Project Overview
Background
Hypertension is a major health concern both in the United States and globally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that hypertension contributed to 691,095 deaths in the U.S. in 2021. The Canadian Journal of Cardiology projects that global hypertension prevalence will reach 1.56 billion by 2025. Given its potentially life-threatening implications and the increasing risk from middle age, people are more motivated to monitor and manage their blood pressure regularly, not just in healthcare settings but also at home.
Product
The Withings BPM Connect is designed to be convenient for use at home, allowing users to monitor their blood pressure on their own or easily share the results with health professionals. It was developed through collaboration with esteemed cardiologists and extensive research on multiple reference devices to guarantee exceptional accuracy in blood pressure measurements.
Problem
The user experience research revealed three issues related to how the device was worn, the single-button system, and readability, all of which negatively impacted the user experience.
Project Goals
Identify the needs, behaviors, and pain points of patients who desire to monitor and manage hypertension with blood pressure monitors.
Optimize the user interface to make it intuitive and user-friendly, guiding users through the entire process from measurement to result confirmation.
Enhance accessibility and inclusivity to ensure the monitor is usable by individuals with physical or cognitive disabilities.
My Roles
Conducted user research to capture users' main characteristics and created personas to help the team stay user-focused during the design process.
Crafted a journey map that illustrates the overall user experience while completing a task.
Led heuristic evaluations and analyzed the collected data to gain insights into usability issues and design suggestions.
Discussed design solutions with the team and visualized the ideas into prototypes using physical materials, Figma, and Adobe Photoshop.
Performed usability tests on the updated prototypes to validate them and identify further usability issues.
Delivered an insightful presentation to potential stakeholders, suggesting validated design solutions to improve the user experience with BPM Connect
Project Overview
Background
Hypertension is a major health concern both in the United States and globally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that hypertension contributed to 691,095 deaths in the U.S. in 2021. The Canadian Journal of Cardiology projects that global hypertension prevalence will reach 1.56 billion by 2025. Given its potentially life-threatening implications and the increasing risk from middle age, people are more motivated to monitor and manage their blood pressure regularly, not just in healthcare settings but also at home.
Product
The Withings BPM Connect is designed to be convenient for use at home, allowing users to monitor their blood pressure on their own or easily share the results with health professionals. It was developed through collaboration with esteemed cardiologists and extensive research on multiple reference devices to guarantee exceptional accuracy in blood pressure measurements.
Problem
The user experience research revealed three issues related to how the device was worn, the single-button system, and readability, all of which negatively impacted the user experience.
Project Goals
Identify the needs, behaviors, and pain points of patients who desire to monitor and manage hypertension with blood pressure monitors.
Optimize the user interface to make it intuitive and user-friendly, guiding users through the entire process from measurement to result confirmation.
Enhance accessibility and inclusivity to ensure the monitor is usable by individuals with physical or cognitive disabilities.
My Roles
Conducted user research to capture users' main characteristics and created personas to help the team stay user-focused during the design process.
Crafted a journey map that illustrates the overall user experience while completing a task.
Led heuristic evaluations and analyzed the collected data to gain insights into usability issues and design suggestions.
Discussed design solutions with the team and visualized the ideas into prototypes using physical materials, Figma, and Adobe Photoshop.
Performed usability tests on the updated prototypes to validate them and identify further usability issues.
Delivered an insightful presentation to potential stakeholders, suggesting validated design solutions to improve the user experience with BPM Connect
Project Details
Process
Stage 1. Research & Discovery
User Research: To understand the primary needs, behaviors, and pain points of BPM Connect users, we conducted thorough user research with people with high blood pressure.
Personas: Based on the user characteristics identified from the research, we created two personas that helped us stay user-focused during the design process.
Heuristic Evaluations: Our team planned and conducted heuristic evaluations to assess the overall user experience. Four evaluators, aged 50 to 61, assessed each of the ten usability heuristics on a scale from Level 1 (minor annoyance) to Level 5 (significant obstacle to completion).
Stage 2. Analysis & Planning
Data Analysis: In-depth quantitative and qualitative data analyses were performed on the data collected from heuristic evaluations. Three primary usability issues were identified, relating to the following categories: user control and freedom, aesthetic and minimalist design, and error prevention.
Journey Maps: We crafted journey maps based on the characteristics of personas to represent users' interactions with BPM Connect visually. This helped us better understand the experience from users' perspectives, including their goals, motivations, pain points, and decision-making processes.
Stage 3. Design Ideation & Prototyping
Design Ideation: Our team discussed design ideas and generated innovative solutions to improve the user experience for the three major usability issues identified from the heuristic evaluations.
Prototyping: We created prototypes to visualize our design solutions, making them easily understandable to users.
Design Ideas
⚠️ Issue 1: Users were confused because the correct cuff placement was not clearly indicated on the device.
🛠️ Solution: The device initially had an all-white design. In response, we introduced a distinct color scheme to indicate the correct way to wear the cuff. Users should position the cuff with the colored part facing the floor.
⚠️ Issue 2: The device used a single-button system, which could be inconvenient because users had to remember how to control functions based on the number of button presses. This included actions such as turning the device on or off and adjusting the number of measurements.
🛠️ Solution: We installed additional up and down buttons to create a three-button system instead of a single-button system. Users can turn the device on or off and select functions using the round button in the middle, while the up and down buttons allow them to navigate between different functions easily.
⚠️ Issue 3: The device's pixel-based LED matrix screen posed a readability challenge, particularly for elderly users. Additionally, the pixel screen displaying systolic and diastolic blood pressure results switched too rapidly, making it difficult for users to discern the readings.
🛠️ Solution: We redesigned the device to feature a larger LCD display instead of a pixel screen and added font size and color contrast options to enhance readability and accessibility for users.
