UX/UI Case Study: Sanjeevani App Design (Donate your leftover medicines)
Introduction
Hello, my name is Bhumika, I am currently a freelance UX/UI designer from New Delhi, India. This case study is the result of my periodic room cleaning. One day, while cleaning my drawers, I found some leftover medications which were prescribed to me when I tested positive for Covid-19, back in April 2021. I felt bad and started wondering how a lot of those medicines could have been life-saving for someone in need. I tried to donate them as they were not yet expired, but couldn’t find any reliable platform. Hence, Sanjeevani was born.
In Hinduism, it is believed that the sanjeevani herb can bring a dead person to life. When in the epic Ramayana and Ramcharit Manas, Laxman became unconscious while fighting Meghnath, the eldest son of demon king Ravana, it was sanjeevani that brought him back to life.
Overview
Sanjeevani is a citizen-led, non-profit initiative to collect unexpired leftover medicines and to provide them to those with neither access nor affordability.
Last year, COVID-19 happened, and the world just stopped. No one was prepared for a pandemic. Coronavirus affected all our lives, but it’s the unprivileged people who suffered the most. During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, people were begging for oxygen and essential medications. The demand was way more than the supply in the market. People were desperate and were ready to pay thrice the amount on medicines to save their loved ones from the virus. Unfortunately, not everyone is privileged enough to pay so much for basic medicines like multivitamins or paracetamols.
We at Sanjeevani aim to provide free medications and health supplies to the needy and unprivileged.
Project Duration
September 2021-October 2021
The Problem
People are often clueless about what to do with the leftover medicines lying around the house. According to my assumptions, people do either of the following to the leftover meds:
- Forget about them and discover them way after their expiration date has passed.
- Keep them stored for “in case we need it again”- which is inappropriate as many medicines lose their potency due to temperature and moisture. Not to mention, improper handling might end up poisoning children and pets.
- Throw them in the trash, from where they may end up polluting the water bodies and/or land as some pharmaceutical agents are too harsh on the environment.
- Try to return the extra medicines to the chemist, which chemists don’t really accept as it is not ideal.
The Goal
Design a platform for people to donate their unused, unexpired medicines and medical equipment to help the needy and reduce medical waste.
My Design Process
I divided my game plan into 5 distinct phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Phase 1: Empathize
So before jumping into designing what I had in mind, I had to gain a fair amount of knowledge of the situation.
Primary Research:
I prepared a survey with Google Forms and distributed it among multiple social media platforms. The purpose was to determine the basic ‘pain points’ of people when it comes to handling leftover medicines. Working with real-world data was essential to solve this problem. Here are key some findings:
The survey was successful, but I still felt the need for qualitative research. So, I decided to conduct user interviews, via Zoom calls, FaceTime and Whatsapp video calls for in-depth information on people’s opinions and feelings. The interview group consisted of 2 males, 2 females and 1 non-binary participant.
Secondary Research:
I read articles and blogs from sources like rewriteyourscript.org and https://mumbai.citizenmatters.in/ to dig deeper.
Quotes Directly from Users:
“My family basically inhales medicines, there are so many extra medicines just lying around my house as we speak.”
“I rarely ever complete the full course of medication. They mostly go to waste.”
“I notice that poor/rural people don’t care much about their health and assume that medicines would cost a lot and hence don’t get meds unless they are free.”
“I believe that sanitary pads are something that should be donated because they don’t need prescription and have serious health issues related to it.”
“I’m worried that if I donate a medicine and they react badly for someone, I will be held accountable.”
“The biggest headache is figuring out if the donation campaign is genuine or not.”
User Pain Points:
- There is a lack of awareness regarding donating medicines. Users mostly think about donating money, clothes and food.
- Users are afraid that medicines might be tampered with, especially syrups. Users are scared to donate medicines as it is a huge responsibility on their end.
- Online Donation processes are often long, complicated and confusing.
Phase 2: Define
User Persona:
Based on research, I created user personas for a realistic representation of our key users.
User Journey:
Next, I crafted a user journey map to help create an obstacle-free path for users.
Value Propositions:
Value propositions of the Sanjeevani app are as follows-
- Easy-to-use app design
- No hidden charges
- Direct donation to charities, NGOs, Gurudwaras, etc
- Background checks of donors as well as recipients (through Aadhar cards, PAN cards, prescriptions, etc)
- Exclusively for unused, unexpired, leftover medications
- Home pick-up of donation is available
- Drop-off collection centres available
- E-mail confirmation of a successful donation
Phase 3: Ideate
Competitive Audit:
To build a successful app experience, I had to identify my key competitors, review their products, understand how they position themselves in the market, examine what they do well and what they could do better.
To be thorough, I included 3 direct and 3 indirect competitors to my app.
- Direct Competitors:
- Indirect Competitors:
After a successful and thorough competitive audit, I was able to notice a few gaps in the market:
- None of the competitors has a mobile application (this is a major game-changer and a huge opportunity).
- Only a few competitors offer home pick-ups.
- The majority of our competitors do not have an easy user flow and easy navigation.
User Flow:
The entire app flow
Wireframes:
Paper Wireframes: Based on the user flow, I created a few screens on paper:
Digital Wireframes:
Phase 4: Prototype
Low-Fidelity Prototype:
Mockups:
High-Fidelity Prototype:
Phase 5: Test
Usability Study:
Usability Study was essential to assess how easy it is for participants to complete core tasks in the design. I conducted moderated usability study because I wanted to observe users’ reactions firsthand.
I conducted two rounds of usability studies.
- Usability Study 1: Sign In Process
The first usability study revealed frustration with the sign-in flow. To streamline this flow, I made a few changes where entering OTP has a whole other screen.
- Usability Study 2: Donation Form
Early designs allowed for users to fill “medicine details”, but after the usability studies, I changed it to “Donation Details” and also made a few small changes by replacing the word “medicine” with “item” since the form allows users to donate medical equipment and health products as well.
During the second usability study, this minor inconvenience came to light. The majority of users were not sure about the item weight and were not comfortable filling out the landmark text field, which revealed frustration. To streamline this flow, I added the red asterisk (*) to the compulsory fields. I also rearranged some data according to its significance to the donation and removed the landmark text field.
Accessibility considerations:
- Each colour used in the design is verified by the WebAIM: Contrast Checker.
- Used icons to help make navigation easier.
- Used illustrations and pictures to help all users better understand the designs.
Result
Going Forward
Takeaways:
Impact-
The app makes users feel like Sanjeevani really thinks about how to meet their needs.
One quote from peer feedback:
“The app made it so easy and fun to donate unused medicines. I would really appreciate such platform. There are quite a few unused medicines in my home and I would prefer donating them instead of throwing them away.”
What I learned-
While designing the Sanjeevani app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next Steps:
- Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
- Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.
Future Scope:
- We can try to develop a feature where a person can ask for medicines through the application and get them home delivered because as of now, the recipients have to visit the collection centres physically with the valid prescription and ID proof.
- Voice assistance for managing the app will be very helpful.
- We can make widgets for this app.
Outcome
In this project, I just tried to design a concept that I had in my mind based on self-observation. The results might be different when the actual product is presented to the end-user and there might be some new challenges that people might face. In that case, I would need to reiterate the prototype.
This is my first case study and the project is completely fictional. As a beginner, I tried my best to create and explain the idea behind the app. I had a lot of fun completing the project and I look forward to feedback. Thank you for reading.
