Patient-centric system for migraine sufferers

Problem Statement 

1. Tracking Methods

All participants track their symptoms through mobile notes or using pen-paper after the migraine attack is over. These notes are then shared with the doctor during appointment. These notes often give away inaccurate and incomplete data. 

Design Requirement: There should be more detailed tracking features leading to accurate data such as Severity tracking, Severity duration, frequency of attacks, medicine dosage, previous medicines, migraine triggers, eye number change, sunlight exposure, acidity, type of food intake, blurred vision, sleep schedule, weakness/energy loss, Attack timing, etc. 

2. Memory

“ I cannot remember the name of the precaution medicine prescribed to me. ”

“I sometimes forget what the doctor advised to do.”

Design Requirement: Features like the app reminds when is time to buy medicines as they are about to get over. The app should also remind the users of medicines to be taken.

3. Tracking Nature

“Different people get migraine cause if different reasons. So it would depend from people to people.”

Design Requirement: To focus on giving users personalized experiences. The things that the doctor asks to follow should be recorded thus enabling the app to track only necessary factors relevant to the patient and send reminders/alerts to the user accordingly.

4. Triggers

“My mind does not work when I am going through the pain.”

Participants usually do not understand how to take care of themselves in different situations when they get a migraine attack. Eg: Travelling, Hectic work schedule, during family functions.

Design Requirement: If a migraine attack is triggered in the above situations, the app should be able to guide the users on how the users can take care of themselves. Tells what they should be doing in order to get relief.

5. Alerts

Factors like lack of sleep, empty stomach, oily/spicy food, over exposure to screens or sunlight affect migraines. Patients usually do not realise when this is happening to them but regret not taking care of these factors after the migraine attack is triggered. 

Design Requirement: Send alerts to the patient when screen time exceeds certain limit or regarding very sunny weather conditions. Enable users to track sleep and diet. Alert users when they have not tracked sleep or taken less sleep.

6. Reports

At each recurring appointment, the doctor completes a standard form to append to a patient’s case to document patient symptoms between appointments. The details are given by the patient verbally. 

Participants communicate with the doctors with emails in-between appointments or on call.

Design Requirement: Enabling the app to save what the users have tracked in a repository. The users should be able to download the reports in the form of .pdf to email the doctor before the appointment. This saves time and also provides accurate information to the doctor.

7. Prescriptions

“I sometimes forget what the doctor advised to do.”

It is necessary to keep a track of the previous prescriptions. Also what the doctor has advised to do.

Design Requirement: The app should enable users to scan the prescriptions. This will help users refer back to their previous medications. 

8. Minimal Interaction Design / Microinteractions

“I just feel like lying down and not do anything.”

“Sometimes the pain is just too much to handle. My head and eyes tired after the attack.”

“It takes about 1 – 2 days to recover completely.”

Design Requirement: The interactions that are required for the patients to do in order to track the symptoms should be as quick, simple and minimal as possible. The lesser the screen time, the better. 

Concept Map

I created the concept map to give me a vision of what data needs to be considered when designing the MigCare patient centric  system. The concept map helped me to organize my findings and integrate them with the design requirements for the project. This map is a result of my research findings through user interviews and factors informing my design.

User Flows

Once I had an overall understanding of the product, I started working on the user flows. I used Lucidchart to develop the user flows. It was an iterative process as I shared them with my Capstone advisor and received feedback from my classmates and the Professor.

List of Tasks

1. Create a Profile/Sign Up
2. Customize tracking dashboard
3. Track migraine trigger time
4. Track migraine severity
5. Track severity duration
6. Know the frequency of migraine attacks
7. Track sleep schedule 
8. Track medical dosage
9. Track eating schedule 
10. Track type of food
11. Track acidity
12. Track location of migraine trigger
13. Track activity is done when migraine triggered
14. Access prescription repository 
15. Access migraine tracking reports
16. Send reports to the personal doctor
17. Scan prescriptions/reports

Sketches

Sketches proved to be a turning point in the design process. They enabled me to start thinking about layout and how interactions could be more simplified resulting in a user-friendly interface. A design review was conducted to make further improvements.

Wireframes

After revising my sketches and making some changes, I used Sketch to create the wireframes. These wireframes convey the structure of each screen, the content, the actions and behaviors the user might expect from each button. It is a foundation of the what the structure and layout will be.

Low-Fidelity Walkthrough

This walkthrough was done with 3 participants who are designers to gain their insights on the low-fidelity wireframes. 

Participant 1: UX Designer, No awareness about migraine

Participant 2: Product Designer, Does not have migraine, but has a family member suffering from migraine

Participant 3: UX designer, Migraine sufferer

Usability Test

Test Plan

Participant Consent Form

Task Scenarios

Prototype

Link to Prototype

Global 3: India

Team: Aishwarya, Manouj & Gaurav

Last Created: October 29, 2018

Last Updated: November 15, 2018

The Beginning

Project #2 – Designing for Courage was introduced to the students of the class CIM 640 on their Week 7 (October 8, 2018). Teams were formed and a general design thinking session was carried out. In my project team, the other team members are Gaurav and Manouj. It was fortunate that we were given the topic which focuses on the law enforcement and policing in India.

We were also encouraged to attend Home Truth screening on October 11 and Fareed Zakaria’s speech on October 15. Home Truth helped us gain insights by documenting the experiences of Jessica Gonzales.

Following the initial insight attainment, we collaborated with the assigned Law school student – Meredith Shea on October 17. Our perspective of the problem statement broadened after the meeting with Meredith. We brainstormed the potential stakeholders for the domestic and sexual harassment cases. We also did a root cause analysis and we listed down the possible causes. We grouped each of these causes under a theme. On the same day, we discussed the harassment prevention and control practices that were actually effective so far.

Design Brief

The objective of Project#2 Designing for Courage is to assume we are playing the role of a designer and to work in a small team along with a Law school student to design a solution for enhancing law enforcement and police response to domestic violence and sexual assault in India.

I will be narrating the events, approaches and progress of the project in each of the following sections. This article talks about the journey that we have been through to come up with Radical 360.

Stakeholders

Below is a brief list of stakeholders as discussed is below.

• Central & Local Police (varying policies) & police academy – higher ups + sex crimes/specialty officers
• Victims
• Witness – family, etc.
• Human Rights Activists
• Feminists
• The accused
• Sexists
• Lawyers (public defense/govt/state training), Advocates
• Policymakers & politicians (local, national)
• Bus drivers + public transportation workers
• Healthcare workers (nurses, doctors, heads of dept, psychologists)
• Social media (users, orgs / #MeToo)
• NGOs (international, national, local)

On October 22, the law students across the teams presented their insights on this issue. This presentation was followed by brainstorming session for a list of stakeholders.

The Objective

Radical 360 is a VR based training program that trains the users with an interactive immersive experience.

It provides the user with several training modules consisting of several scenarios. It allows the users to make decisions throughout the simulation and the story gets built based on the decisions made.

This program is based on the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)  involving 1. Humanitizing 2. Relating and 3. Empathizing the victim

The ultimate aim of this training program is to make behavioral changes in the users.

The main goals for this project are:

• Identifying key scenarios that are necessary for this type of program
• Imparting the scenarios into a virtual training module
• Allowing interactions that will lead to different outcomes of a scenario

Research

Seconary Research

The Constitution of India provides recognition and protection to women. The preamble of the constitution guarantees social, economic and political justice, equality of status, opportunity, and the dignity of the individual.

However,  for a long time working Indian women did not practically receive the protections granted under the Constitution and national or state legislations. It was obvious that women needed specific rules to enforce their rights.

Team Discussions

Following the initial insight attainment, we collaborated with the assigned Law school student – Meredith Shea on October 17. Our perspective of the problem statement broadened after the meeting with Meredith. We brainstormed the potential stakeholders for the domestic and sexual harassment cases. We also did a root cause analysis and listed down the possible causes. We grouped each of these causes under a theme. On the same day, we discussed the harassment prevention and control practices that are actually effective so far.

On October 22, the law students across the teams presented their insights on this issue. This presentation was followed by a collaborative session with Meredith and other law school students. In this session, we identified the themes pertaining to this topic. For this, we used IDEO’s story telling approach. We started by sharing inspiring stories, downloading learnings and finally finding themes using all the downloaded information. This collaboration gave us a different perspective of this problem. We discovered several underlying issues that indirectly contribute to this main problem.

We then created empathy maps of two potential stakeholders (A policymaker and a victim). We also used the Rose, Thorn and Bud approach to identify advantages, pain points and potential growth regions of the design precedents.

Design Precedents

Training based on virtual simulations are not uncommon in the developed countries like United States. This technology is relatively new and unexplored in India. Based on the responses and success stories of VR training, it is likely that the implementation of such training module for Indian Law enforcement and police will be of great success.

1. Street Smarts VR: Street Smarts VR is a veteran-owned virtual reality (VR) training platform that provides distributed, immersive training to law enforcement departments. The mission is to enhance officer-citizen interactions in moments of high stress or crisis scenarios. By leveraging the power of virtual reality, Street Smarts VR can create ultra realistic scenarios designed to simulate real-life interactions that law enforcement encounters every day. By using this platform, officers are given enhanced training to make split-second decisions. https://streetsmartsvr.com/
2. APEX Officer: APEX utilizes the virtual reality hardware and technology to create realistic and immersive force options, de-escalation, and crisis intervention training simulation. Unlike other simulators, the users are not limited to what they can display on a 2D projection screen. With APEX Officer, the user is transported in a 360-degree, 6DoF, virtual environment that looks, feels, interacts identically to a real-world situation. It offers training-managers and law enforcement agencies unprecedented insight into their officer’s training results, requirements, and progress. https://www.apexofficer.com/
3. STARS: Situational Training And Response Simulator, and is a joint initiative involving various agencies in Monmouth County. The location is divided into two parts. The first is a physical plant which places officers in a tangible environment using non-lethal training rounds, smoke, fire alarms, strobes, and other special effects. For the second, virtual portion of the training, they are using the VirTra V-300 simulator from a company called VirTra Systems Inc. This simulator has five screens, allowing trainees a 300-degree view of the situation. Scenarios are designed to replicate real-life events that officers may encounter in the field, ranging from domestic violence incidents to active shooter situations. The trainees are equipped with a variety of tools including training firearms that recoil and weigh the same as an authentic firearm would. https://www.faac.com/milo-range/solutions/situational-awareness-training/

Personas

Initially, Gaurav came up with the persona for Bhagat Singh where is explained a fresher policeman joined recently. I jotted the persona study points for Anand Lotlikar, who is a real life stakeholder.

Persona: Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh is a superintendent. He is currently posted to Bandra Branch in Mumbai. He is young, 25,  and is keen to work efficiently. He believes he can make a difference by bringing the wrong doers to justice. He is inspired by the likes of a few great policemen like Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar. He knows that many policemen in India take bribes and favor those in power. He wants to change this. He wants to make it fair for everybody and bring back the lost hope to the victims of sexual assault. His communication skills and leadership skills are an example of his personality to many others. He is a workaholic and does not rest until a case that has been assigned to him is completely solved. However, he lacks experience as he is only 25 and is pretty indecisive.

Persona: Anand Lolitkar

Anand Lotlikar is the Commissioner of Crime Branch of Mumbai. The police force team which works on Domestic Violence cases works under his guidance. He is a very patriotic person who looks forward to make a change in the society for women. He claims that there are many domestic violence cases this occur which are not registered in the police stations due to reasons like fear of identity exposure, low trust factor on the police force management and the feeling that filing a police complaint will not help them solve the issue. Anand Lotlikar wants to improve the system of this Mumbai Crime Branch so that women won’t be fearful or even doubtful in approaching the the police in the cases of Domestic Violence. As he is a higher authority and has the capability to take important decisions, he is struggling to find various solutions that can improve the system of the crime branch and can improve the way of conduct of the policemen towards the victims and their relatives.

User Scenario

As, Anand Lotlikar was a real life person for the persona study. I created a user scenarion in the form of a storyboard to explain the application of Radical 360.

Concept Map

We created a concept poster for the training application. We named the application ‘Radical 360’.  This concept poster gives a basic understanding of what the concept of Radical 360 application is, what it does, who is it intended for and how it works. It also speaks about the potential pain points associated with the design.

The ‘Radical 360’ is a training program which aims at changing behavioral conduct. To make this, a thorough research on the best psychological practices is required. Apart from that, the scenarios in the training modules should be as real as possible. Scenarios can be built using the history of complaints registered. The module should also record the responses of each individuals in order to evaluate them. These recorded information will then be used to tailor the training module to make it more effective for the same individual.

The technology requirements of this project includes VR development kit and a VR headset.

Key Factors in our Design Solution

The audit on design precedents proved that the Virtual Reality cannot only be used as a low cost alternative for expensive training, it can also be used as a tool to induce behavioral changes in people. The other advantage is that it can be modified based on the requirements.

Thus we as a team thought a modular training system, which can be altered according to the requirements of a particular individual as well as according to varying target audience is needed.

What user will be able to do?

• User will be able to open an intended module and make decision choices throughout the module.
• Every decision choice will affect the progress of the scenario. This way, the user will get real time feedback about his decisions.
• The decision choices are limited to the options given by the application. Users cannot give custom responses.
• Users will have to register with their ID in order to create a unique account.
• The application generates scenarios in which the user will be one of the key characters. User will be required to interact with the scenario and make decision choices at different places of the scenario. Once the user completes a scenario, the responses will be recorded and then the application will automatically recommend the next module for that particular used based on the recorded information.

User Flow

Steps user will take while using the Radical 360 application:

1. A user will first login to the application.
2. User then selects a training module based on his/her designation/role/needs.
3. User will be taken to the particular scenario.
4. User will be given the choice to make decisions throughout the scenario. The choices that the user makes will affect the scenario.
5. User will reach the end of the scenario and will be evaluated based on the responses.
6. The training will be altered for the needs of each user but the ultimate goal of the training remains the same.

Design Framework

The training is designed to have the below modules.

1. Module 1 – Sexual Harassment Identification
2. Module 2 – Bystander Intervention
3. Module 3 – Individual Response Training
4. Module 4 – Identifying and changing stigma and bias
5. HR module

Wireframing & visual mockups

We created a low fidelity prototype using the methods of wireframing. Then we created visual mockups to understand the user flow better. It gave clarity to how me can progress with the making of the prototype.

The wireframes were created using Figma and GoPro VR Player.

Prototype

Link to the video of the prototype:

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XMHt6XO0fVwMPdtgUDr02BgdAegAG871

Few glimpses of the prototype:

This prototype was created in Unity software.

It was the 12th of August 2018. I was waiting at the Mumbai airport for my flight at the allocated gate. My family was having dinner outside at the airport, and I could not go. It was a weird feeling. It had started to feel that I am going away from them, too far and too soon. Then suddenly the continuous video calls from friends and relatives started which distracted me and kept me busy. I didn’t realize how that caught up all the time at the airport. I felt that my life got fast forwarded as the flight took off. As I was not able to grasp the pace of what was happening, I slept till the plane landed in Paris.

I was at the Paris airport. The airport was full of hustle and bustle. Huge stores of costly brands and fancy food places. I saw beautiful, perfectly dressed French girls smiling and walking around. Seeing that took me back to something baba used to say, “Every time I travel, I see young girls traveling to different countries for education or work. I have always imagined you the same way Aishwarya.” He used to always tell me this. That brought in a lot of confidence in me. I started to recollect all these little things which my parents said to me at some point in time in my life. So, I decided to call home and talk to my parents. I was seeing my family on a video call. It felt weird, but I loved to see the happiness on their face. The proud tears of my ajoba injected courage in me. Somehow, that call prepared me for everything that America had in store for me. I was excited for the adventure that was to unfold as the flight took off from Paris.

The flight from Paris to Miami was boring. Maybe because I didn’t know that two angels were waiting for me at the Miami airport. Anu didi and Krishna bhaiya make Miami homely for me. In fact, I would say, they are my home here. It’s not places but the people that make the home, home. I realized this after coming to America and meeting these two people.

The 16th of August 2018 was my first day at the university. I was astonished by seeing the prince charming that came in my dreams every night after the Visa, the University of Miami. It was magical. So many different people from different cultures were passing by my side. I was in an entirely different world. Magnificient campus and lush green grass. The library left me totally amazed. I met my professors, my classmates, got my class schedule, attended my orientation, got my ID card and what not. Everything was so new to me. Coming back to Anu didi’s place, I had so many things to share with her and of course my family. I was so excited to go back to university to begin with my classes. Deepa kaku called again that night to know how I was feeling to be in a new country. I still remember the parts of the beautiful poem she had written about me before leaving India.

It feels like yesterday that I shifted in my new apartment with my roommates. It’s been three months now. Going to the university makes me feel good because it keeps me busy. I love the education pattern here. Miami has treated me amazingly. I love how people respect each other, follow traffic rules, keep the environment clean and the facilities that the university provides to the students. I love my job and the course that I have chosen. There is an enormous scope of learning each day. Not only in terms of making a career and learning what the course offers but also about how people from different cultures are, their way of conduct, how to be polite and most importantly being humble.

There is this term called ‘Living the American dream’, which makes people think that America is the most luxurious and comfortable country to live in. This is a wrong assumption, I would say. No matter how rich you are, you have to do everything yourself here. This has made me bold and confident to another level. I would never have become like this staying back in India. Now I can travel to any part of the world alone, talk to any person from any country and manage everything myself including my time, studies, job and finances. I have grown as a person after coming here. If nothing else, America has made me a responsible person for sure.

Surviving the Indian festivals is very hard here in America. Anu didi makes it easier for me by inviting me over for each one though. I miss India on such occasions a lot. Also each time I cook food and it is salty or something else goes wrong, I miss food made by Mumma. When I come home tired from the university, I wish she pulls me closer. Sometimes, I wish there is someone to calm me down when the workload of both my assignments and job gets overwhelming. I feel guilty of each time my mother tried to convince me to eat the vegetables I didn’t like and, I didn’t eat it no matter what. Guilty of not taking my parents seriously when they told me to take care of myself. Because now there is no one to tell me these things. There is no one who can shout at me or correct me for the mistakes that I make. No one to ask ‘Aishwarya, you look tired. Are you alright?’ or say ‘Aishwarya, don’t drink too much of Coke or you will catch a cold.’ There are these people in our lives who love you and care for you unconditionally, it’s just that we forget to acknowledge them, to show how much we value them. Or maybe, we just take these loved ones for granted.

I thank America for making me realize how rich I am in terms of having these people in my life that love me so much. Its when I came here, I realized that I am closer to my family and friends more than I was before, back in India. I value them more than I used to. I have started to understand myself more about what I like, what I want to do and majorly taking my own decisions. This makes me even richer, even stronger.

Yes, I still miss hanging out with Sanika, with my college friends, miss going crazy with Siddhi, Shreeya, Darshana, rather the whole ‘Sanstha’, shopping with Mumma, spending time with Anish, having family dinners, listening to old songs with baba, and million other such things which made my life beautiful. I have lived in this beautiful cocoon for 22 years of my life. But, a butterfly needs to come out of the cocoon to experience the world and spread its wings to fly. So did I.

In the process of searching for a home here, I found the home in myself!

It was the 19th of June, 2018.

” Your Visa is approved!”, said the Visa Officer.

I was speechless. I managed to smile and thank the Officer. I walked out of the US Consulate slowly. I needed time to digest what just happened. My inner voice was saying, ‘Life is going to change Aishwarya’.

I came out of the Consulate and saw my father on the other side of the road. Through a hand gesture, he asked me what happened. I showed him a thumbs up. I think it happened involuntarily. I could see his expression changing from worry into a utter delighted one. I crossed the road without even looking at the cars coming and ran into his arms. I can never forget that moment for my entire life. Then I saw my mother. I went to her and hugged her tightly. Her face was full of joy. I could see the pride in my father’s eyes and my mother’s smile. The tears from my grandfather’s eyes said it all. I touched his feet and hugged him too.

I was happy. In fact very happy that day. But this inner voice was constantly telling me the same thing, ‘Life is going to change Aishwarya. Everything is going to change’. This voice was kind of scaring me.  It was a weird feeling. First time in my life I was happy and scared at the same time. Then I looked around. I shook the inner voice away seeing the happiness around me. I started talking to my family again about how the interview went. I called up my brother, my aunts/uncles and my close friends. They were delighted. The best feeling in the world is to know that your loved ones are happy and proud. Especially when the reason is you!

Few days passed, I had accepted that my mother’s excitement was not going to reduce anytime soon. We had already started packing. The inner voice visited during the nights before I sleep often. It always made me realize that for reaching in the United States to achieve my dreams, I have to leave my home. It made me question myself a lot. Like how will it be there? Will I find good friends? What if I miss my family and friends? And most importantly I was realizing that life is never going to be the same again. I wasn’t ready to hear it I guess. So I used to shoo this inner voice away.

The flight was scheduled on 12th on August. I used to say,” There is still time Mumma.” And she used to reply saying that I will never know how the time will fly and the day of leaving will arrive like a flip of a page. She was right. The time was really flying away. A month passed by in planning and preparing for leaving to the United States. It passed by in excitement, curiosity, and butterflies in the stomach. I had finalized my roommate and apartment that I will be staying in.

I went to Sangli for the last time before coming here. I met almost everyone I have grown up seeing. We, family friends (we call our group ‘Sanstha’) planned on a short trip for baba’s 50th birthday near Pune. These people are my friends by destiny, but my family by choice. We grew up together. I wanted to catch hold of every moment and store it inside my memory. As these were the moments I was going to take along after leaving India.

I had slowly started to accept that everything is going to change. But the inner voice was crueler now. As I started meeting the people I love for the last time before leaving, the voice became stronger. It told me that it’s never going to be the same again. My home won’t be my home but a vacation spot. And this was hard to digest. I had mixed feelings. The excitement of starting a new life but also the fact of leaving everything behind shook me from inside. I realized chasing your dreams demands paying a price. My dreams demanded to get out of my comfort zone, stay alone in a country that I had seen only in the movies and many things that I didn’t even know about.

Those unknown things started uncovering rapidly, one by one. I thought this transition is going to make my career. Was this just for a career? No! I could have done my career back in India as well. John Deere was absorbing me after my graduation project internship for a well-paid job position. I could have taken that job and lived my life happily with my loved ones. I lived like a princess all my 22 years of life. I could have continued doing the same. Then why was I doing this? What was the need to spend so much money, take so many efforts and stay alone there in the States? I asked these questions to myself. The answer was,’ Yes! I wanted to take this step. This was going to make me a different person. A bold and confident girl. I was not going there just to make a career, I was going there to make myself. I was going to take my life in my own hands. Most importantly, I chose this. It was my decision.’ That was enough to make my mind for getting on that airplane on the 12th of August. I was prepared for that day mentally and as the day arrived, physically. Leave the emotional part. I will never be prepared emotionally, Sanika had told. Seeing her shift to Canada for her studies was something that helped me pull everything together and take the necessary steps.

It was the 12th of August. All my emotions had magnified. I was confident yet nervous. I was excited yet I was scared. I was happy yet I was also sad. The most important thing was I wanted this to happen. I worked a lot for this to happen. I wanted to go. This was crazy! I had never felt like this ever before. You want something to happen yet you are hesitant. All I knew was I can’t look back now. So I started weighing my bags and doing the last moment stuff. I was surrounded by unlimited instructions of how I should take care of myself and how I need to be careful about my documents. I know my family was also going through the same fight inside them of various questions and answers. It was just that they all were hiding it better. I knew they were being strong for me.

Before leaving, I went to every room in my home, feeling the essence of my home. Every corner in the house had so many memories hidden. Those corners had witnessed me growing up into the person I am today. ‘Will I ever feel this homely again with any other place there in the States?’ I thought. ‘Now is not the time Aishwarya. It’s time to go. Don’t look back.’ I shook my thoughts away. I wanted a few seconds alone in my room. I sat on my bed and closed my eyes. I was always fascinated by traveling but at that moment I realized there is no other place like my own home. I opened my eyes and looked around. The silence felt good. I let it sink inside my mind. My mumma and my aunt suddenly appeared by my side. I did not notice them coming. I realized they had come to take me. I left my room quietly without saying a word. In the living room, my huge bags were waiting for me. I touched everyone’s feet. Tears rolled out of my grandfather’s eyes. My father hid his tears. I could understand that. I hugged Anish. I knew I was going to miss him the most. I stepped out of the house. Looked back once and saw the door closing behind me. I walked away to the elevator. We left for the Mumbai airport. All this happened unknowingly, I think. I was mostly silent for the whole journey.

The airport had arrived. My heart was beating loudly against my chest. The tears that I had held back started to roll down without my permission, as soon as baba hugged me. Then mumma came and kissed me on my cheek. Everyone had tears in their eyes. I missed Aau a lot at that moment. So did my grandfather. I could see it on his face.

The time had come. Instructions of ‘I-am-supposed-to-take-care-of-myself-and-my-personal-belongings’ began. I said yes to everything. There were so many things going on my mind that I could not even grasp. Everyone had their own set of instructions. I nodded to all of those. I was busy preparing myself to leave. I started walking towards the entrance without looking back. Anish called me out, he was shooting a video. I waved at the camera after wiping my tears. I kept looking back till the moment I lost sight of my loved ones.

To be continued…

CollabZ– Freelancer’s Hub

Team: Aishwarya & Manouj Kumar

Last Created: September 11, 2018

Last Updated: October 8, 2018

Our Design Process

The Beginning

The Breaking of Ice!

The Topic

Research

User Interviews

Modeling

Scenarios Leading to Design Solutions

Design Framework

The Beginning

Project #1: ‘Designing the Anti “Social” Network’

The aim of this project is to research and analyze existing social networks and related products/features and to propose the design of a new system or new feature to an existing system to:

• enhance the existing community
• enhance social interactions
• create a new community

This includes understanding the context for its use and how it compares to competitors and predecessors. Also thinking about products that are not direct competitors to the proposed solution but have aspects of their design that inform our own design.

Human Centered Design (HCD) techniques are employed to identify target stakeholders and users and their needs. Stakeholder mapping, interviewing, and competitive analysis are some of the things that are currently being used in Human Centered Design techniques.

The Breaking of Ice!

Started by brainstorming different ideas. Ideas that will end up will bring together people of the same likings, interests, professions or work, etc. This will give rise to the formation of social communities.

Nowadays, we are so stuck up with connecting to people in the online world that we don’t realise that real world connections or much more important and productive. They help you grow not only as an individual but also as a professional/personal opportunities seekers.

This brainstorming sessions helped understand what fields have scope of work where we can build communities. These ideas were further branched out into mind maps which will lead us to choose our topic and do secondary research on it.

The Topic

The topic we chose for this project is to bring freelancers together. There are so many people working as freelancers in the society around us. They are working on their own and always hunting for inspirations and oppurtunities around them.

We want to provide a solution for freelancers to come together, they will have the opportunity to work together, share skills, and even launch a startup. This win-win idea will also expand the community of freelancers.

Research

Design Precedents

We explored several freelancers websites and found relevant and even earlier example models. These websites provided useful information and also guided us in several ways.

We, as a team analyzed each websites based on their intended functionalities like

1. Social networking
2. Project management tool
3. Communication tools

Example websites: Facebook, LinkedIn

Initially, we focussed on applications that were used to enable interaction and communication among people. Then, with Professor Tran’s guidance, we identified the most closely related precedents.

There were applications for freelancers which enabled them to find jobs from clients directly. Example: Upwork, Fiverr.

Also, there were applications that helped freelancers interact with each other. Example: Collaborizm.

We analyzed each of these applications and figured that

1. They were all online based applications.
2. They were increasing the competition among freelancers.
3. Ultimately, they were actually degrading the value of freelancers.

In later classes, we were taught to identifying key advantages, pain points and potential growth regions of every precedents using a technique called Rose, Thorn and Bud respectively.

The Objective

The key objective of this project is to design a smartphone application which will enable freelancers to find other freelancers. It will allow a user to locate, speak to, form a group with other freelancers(users) from any part of the world.

The main goals of this application are:

● allow users to create a freelancer profile – add skills & portfolio.

● provide an option to find, filter and identify other freelancers.

● enable users to create a group – add, edit and manage members.

● chat with other freelancers.

● allow users to schedule a meeting with other freelancers.

The Problem Statements:

The main problem statements that are tackled in this project are

1. Lack of quality guidance from experienced freelancers.
2. Lack of collaboration, ultimately leading to lack of relevant information.
3. Little opportunity to work as a team.
4. No opportunity to grow as a self sustained business.

The Stakeholder Mapping:

Stakeholder mapping involves identifying, analysing and prioritising the people and organisations with a stake in your project features and performance. Initially this will assist you to determine project requirements and ultimately it will help you to manage and communicate with your stakeholders effectively.

Stakeholder mapping has been done with utmost importance to online and offline freelancers.

User Interviews

The Interview Questions:

The stake holders were identified and the interviewees selected. The following questions were prepared to get a better insight on the problem and on the possible solutions.

1. Have you ever felt the need of another freelancer to join with? When and what happened?
2. What do you feel about working with other freelancers? Do you feel that working along with others will increase your potential? (Will it do any good?)
3. What medium do you use to find other freelancers?
4. Will an app that enables you to identify, contact and meet other freelancers interest you? If yes, how will you use it?
5. Will you trust the people you find online?

The Interviews:

I interviewed three people from different skill background, domain and levels. The interviews were as follows.

Interview 1: 

Interviewee: Rishav Bisht, Founder of Keon designs, Pune.

Question: Was your transition from a freelancer to launching a start-up a smooth one? What were the troubles that you faced?

Rishav: Well! It wasn’t an easy transition. I need a lot of understanding of various factors that are needed to start a company. I was also lacking various skill sets. It was challenging to keep myself updated with the current trends in the market.

Question: What do you consider as the most important factor that enabled you to build your start-up?

Rishav: I was doing great as a freelancer. I got orders from several big clients. I then re-distributed these orders to other freelancers within my locality. This way, I was able to achieve more. I will attribute the launch of this company to my motive to do something big and to all the freelancers who helped me through this.

Question: How did you manage to find freelancers within your locality? Was it easier?

Rishav: It was again a pain in the back. As I mentioned before, building a team requires us to know a lot of people. Fortunately, I knew some people from facebook who joined hands with me.

Question: How about an app that  will allow you to find genuine freelancers, of any skill set within your locality? Would that have helped you?

Rishav: Definitely. I relied on replies from my posts in facebook to find people. Until the app shows genuine freelancers, I will definitely go for it.

Interview 2:

Interviewee: Radhika, Freelance designer

Question: Will working along with other freelance designers help you?

Radhika: Being a new freelance designer, I need a lot of exposure and motivation from the experienced. I think that working along with them will be really helpful to me.

Question: There are several applications that will allow you to collaborate with other freelancers. Which one do you prefer?

Radhika: There indeed are several useful websites and applications. I mostly use Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with my fellow freelancers. Though it is a more generic platform, they get my job done.

Question: What are the difficulties that you face when you use generic social networking sites for finding people to collaborate with?

Radhika: One difficulty that I face is collaborating online. It becomes difficult to collaborate online always and discuss ideas.

Interview 3:

Interviewee: Deb, Freelancer

Question: Have you ever felt the need of another freelancer to join with? When and what happened?

Deb: Yes, a developer or a copywriter, content strategist. Some connections went really well; others not so well. Some were flat-out disasters. Unreliable, uncommunicative, missing deadlines, poor code, etc. Lots of delayed projects and lost money.

Question: What do you feel about working with other freelancers? Do you feel that working along with others will increase your potential? (Will it do any good?)

Deb: It depends on the other freelancer. If the match is good, it works out to to be mutually beneficial. If not, it can turn into a disaster very quickly. Setting expectations is one thing; being able to know 100% that someone can meet them is another story. People say they can do X and then they don’t. I’ve had success with a few people and once I find them, I stay with them. I don’t go looking for new people. It’s too much work to look for different people; too much time and energy.

Question: What medium do you use to find other freelancers?

Deb: Word of mouth. I’ve asked on Twitter, LinkedIN, Facebook, other private Slack groups … AIGA. I stay away from freelance websites. I generally don’t trust them.

Question: Will an app that enables you to identify, contact and meet other freelancers interest you? If yes, how will you use it?

Deb: Wow, that depends on a lot of things. It has to be thoroughly vetted; meaning, I would prefer a site that has a lot of hurdles to get listed than just being open to anyone who learned HTML and CSS on the side. A lot is at stake (clients, budgets, reputation, etc.) For me to go with a totally unknown person … Huge chance/risk.

Question: Will you trust the people you find online?

Deb: I don’t trust anyone I meet online for the first time. People I want to work with must have credibility / references and a strong portfolio of work. I’d want client testimonials and a sense of who they are … If they are newbies, first-timers, I would request a small job as a test/trial and build from there.

Interview Insights:

I interviewed three people from different skill background, domain and levels. Based on the interviews, the following insights were derived.

1. All the stakeholders reacted positively when asked about collaborating with other freelancers. They see this as a chance to share interests and to grow as a group.
2. Student freelancers particularly were eager in meeting other freelancers. They seek guidance from experienced individuals
3. Doing more work means better freelancer ratings. Some freelancers seek help from another person of the same skill set to split tasks and to ultimately do more work. They are willing to share the profits. However, the issue of trust exists.
4. Designers love to meet other designers –  to collaborate, expand their skills and to build their business.
5. Startup ideators feel that this will be a good platform to find/recruit other freelancers.

Modeling

Empathy mapping

An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to 1) create a shared understanding of user needs, and 2) aid in decision making.

Traditional empathy maps are split into 4 quadrants (Sees, Thinks, Does, and Feels), with the user or persona in the middle. Empathy maps provide a glance into who a user is as a whole and are not chronological or sequential.

Personas

Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas will help you to understand your users’ needs, experiences, behaviours and goals.

Creating personas can help you step out of yourself. It can help you to recognise that different people have different needs and expectations, and it can also help you to identify with the user you’re designing for. Personas make the design task at hand less complex, they guide your ideation processes, and they can help you to achieve the goal of creating a good user experience for your target user group.

Concept Poster

Concept Map

A concept map is a type of graphic organizer used to help students organize and represent knowledge of a subject. Concept maps begin with a main idea (or concept) and then branch out to show how that main idea can be broken down into specific topics.

Scenarios Leading to Design Solution

A scenario is a description of a persona using a product to achieve a goal, they describe an instance of use…in context. Scenarios are usually narratives that tell a story describing one or more tasks in a specific environmental situation.

Design Framework

User Flows

User flow is the path taken by a prototypical user on a website or app to complete a task. The user flow takes them from their entry point through a set of steps towards a successful outcome and final action, such as completing a certain task on an app.

The design of this application involves two kinds of users. One is the collaboration initiator, the one who posts and the other is the responder to the post. Both of them are freelancers. However, the flow of actions in the application for each of them varies.

User flow 1: The above chart represents the user flow from the responder’s perspective.

User flow 2: The above flow chart represents the user flow from a collaboration initiator’s perspective.

The Wireframes

A wireframe, also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. Wireframes are created for the purpose of arranging elements to best accomplish a particular purpose.

After designing the flow, we created a low-fidelity wireframe of the application’s interface. This included the basic actions by the user who is posting the collaboration invite.

Link to wireframe:  Click here

We presented these wireframes to Professor Tran and Professor Clay during class, which helped us get more insights. This led to making of the prototype.

The Prototype

A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming.

After jotting down the insights from Professor Clay and Professor Tran, we came up with this prototype which could serve as a solution to the freelancers for their collaboration needs.

Link to prototype: Click Here