MedPals
Empowering Teens to Manage Medication with a Virtual Companion
MedPals is a mobile application designed to help teenagers and young adults develop consistent medication routines by combining practical reminders with an engaging virtual pet reward system. I collaborated with my mentee on this project to guide her through the entire product design lifecycle
Role(s)
Product Design, Strategy, Design System
Timeline
~3 months
Dates
May - Aug 2023
What's the problem?
Adolescents often struggle with adhering to medication schedules, which can impact their health and independence. Recognizing the need for a solution that resonates with this age group, we embarked on creating MedPals—a user-friendly app that not only tracks medication but also motivates users through interactive rewards. Teenagers frequently miss doses of their prescribed medications due to forgetfulness or lack of motivation, leading to potential health risks and ineffective treatment outcomes.
Goals
Encourage independence in teens and young adults in order to take vitamins
App should be easy to use and understand, regardless of age or level of technical skills
The app should be engaging and motivating, helping users stay on track with their medication routine
Help kids build a healthy routine
User Personas
Who is this for?
After online research, we went ahead and created user personas to help us empathize with our target users. We saw 2 main users for this app - the teenager managing their medication and the guardian overseeing their health.
Competitive Analysis
Who is doing what we’re trying to do?
Next, we performed a competitive analysis between 3 medicine reminder apps that are already on the market in order to identify strengths and gaps. We noted the lack of an engaging reward systems tailored for a younger audience.
Information Architecture
Let's figure out where everything goes
This diagram was created to organize our pages, so that we could ensure usability and findability. Overall, it helped as we designed the lo-fi screens.
LoFi Wireframes
It’s a rough sketch, I know
This was our chance to get all the ideas down in our head really quickly. These wireframes represent a clear overview of the page structure, its layout, architecture, flow and functionality. We went through a couple of exercises like Crazy 8’s and went through different iterations of page designs.
MidFi Wireframes
Okay, a little better now
This is where we took our sketches and started figuring out the design digitally, figuring out a color scheme that would work for our app. From here, we identified a few areas of improvements that we couldn’t see just from the paper wireframes.
Design System
Creating a style guide
I established a cohesive design system to maintain consistency, especially crucial for remote collaboration. This style guide became our new compass throughout high-fidelity mockups and the prototype.
The Final Product
High-Fidelity Prototype
Challenges and Learnings
Initial designs proceeded without direct user interviews, relying solely on online research.
Lack of defined requirements led to extended iteration cycles.
Recognized the importance of setting clear schedules to maintain project momentum.