Medium Post #9 — (11/2–11/6) — Content + Typography Exploration
Developing Content
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FO87gaf0pWLML2Q1YKzKixutN37R1MNj2gO3k3JgO_o/edit
This week we focused on developing the content to be included in the booklet template. For the diagnosis information section of the booklet, we wanted to emphasize the simplification of medical terminology to make it more understandable to older adult patients. Because the information will be extracted from the patient’s electronic health record, we decided to include a simplified explanation of the diagnosis, symptoms, the patient’s historic conditions, and a glossary of medical information.
For the glossary, we took inspiration from Abridge and how they are approaching improving health literacy for patients. Abridge uses machine learning technology to record conversations between patients and doctors, and uses the recording to extract medical terminology and provide simplified definitions of the complex terms. Because Abridge is only accessible to people with smartphones, we saw that there was an opportunity to extend this solution to older adult patients who may reject technology. Taking inspiration from Abridge, we want to take their principle of simplified definitions and translate them into a glossary with relevant terms to the patient’s diagnosis that uses large, accessible print for older adult patients with low vision.
Updated flat plan + User Flow
After discussing how we could incorporate or be inspired by Abridge, we decided to replace the notes section we previously had for patients to use during appointments, and put doctor’s notes there instead. Our rationale was that doctor’s usually take notes during appointments anyways, and they are usually printed out and given to the patient afterwards. Instead of asking patients to do extra work, we could just provide a designated space for doctor’s notes so patients can come back and reference them easily by date or appointment. This also incentivizes patients to hold on to their doctor’s notes, rather than just throwing them away or accidentally losing them.
Another point that came up in our discussion on Monday was the issue of price. We originally wanted to bind and mail our booklets to patients after their appointments were done; however, Kristin pointed out that this would likely be expensive, and it’s likely that neither the patients nor the healthcare center would want to pay for it. Additionally, there’s less context for the booklet if it arrives in the mail, and a key function (the storage of loose leaf information or pamphlets) wouldn’t be able to be used during the first appointment. We acknowledged that our solution would have to be able to be made during the first appointment in order to be most effective and cost-efficient, so we changed the format to be much more simple. Instead of having a bound booklet, we will use a folder with brads to “bind” the content, and all of the templates would be printed out on standard letter-sized paper. This approach is simple and inexpensive, and also allows for the adding of more content each time there’s an appointment. Unfortunately, it also adds constraints to the complexity of what we can do — for example, we won’t be able to do a fold-out calendar anymore.
Typography Exploration
https://mattjensenmarketing.com/choosing-fonts-cataract-patients/
After reading this article, we were able to search for fonts that met the requirements of having consistent strokes, high contrast (thick weights), and tall x-height. We found it interesting that serifs were recommended, especially for body text. We were surprised that serifs are preferred since they are able to tell the eyes where a letter begins and ends. Serifs practically “direct our eye traffic as we dig into longer copy.” On top of these characteristics, considering leading and tracking in our type system is very critical since legibility can be compromised. Also, sticking to light backgrounds with dark texts will help the text to not seem thinner than they actually are.
For this week, we first explored different types of fonts and tried pairing san serifs and serifs together. Our team wanted to utilize san serif fonts for the header while serifs would be used for body text. After finding font options for both the header and body text, we started to explore what pairings would look best.
We really liked the last two options (Type System 3 & 4), which uses Robot Bold+Lora Medium & Roboto Bold+Roboto Slab Regular.
