NOUVO
mobile app interface ✖
Overview
During Summer 2019, I interned as a User Experience Designer for Nouvo which won the 2018 Top Newcomer Award in Cozad's New Venture Competition and was part of the 2018-19 iVenture Accelerator Cohort. Nouvo is a healthcare startup whose primary goal is to solve late detection of health complications and illnesses in infants/young children. Using a smart pacifier, vitals are monitored and data is sent to the user's mobile device as insights.
I worked mostly independently to conduct user research, ideate, and design an app for Nouvo. However, my main focus was on the 'Parent Center' which is an area of the app that supports parents mentally.
Date
June – August 2019
Team Members
Trevor Sibby (design lead)
Amaury Saulsberry
Tools
✖ Adobe XD
Deliverables
✖ Interface design for the Parent Center
✖ Online field observations
✖ User personas
✖ User research surveys and insights
✖ Competitor research and analysis
Competitive Analysis
To begin, I did some market research on healthcare information and mental health apps. Below are two that I honed in on, especially because they contained relevant features that Nouvo might also benefit from having in their app.
Ada
-
Uses AI and expertise from real doctors to help users understand their health
-
User can learn about what different symptoms and conditions may entail
-
Clean, simple graphics
Moodpath
-
Can add current thoughts or mood entries
-
Uses audio to develop positive habits for better emotional health
-
Encourages users to actively debrief and reflect on emotions and mood
Defining the Project
The Problem
Nouvo knows that being a parent is stressful, whether it be their first child or third. It can be even more stressful when their baby is sick or faces health complications. However, parents may spend so much time worrying about their child that they forget to check in on their own wellbeing–– especially their emotional and mental health.
The Solution
On top of providing immediate health information about one's child, the Nouvo app will also feature a 'Parent Center'. This part of the app is meant to help users destress, reflect, and find motivation–– hopefully leading to healthy habits for self-care.
User Audience
Nouvo's target users are parents/caregivers with infants or young children. In particular, these individuals might be seeking ways to deal with parental stress and/or are hoping to dedicate more time to nurturing their personal wellbeing. Below are two user personas that embody the type of parent(s) who might use Nouvo.
Insights
I conducted online field observations via two Facebook Groups for parents with GERD children (i.e. acid reflux disease). I did not interact with any of the members/parents–– I merely observed their posts and interactions to gauge their struggles.
-
Extremely stressful
-
Normal activities (e.g. feeding) can feel like a "battle"
-
Pressure from comparison of 'healthy' babies vs. their own
-
Frustration with self → built-up anxiety
-
Restlessness even when child is experiencing "good moments" or "small wins"
-
Difficult to find time to relax, especially without feeling guilt
Ideation
With a better understanding of these parents' struggles, I was able to ideate potential features in the app to alleviate and address areas of stress and anxiety. Some key features I came up for the Parent Center with included:
-
Mood chart represented by different colors per emotion
-
Challenges that encourage self-care and relaxation
-
Mindfulness area with guided audio and calming sounds
-
Motivational/inspirational quotes
With the key features solidified, I made some quick low-fidelity mockups (seen below). Clearly they're not very sleek, but the design ideas were flowing and some of them ended up translating into my final designs!
Mockups + Prototype: Parent Center
After running my ideas with Nouvo's design lead, Trevor, below are the high-fidelity mockups as well as a video walkthrough of what I came up with for the Parent Center!
Design Decisions
Motivational Quote
When a user navigates to the Parent Center, they are greeted by a motivational quote which eventually fades out. A new quote would appear daily or weekly. I found that nearly all parents feel some level of stress or anxiety associated with caregiving–– some more than others.
The idea here was to remind parents about the importance of caring for themselves, too–– boosting motivation and confidence in a simple, yet impactful, way.
Mood Tracker
Part of tuning into one's mental state is being actively aware of their shifts in moods/emotions over time... hence, the Mood Tracker. Here, users can enter their current mood/emotion–– represented by a different color (i.e. dot)–– and view its course throughout the day, week, or month. The visual depiction and colors on the graph aid in the user's understanding of how they are feeling.
Relaxation Center
I wanted to add a Relaxation Center in the app so that users could have an "all-in-one" experience. In other words, users wouldn't have to download different apps to practice relaxation–– everything they might need to do so is already within Nouvo's app.
Here, users can experience relaxation through sounds–– whether it be through music or guided mindfulness audio. The audio would be relatively short in length (~5 minutes or less) to accommodate hectic schedules. Everyone has 5 minutes in their day to spare!
Daily Challenges
This is my favorite part of the Parent Center! In this area, users are tasked with daily challenges to complete. This was inspired by a general finding that parents have difficulty taking time to do things for themself–– on top of that, doing it guilt-free. Challenges might look something like: watching a TV episode, walking/running outside, making a cup of coffee or tea, journaling, reading a couple chapter from a book, or even putting on a nice outfit.
The challenges are made to be reasonable while still encouraging users to intentionally make time for self-care. At the bottom of the challenge, users can check off if they completed it. In the top right hand corner, the checkmark button displays the challenges they've accomplished. The goal is to eventually make self-care a regular practice that occurs naturally without the app.