competitor analysis.
I decided to browse through the reviews of other apps to see what feedback they received from their users. I wouldn't say I found out amazing things, but hey, it's a start!
One week for the design?! Of course, I would need a lot more time to implement everything I had in mind.
After giving it some thought, I decided to focus only on a few key workflows. Additionally, I kept in mind the primary goal:
"Designing the user interface for the family care coordination platform."
