Prototype: Feedback and lessons learned

One of the most important lessons learned from presenting my prototype was that people were most curious to see how I had tested the elements of this direction. While that is definitely the first valid question people had, I found other smaller details which stood out to me as important in going forward in my second research phase. Some aspects of the prototype in detail and my reflections on people’s reactions to it:

• The main feature of the app, journaling, by the patient was designed after noticing it as a very common habit amongst people living with MS. It turns out they are continuously writing things down, putting how they are feeling on social media and journaling in some form, simply as a matter of expressing themselves. In many cases, people called it cathartic and so a lot of them turn to their phones or diaries to write down how they have been feeling, in both good times and bad. Therefore, building in a feature to facilitate the habit of writing down their symptoms and recording it for reflection later was a questioned and tested behavior.
• The feedback questions in regards to if an app is the best solution for this audience is interesting to me. My earliest interviews with people living with MS included questions regarding how much technology is a part of their lives. Turns out, quite a bit. People turn to Google for all symptoms, big or small. They are part of online communities and groups which allows them to find out more about how other people are dealing with similar stuff that they are. They rely on their phones for an outlet from the social isolation they are feeling. All of these observations, questions and responses from patients led me to take a digital direction on the first prototype.
• People generally took well to the design of the app, although it is a very primary direction of what I imagine the interface to look like, it is by no means a final direction. However, I do understand that people take to friendlier and conversational designs, which I found to be the case in a lot of the feedback I received.
• The questions surrounding if the information is too personal to be shared with the person who is viewing on the other end is also something I am considering very seriously. The overall thought behind that feature is that upon setting up this app, the patient identifies and establishes a network of supporters. This network can include their spouses, children or anyone else acting as a caregiver to the person living with MS. Through interviewing, I have found that often this information regarding moods and feelings, is often left unsaid/untold in the day-to-day interactions between patients and their network. This is not because of any one side’s fault but simply that people with MS do not often have the energy to exactly tell people how they are feeling.
  Their moods and energy sees swings and people around them are often unable to keep up with identifying how their loved one must be feeling at a given time. this is a tricky interaction to build simply because of concerns surrounding oversharing of personal information but it tackles a problem which often causes misunderstanding between the patient and their network anyway. An example of trying to handle this is a story of a patient I saw online in which she leaves a particular color of sticky notes out for her family of husband, kids and other close friends, signaling how she may be feeling for the day. So for instance, if her kids saw a red sticky note on the fridge when they come back from school, they will know now to be too loud in the house today as mom is not feeling well. Whereas a yellow sticky note would mean that she needs her space but would be able to work with them after some rest and a blue sticky note means that she is feeling good that day. I see an opportunity in that sort of communication and modeled my first prototype as such, only this is a more detailed way of figuring out why the patient might be feeling good or bad and then taking a step further to educate the supporters on how to reduce the stress of bad days and to enhance the positivity on the good days.

Overall, I am ready to take the feedback that I received on my first direction and use it to shape how I am approaching the next phase of research. This will include a more detailed approach to mediums and successful interactions that are existing in the MS community.