immunization summary

context

Data Visualization Optimized for Tablet

Immunization Summary is an app put out by the World Health Organization in conjuncture with UNICEF, and is a collection of the WHO’s data and is used as a reference for immunization preventable disease and the effectiveness of vaccines across the globe.

The app is intended for visualizing international vaccination statistics in the form of graphs, maps, and tables. Publications on this data, along with policies, activities, and the impact of national immunization systems is also accessible in the app. The Immunization Summary app is available for free in The App Store. 

overview

Goal

Redesign the World Health Organization’s Immunization Summary app, optimizing the app for a mobile device, (i.e. cell phone or tablet). The designs should be testable, and iterations made based on user feedback.

Challenge

The WHO together with UNICEF collects data on vaccine preventable diseases and would like to make this information easily accessible to the public via mobil App. The current App lacks a related brand icon, interactive features, and visual appeal. The redesigned app needs have clear branding referencing the WHO, easy navigation, and include an interactive feature.

The biggest challenge will be understanding who would access this data via an mobile device when they could just as easily open a laptop and reference the WHO’s website.

problem statement

The Immunization Summary App suffers from a confusing icon, app layout, and navigation that is neither intuitive nor optimized for mobile device; preventing the user from easily refferencing the supplied data.

solution statement

By redesigning the app to visually communicate the app’s purpose and value, implementing a more intuitive user flow, and interactive features; users will be more inclined to engage the app to inform, demonstrate, and learn about global health data and the WHO’s brand.

Process

1. ID Users
   Identify the potential downloaders of this app.
   

2. Research the Problem
   Research the analytics available on the App Store's site page.
   Conduct interviews with the app's potential users.
   

3. Organize the Information and Design the Solution
   Develop a solution to the apps branding and UI issues by renaming the app to reflect the World Health Organization's affiliation.
   Redesign the icon.
   Add an interactive feature and improved UI to the existing graph.
   

4. Prototype and Test the Solution
   Design and test a low-fi paper prototype and a hi-fi prototype using inVision.
   Test the new interactive feature and app navigation with medical research participants.
   

5. Iterate on the design
   Make iterations based on user feedback to improve the apps accessibility.

deep dive

research

Q 1: Who is downloading this app?

A 1: Parents
According to the App Store analytics, most users who had downloaded the app were looking for vaccination schedules; not a statistical app with graphing features.

A 2: The branding message of the icon is incongruent with the app’s purpose.

The current icon for the app projects the message of child care more than global health statistics; or graphs, or charts, or any of the apps core features. There were no reviews for the app from users, and it was grouped with other apps that were for tracking a child’s immunizations, and immunization schedules for other countries.

Q 3. Why is the app so difficult to navigate?

A 3: Repetitive information architecture, resulting in an arduous user flow experience.
The app’s information architecture also differs from tablet to cell phone, is very complex, and lacks visual appeal.

To understand how to transform this app, I broke down our business and potential user goals as follows:

Business Goals:

• Promote the WHO's brand as a leading authority on global research

• Improving global health

• Educate people about global health issues

• Provide easy access to global health data

Information Architecture

User testing of the site was preformed on professional medical researchers to test out the features our primary persona would want. Testing for the secondary user was done on students/learners.

The original site map was very confusing for users. When the user entered the app there were five different primary navigation options and two sub-navigation options.

To reach a graphic representation of any information within the app, the user needed to go through three to four screens, indicating which selectors they wanted before the graph was produced as represented by the screens in red:

The only interactive parts of the original app were the map screens as shown here in green:

The countries were listed in alphabetical order on several pages of the app as seen in yellow:

Their indicators were separated out across several screens that users needed to navigate through, as shown in peach, and a publications page, purple:

While navigating through the app, the user would go through a minimum of three different steps, or pages (sometimes four) before producing a graph. The user would also land on the same page multiple times throughout the app, depending on the chosen route. The app needed a more intuitive route to the graph view.

As indicated by the colors, none of the original navigation options were removed. They were all condensed into two easy to navigate screen options. 

Design

The apps new name and icon were produced using a “Design Studio” method. This involved a very rapid create, pitch, critique outline. The entire process took less than 15 minutes, including discussion time and deciding on a final logo and app name.

testing

Based on research, it was determined this app would best serve two primary user personas:

An initial low-fi prototype was used to test the user flow of the new navigation using Invision.

Low-fi prototype page views

iterations

Changes were made to the UI and a hi-fi prototype created to measure the functionality of the new app layout and navigation based on my information architecture and new interactive graph features.

project Management

Organization

My team agreement included an open communication strategy that focused on reaching out immediately for help and addressing any potential misunderstandings directly and in the moment.  As tasks arose that spoke to a strength of one of my team members, I supported them as they took on the goal. We had daily standup meetings and I kept track of our daily progress using a Trello® board. We also used Google Docs and Calendar to communicate, share work, and set our daily goals.

Team Dynamic

When it came to differences of opinion on features, we agreed to refer to our business needs and user needs as a guide. If the item up for debate met both criteria, we would then move on to testing.

User testing was the most effective tool, as it reveals the prefered choice after just a few test users. 

next steps

recommendations

• Conduct followup research with primary users

• More testing of existing app features

• New features - primary user feedback & literature search

• Analytics - regressions, confidence intervals, etc.

• Risk estimates & statistics - odds ratios, etc.

• Further stratification of indicators - countries into cities, years into months, population into more demographics

Hindsights

glow

• Finding a successful solution to a very difficult problem, and hacking communication challenges.

lessons

1. Not every app on the market is optimized for the mobile experience.
Just because it is available for download does not mean it is optimized for mobility.

2. Great things come from collaboration.
As designers, we all have very strong opinions and points of view. Our work however, is primarily collaborative, making strong communication skills an asset. By keeping the business and user goals as the focus, along with a solid communication strategy, things went smoothly and produced a great final product.

3. It takes constant monitoring to keep a project on track.
I learned a lot about keeping a project on-task through a challenging timeline. Tasks sometimes take much longer than expected. It’s important to remember to build in time cushions for tasks in preparation for the unexpected. Most importantly, I learned how to avoid those rocks along the path that can potentially trip up a project.

~end~