The mobile app inHera is a breastfeeding decision aid tool designed to help potential, expecting, and new moms with Cystic fibrosis (CF) gain confidence in feeding their newborn children. It provides sufficient, organized, and up-to-date professional information about feeding newborn children for people with CF, allowing moms and caregivers to navigate the resources efficiently with minimal pressure.

Time: February – March 2023

My Roles: UX Research, UX Writing, Wireframing, UI Evaluation, Brand Concept, Project Management

Design Tools: Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop

Timeline

• Week 1: Empathize
• Week 2: Define & Ideate
• Week 3: Prototype
• Week 4: Iterate

This app design was a proposal to the project partnership between CMU School of Design and CONVERGE (The Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity at The University of Pittsburgh).

Empathize

The project kicked off with meetings with clients Dr. Traci Kazmerski and Olivia Stransky. They introduced the causes, symptoms, and life expectancy of CF and explained that as new treatments become available, the quality of life of people with CF continues to improve, and more people with CF are considering becoming parents. However, in addition to common parenting problems, women with CF face a variety of disease-specific challenges, and breastfeeding is a difficult and complex part.

Tracing the challenging points mentioned by the clients, we read many research papers and blog articles (see references below) and familiarized ourselves with both CF and feeding topics. We studied the website MyVoice CF, which provides the information and strategies that have been gathered and designed by Raelynn O’Leary and Ashley Deal.

We had very limited access to the target users – women who have CF, but we designed a questionnaire for general breastfeeding questions and invited our mom friends to answer. Based on their general feeding experience, we came up with more CF-related questions and interviewed two women from the CF community. Interviewee A is a mom of 2 kids and Interviewee M is planning to have a kid. The conversation provided insights and directions to us to design a user experience specifically for CF moms.

Define

From the primary and secondary research, we summarized that the CF moms have 5 concerns that need to be addressed:

• Confidence – The most essential factor for new and expecting CF moms to decide on a suitable feeding method. Both moms’ and babies’ personalities, as well as knowledge of feeding/parenting and close support, will affect the mom’s confidence level. 
• Knowledge – CF moms expect as much knowledge as possible about feeding and parenting with CF to make decisions.
• Community – Getting to know the experience from other CF moms or caretakers and obtaining support from friends and family are important.
• Health Performance – CF moms need to maintain good health to feed and raise kids.
• Medication Management – CF doctors could prescribe many medications to the patients, and they are difficult to manage during feeding and parenting. 

With this context in mind, we came up with an  “Analyze/Self-score/Rethink” loop as the structural system of this app. Rather than giving a “right” or “wrong” answer, the app allows the users to keep scoring their own confidence on different choices through a detailed assessment.

The loop will not only encourage users to assess their own level of certainty about a decision but also guide them to related resources so that they can gain more knowledge and support. 

The Define/Ideate phases went simultaneously. We brainstormed the user’s experience journey and then drafted a very rough wireflow.

Ideate

Based on the 5 summarized concerns and the loop system we visualized, we continued to brainstorm the app’s key features and how they smoothly work to resolve the concerns.

Key Features

• Assessment Report: Learn about your body and your thoughts
• Care Team Connection: Access familial and professional support, latest research, and news
• Note-taking Box: Write down your takeaways anytime
• Feeding Schedule Simulator: Utilize a calendar, calorie, weight, and budget calculator
• Nutrition Trackers: Manage your medications effectively

We carefully considered all aspects that may need to be assessed to analyze the users’ confidence level and drafted the first version of wireframes.

During this phase, we explored similar platforms and tools for visual references. We also began to think about the brand concept. We were inspired by the folklore: Hera pushed Heracles away, and then her motherly milk sprayed out, creating the Milky Way. We believe every mom has the right to choose the most suitable feeding method for herself, so we name our app “inHera.”

Prototype

Firstly, we applied Ottawa Decision Support Framework (ODSF) to designing the structure and UX content of the assessment. ODSF conceptualizes the support needed by patients, families, and their practitioners for “difficult” decisions with multiple options. We used this framework as a logical rationale behind the assessment’s scoring system. 

Secondly, we designed the assessment categories and their detailed questions based on our research on articles from the CF community blog, text from MyVoice CF. Then, we developed two sets of assessment questions, one for CF moms and another for their caretakers, which includes family members and partners. 

Simultaneously, we created the second version of wireframes and began exploring a color scheme that could represent the brand’s identity.

Iteration

With these deliverables, we revisited Interviewee A and Interviewee M, following a thorough UI Evaluation Protocol. We walked them through the partially completed interfaces and sought their opinions on various aspects, including features, flows, feedback, visuals, and more. Both interviewees emphasized the need for more CF-specific information to be included in both the assessment and the health performance feature. They also provided valuable suggestions on the wording of questions.

Based on the evaluation and feedback received, we iterated on our design. We consulted an expert in health communication to refine the assessment with more nuanced language and added parameters that are important for CF patients, such as lung function, weight, and sleep quality.

Simultaneously, we finalized the app’s UI design and standardized elements like color schemes, typography, buttons, and other visual components.

Future Improvement

We are aware that this project requires user testing for its completion. We have archived the annotated wireframes for future reference, ensuring that we can revisit and make any necessary adjustments based on user feedback and testing results.

References