Team
A unique team of 11 interns led this project to success, I led the design process as a user experience design intern.This project won the 'Project of the Year' award and I was presented with the 'Star Intern of the Year - 2021' award.
Problem Space Identification
To learn and understand more about Hepatitis B and the population affected by it, my team and I began with some extensive research. After studying multiple articles and research papers, we proceeded to conduct a user survey to hear directly from individuals fighting Hepatitis B.
We put together a survey and sent it out to a mailing list provided by Vemlidy that consisted of individuals from the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), African American and the American community.
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Here are some insights we derived from the survey :
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44% of survey respondents stated that HBV was a primary concern in terms of losing a job, missing work due to illness etc.
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56% of survey respondents believed that HBV brought trouble to their family
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89% of respondents felt they could not speak to anyone about their condition because of the fear of being treated differently
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92% of survey respondents affirmed they would like to seek help and break free of their stigma
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82% of survey respondents' first language was not english
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There were four major problem spaces that we identified through this exercise-
Incognizance
Stigma
Solitude
Language
User Definition
Through our comprehensive user research, we discovered two main user groups that were affected by Hepatitis B more than any other user segments - 'Asian American and Pacific Islanders' and 'African American'. Hence, we narrowed down our target audience to the 'AAPI community' and 'Nigerian Immigrants' who are diagnosed with Hepatitis B but are treatment-naive.
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With some extended research we were able to discover :
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AAPI spend an average of 19.1 hours a week online
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44% of AAPI prefer Facebook to access cultural content
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HBV rates are 13x higher in the AAPI population than the Caucasian population
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27% of AAPI live in multigenerational households
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64% of Nigerian Immigrants are less likely to seek treatment because of the fear of being treated differently
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These two personas allowed us to address the challenges faced by each of these user groups. Some of the challenges we documented were :
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A second generational korean restaurant owner is a family man and struggles with finding motivation to take medication daily
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A nigerian financial advisor is fighting the chronic disease and feels alone battling the stigma around HBV
Customer Journey Discovery
To understand the various stages HBV patients go through in order to improve their overall opportunities and look for areas of enhancement, I created a journey map that encompasses all stages and emotions our user groups go through during the process.
Branding
As a healthcare advertising agency it was crucial to set the tone and voice for our HBV campaign. In close collaboration with branding and strategy interns, we came up with a strong message for our campaign based on our insights.
INSIGHT
People with HBV are scared to be defined by their conceived stigmas surrounding the disease
CHANGE
Encourage the AAPI and Nigerian community to team up with Vemlidy to stand up to their HBV
CREATIVE CHARGE
The battle against HBV isn't one to tackle alone. With Vemlidy, your family, doctors and the rest of the HBV community, you have support every step of the way
Designing The Solution
Studying various areas of opportunities and insights from our user research, we were able to narrow down a set of features we wanted to incorporate in the overall experience for our app.
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We wanted this app to send a strong message to all our HBV warriors letting them know they are not alone in the battle they are facing.
Wireframes
I began designing the solution by putting together high-level wireframes that would emphasize the key screens of the experience we wished to build for our HBV warriors. After a couple of iterations we were able to finalize the key features we wanted to include in the final experience.
Prototype
Keeping in mind the challenges faced by our user groups, the key features and business goals of Vemlidy, I created a high-fidelity prototype that incorporated the key features we wanted to roll out for the first iteration of the app. As a part of the campaign we were going to launch this app in May during the AAPI Heritage Month.
The initial activation location of this app was set out to be New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego since 50% of HBV market is in CA and NY. New York has a total of 2.1 M AAPI and Nigerian community and California has 1.9 M AAPI and Nigerian community.
To address the main pain points derived from our initial user research, we designed these features :
Incognizance
Information and resources about Hepatitis B, online medical seminars and direct messaging with a specialist
Stigma
Positive affirmations and events that help celebrate the patient's strengths
Solitude
Community events and carnivals for the HBV warriors to get together and enjoy their culture and community
Language
Translator that helps patients translate voice and text to their preferred language so they can comfortably receive and acknowledge information
Launch Strategy
Teaming up with our strategy interns, we came up with a launch strategy for our app. Our We Not Me campaign translated to a community event that would celebrate the AAPI culture and community. This event would take place during the AAPI heritage month in May.
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The event would have games and events centered around the AAPI culture and community such as asian food trucks, games that would help HBV warriors break free of their stigma and a chinese lantern festival with take-home souvenirs.
A celebrated name in the AAPI community, Ramey Ko who is a political activist would be the speaker at this event to advocate for our HBV warriors' strengths. The community event would also host the popular Asian American band Run River North.
Soft Launch Metrics
After completing the design of the solution, we began conducting usability tests on participants with each of the individuals asks to complete 7 tasks.
After conducting usability tests on a sample size of 52 participants we derived the following results :
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49/52 completed all of their tasks without aid/information
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94% of participants had a time based efficiency of 0.80 goals per minute and higher
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95% of participants felt the app exhibited a sense of community and believed it would help improve their mental health
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The average number of errors per task was 0.02
Next Steps
The first iteration of the app was successful and here is what we are planning to do in the near future :
Multiple Language Translator
We currently experimented with ten languages but are planning to incorporate many more in the future
Vemlidy Subcription
Ability to subscribe for the monthly/yearly Vemlidy medication package
Online Doctor's Appointment
Ability to schedule a doctor's appointment online directly through the app