This capstone project for my master’s degree was conducted in collaboration with CreateAbility, Inc. Our research focused on how to help individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) make better decisions and develop a potential app for development. We chose to design a planning and scheduling app to assist with memory deficits and planning difficulties.
As a UX Designer, I conducted secondary research to explain TBI symptoms to the team, designed the research approach, conducted two interviews & user testings, brainstormed several ideas, and primarily focused on sketching and prototyping.
The project goal was to design a decision-making support tool for individuals with traumatic injuries, aimed at fostering their independence. People who have sustained brain injuries often experience difficulties in thinking, making it challenging for them to make sound decisions.
Currently, there are no apps that are specially designed for individuals with TBI to help decision-making. However, we research some apps that can be used for improving their cognitive skills and an app that can help for decision making but for different target audiences.
We conducted interviews to explore our project scope. There were multiple roles in our interview pool to ensure we gained in-depth knowledge about TBI. These roles included experts, TBI individuals, stroke individuals, and caretakers. The TBI individuals are fully independent according to Ranchos Scale, a scale used to measure cognitive recovery after TBI.
Experience sampling, often linked to diary studies and probing, involves collecting user-submitted samples. According to the insights of the interviews, we decided to explore more details of planning management. We analyzed 15 days of diary entries and screenshots of mobile app usage for daily planning and scheduling. This study provided contextual insights into their experiences, as direct observation and interviews in natural environments were not feasible.
We organized the data we collected into 13 sub categories. These categories include challenges in emotion, incomprehension, support, physical body, finance, memory, planning, attention, speech, understanding, their post-injury symptoms, actions they took, and limitations they had.
We created a concept map using an affinity diagram to organize all the data we collected. The concept map highlight the connections between various challenges and how support can address them, as well as how some challenges are interconnected.
Personas played a key role in our ideation and design processes to create a human-centered design. With so much data, it was challenging to find a starting point. To address this, we developed personas based on the collected data, helping us keep potential users in focus and providing a clearer picture of who we were designing for.
We brainstormed several feature ideas to assist with scheduling and planning in daily life. We came up with ten possible design directions, which included five forms: alarm, calendar, to-do list, game, and note-taking, as well as five key characteristics: smart functionality, collaboration, real-time updates, attention improvement, and accessibility.
After a series of ideation sessions, we narrowed our focus to four themes that could potentially assist our target audience: calendar, to-do list, accessibility, and collaboration. This led to the selection of three key elements for our design, considering feasibility and scope: a calendar system, the ability to save and repeat tasks/habits, and incentives, with journaling as an additional feature.
With AI becoming more prevalent, we considered whether to integrate it into our design. Our approach streamlines planning and scheduling, letting users focus on tasks rather than technology. While AI can help with task management, we prioritize relearning and autonomy. The design includes features to support these goals and accommodates users of all tech skill levels, allowing others to assist with scheduling and fostering independence.
We transformed our sketch into a mid-fi prototype for pilot testing with our participants, most of whom are not tech-savvy. Using color and a solid structure helped them easily understand the designs.
Our participants were collected through convenience sampling of a brain injury support group in Indiana. We used a presentation format to run these pilot tests. The presentationprovided brief introductions and screens from our mid-fidelity prototype while prompting questions in-between screens.
To accommodate users with visual impairments, we increased color contrast, enlarged fonts, and labeled icons for clarity. We simplified the design by removing the incentive system and created a comprehensive flow for better interaction. Two alumni were invited to test the prototype.
The design facilitates the effortless scheduling of repetitive tasks. The inclusion of icons further enhances user experience, making it easier for individuals to locate tasks they have scheduled previously.
The chat function into the app to allow users to receive schedules from others, ensuring they won't forget important tasks. Additionally, if users are unfamiliar with scheduling, their family members can assist them remotely.
The widget that allows frequent access to their schedule and includes shortcuts to contacts based on scheduled events. This way, if they need assistance, they can quickly and easily contact the relevant individuals.
This design helps users track their emotions, especially those unaware of prolonged depression, and allows for easy emotion recording during frequent schedule checks.
