Our role:
User Experience Strategy
User Interface
About:
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal diseases. IBS, in the absence of any other causative disease, is defined as the presence of abdominal pain or discomfort with altered bowel habits. In the United States, the research shows that an estimated 10-15 percent of the adult population suffers from IBS symptoms, yet only 5 to 7 percent of adults have been diagnosed with the disease. IBS can have a substantial impact on patients' lives and even though most patients do a significant amount of suffering, they do not seek care. IBS symptoms can disrupt patients' daily lives causing them to miss school or work, reduce social activities and interactions, skip meals, or make other changes to diet and nutrition. Consumer surveys have established that IBS is a major reason for increased absences and reduced productivity. Overall, patients who have untreated IBS report significant reductions in their overall quality-of-life.
Our team was tasked with creating a digital product for adult IBS sufferers to learn more about IBS, track and reduce symptoms, make eating fun again, find community, and increase their quality of life.
Problem/Challenge:
Our team wants to learn about what information the common IBS sufferer knows about the syndrome, how adult IBS sufferers currently track and manage their symptoms, including the use of digital tools, and what goals they are trying to achieve using the tools. We want to determine what opportunities and needs might exist for new IBS products so that we can use these findings to help us shape the direction we take in developing our product. Our team wants to learn about how IBS adult sufferers use digital tools to increase their quality of life. We want to understand the user, who they are, their lifestyle, and if they would be interested in using our app.
Project Goals:
Design a simple, intuitive and functional desktop and app interface.
Learn more about the product and discover new ways to create a cleaner, cohesive experience.
Create agility to share and communicate with others in the IBS community.
Research Method:
The research was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative data. I sent out a 20-question survey to members in various IBS support groups and based on our criteria, selected a few individuals to conduct a video semi-structured interview to gather in-depth qualitative data.
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