Memo — Applying Lean UX Principles to Design a Memory Rehabilitation Application
- dilakshakya
- Mar 17, 2024
- 8 min read
Introduction to the Project
The project was an assignment for the “Interaction Design Studio” subject while studying Masters of Interaction Design at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
The basis for our product is the Making the Most of Your Memory training program, which is used across several countries and has been published in a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles. Created by clinical neuropsychologists Laurie Miller and Kylie Radford, this program aims to improve the lives of people affected by memory loss, often due to stroke or epilepsy. The six-week program aims to teach patients various memory rehabilitation strategies, lifestyle considerations and psychoeducation to compensate for their memory deficits and empower them to lead higher-quality lives with greater independence. The program has robust, clinically proven outcomes for memory loss patients, but it lacks accessibility and personalisation.
Our application Memo aims to improve the delivery and accessibility of the ‘making the most of your memory’ training program through technology. Our team has designed one one-stop solution that enables patients to complete the program from the comfort of their homes. It allows them to overcome barriers limiting patients from completing it in person. At the same time, our application aims to improve the clinician’s ability to effectively teach the program, providing a better outcome for the patient.
Total Team Members: 5
Timeframe: 12 weeks (4 sprints)
My role: UX Research (2 User Interviews, 1 Persona, Heuristic Evaluation, Affinity Diagram), UI Design (Sketches, Wireframe, Prototype)
Note:
After completing our university, my teammates transformed our assignment into a new venture: MemoRehab. By leveraging the insights and methodologies developed during this capstone assignment, MemoRehab offers tailored solutions to enhance memory and attention. Visit their website here to stay updated on MemoRehab's latest breakthroughs and offerings.
The Process
The subject required us to follow a Lean UX approach and agile design method. But what is Lean UX, and how is it different from traditional UX? Both approaches have the same goal: to provide users with a seamless experience, but how we work on the project differs. To explain in other words, unlike traditional UX, Lean UX focuses on rapid delivery of outcomes, a greater level of collaboration between team members, and removing waste of time and effort by getting feedback as early as possible in the design process so that we can make quick decisions. Furthermore, traditional UX is more focused on requirement gathering from the early stages so that the delivered product is as detailed as possible. Lean UX is different because it ditches requirements and uses assumptions to create a hypothesis. The assumptions may not be correct, but the idea is that assumptions can be changed during the project design process as we build a better understanding.
Lean UX Process (Source: https://www.plainconcepts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lean-ux-cycle-1.png)
1. Think Phases
Problem Statement
Around 50 million people are suffering from epilepsy worldwide. Even if one gets past the seizures caused by it, the after-effects can still be seen hindering the daily activities of the patients who have recovered or are in the process of recovery. Memory issues can be commonly seen among them. Several programs are available to assist with memory rehabilitation for people suffering from memory problems after epileptic episodes. During the pre-pandemic era, these rehabilitation programs were observed to be delivered in person. Still, the contemporary situation calls for a digitized solution to remove the roadblocks so patients can live healthy and confident lives.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is created in Lean UX to test our assumption. A hypothesis is created based on why our product is essential, who it will be necessary to, and what we expect to achieve. As the design progresses, we collect evidence to prove our belief is true. If we cannot find the evidence, we improvise and change our hypothesis, which might lead us in the wrong direction.
We created two hypotheses targeting both user bases.
Patient
Improved self-efficacy for memory and greater independence can be achieved for individuals suffering from neurological conditions if patients can:
Access rehabilitation rehabilitation remotely;
Practice memory-related exercises;
Track memory-related improvements;
Neuropsychologist
Higher-quality memory rehabilitation can be delivered if neuropsychologists can:
Deliver sessions to remote patients;
Improve interaction with patients;
Access quality feedback about patient progress;
Persona
We created two personas in the thinking phase. The traditional UX approach generally created personas based on the interview participants. However, as we were using Lean UX, we had not interviewed any participants yet for the rapid design process. Both personas were created based on assumptions and hypotheses. They were iterated and improvised during each sprint, and only in the check phase we verified our personas with the end user.
Patient Persona
Neuropsychologist Persona
Comparative Analysis
To ensure we had a unique and marketable product offering that would cover our users' needs, we assessed several relevant reference products to our application, such as Coviu, Quenza, Luminosity, MindMate, etc.
We considered whether these products allowed for video conferencing (which would improve accessibility), were personalised (to improve motivation and effectiveness), dual-facing (to improve the user experience of both the patient and clinician), provided feedback on progress (to track and motivate patients) and delivered notifications or reminders (to assist patient memory).
So what makes us different from the other products? Memo provides an all-in-one, clinically proven program used internationally at well-accredited hospitals. It is accessible to patients regardless of geographical, physical, or familial barriers, with dual-facing video conferencing software for the clinician and the patient, as well as specially designed memory exercises to help patients practice memory strategies taught in the program. It also updates patients and clinicians on progress and prompts patients to remember to attend sessions, perform exercise, and complete homework.
Comparative Analysis
2. Make Phases
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
We are aiming to cut waste and minimize our work in Lean UX. Hence, we aimed to create the smallest end product with only a list of working features that could be used to test the validity of our hypothesis. We decided to create an MVP with four features to quickly and cheaply test whether our product is worth investing time and money in the early stage of our design process.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Sketches
As we moved forward in the make phase, we started to create sketches to lay down the ideas on how the interface of the application's key features might look. Sketching allowed us to communicate design ideas between team members and iterate upon multiple ideas before settling on one. Team members sat together and drew multiple sketches demonstrating how features can be implemented in our application.
Paper Wireframe
Wireframe
Wireframes are helpful in the early stages of the development process when brainstorming and establishing the application structure before the visual design and content are added. The team gathered to draw wireframes focusing on the application's features. The wireframes focused on the core feature sets of the application, such as courses offered, memory games, goal setting, notifications, etc.
Digital Wireframe
Prototype
After settling on our design decision using the wireframes, our team started creating a high-fidelity prototype along with interactions using Figma. The high-fidelity prototype communicated our design idea to our users and tutors. It was also used to perform user testing. You can see a few snaps of the prototype here or follow the link below to test it.
Link to prototype:
Prototype of the Application
3. Check Phase
Expert Interviews / Usability Testing
A total of 10 neuropsychologists were interviewed to gather data for the project. Four were already involved in the “Making the most out of your Memory” program, while six were novel to the project. Unfortunately, patients could not be interviewed for reasons of privacy and ethics approval. However, the neuropsychologists we interviewed were asked to provide relevant information and evaluate our hypothesis on behalf of the patients.
Heuristic Evaluation
We asked our interview participants to use the prototype we had designed to conduct usability testing by using the ten heuristic evaluation principles created by NN Group and finding usability problems in our design. Each participant was asked to complete four scenarios in the application. The evaluator closely followed the participants' interactions on each page and evaluated it using the ten usability heuristics. We acknowledged what went well and utilised them more in the next sprint, whereas we improved upon the negative points. Below is a sample of 1 of the four scenarios of our heuristic evaluation.
Heuristic Evaluation of Memo Application
Affinity Diagram and Interview Findings
After the individual interviews, our team created an affinity diagram. The affinity diagram made it easier to combine all of our findings, and sort, extract, and display data to get a holistic picture of these findings. As we had never met or interviewed the end users until this stage, the group was curious about the findings the interviews would reveal. Here are the findings based on our interviews and affinity diagram:
Features: Pre-session videos should consist of short animated videos which are segmented and easy to follow. Lifestyle and motivational factors should be considered when implementing this.
Accessibility: The program should consider social barriers to engaging with people online and thus allow people to turn their cameras off. Also, the program should have an offline mode due to poor internet in some areas.
Reminders: Reminders should be automated phone calls or SMS messages to prompt homework. The frequency at which these prompts should be delivered will depend on the severity of memory loss (i.e., more severe memory loss will require frequent notifications).
Technology: The program should aim to emulate the simplicity of Zoom-type interfaces to overcome the limitations of technological literacy. Furthermore, the program should include features that allow neuropsychologists to support patients who need troubleshooting with tech issues.
Social Interaction: The program should include much more social interaction and peer support by allowing patients to familiarise themselves with one another and share experiences, perhaps through icebreakers and break-out discussion rooms.
Persona: Patient persona should be updated to include how far they live from a clinic to reflect accessibility issues, while injuries should include stroke, epilepsy and head injury. The neuropsychologist persona should range between 40 and 50 years of age, and it may be updated to include their involvement in creating the program.
Dashboard: A dashboard for clinicians should allow them to see patient diagnosis, clinical history, age, contact details, and progress. Furthermore, progress-tracking displays should have visually pleasing graphs and figures, allowing easy feedback interpretation. Lastly, feedback should show patients their progress to increase motivation.
Patient Engagement: The program should increase motivation and engagement by incorporating conversation and questions, more patient interaction, and mitigating external distractions. Furthermore, improvements should be visible to patients as they progress, although patient performance comparisons should be avoided (patients only).
Design Considerations: Exercises should be tailored to individuals based on severity, segments should be shorter to accommodate co-morbid attentional issues, simple visual designs should be prioritized over text, items should be large and easy to click to overcome co-morbid motor deficits, layout should be simple to overcome general comorbid cognitive issues.
Affinity Diagram from the Interviews
Summary
Lean UX is a marvellous technique and approach to the UX process, focusing more on the outcome of the designed experience and not the final deliverable. It also propels the team to work more collaboratively, resulting in quicker decision-making.
While the traditional UX approach is to set thorough and detailed requirements and goals from the beginning of the project, I found Lean UX to be more flexible, experimental and adaptive to changes that allow continuous delivery. I felt that Lean UX is useful for getting the work done faster by focusing less on deliverables and documentation and more on designing the experience.