PCOD | Menstrual iOS App Design
Table of Contents
Project Brief
- An app designed exclusively for girls with PCOD, offering personalized predictions, tailored recommendations, and comprehensive planning tools.
- This case study narrates journey from initial concept to a fully realized product, highlighting the design thinking, user insights, and technical challenges involved in bringing this impactful solution to life.
Problem
Menstruation is not the problem; however, the issues related to it pose major challenges. Women in this category often feel isolated due to the unique and irregular challenges compared to those without the condition.
Crafted Solution
A seamless journey from research to final design, enhancing learning through user-centered innovation.
Team
Worked with an amazing team of four to design and build the app. We combined our skills to create something user-friendly and meaningful, aimed at helping women take control of their health.
Guided the team and created designs that are both functional and easy to use.
Added the finishing touches to the UI, making it visually appealing and user-focused.
Brought the designs to life with clean, interactive, and user-friendly interfaces.
Built a strong backend to make sure the app runs smoothly and reliably.
My Role
- In the LMS iOS project, I oversaw the entire design and development process. I conducted user research, defined core features, and created wireframes and prototypes for the user interface
- I designed a comprehensive LMS app for iPad and iPhone, focusing on user-friendly interfaces for students, educators, and admins.
- As Scrum Master, I led a team of 10, managing sprints and streamlining the app’s development for efficient delivery.
Duration
The project, initially planned for 7 months, was extended to 9 months due to valuable user feedback and ongoing iterations, ensuring a polished, user-centered app ready for App Store release.
Tools Utilized
In this project, We utilized a range of design and development tools to streamline the workflow and enhance collaboration.
Tracks tasks and manages workflows for efficient project development and collaboration.
Quickly creates wireframes to visualize and plan user interfaces.
Designs high-fidelity prototypes and enables real-time team collaboration on UI/UX.
Develops and tests iOS apps with a comprehensive suite of coding and debugging tools.
Project Goals
- Improve the lives of women with PCOD, offering them a supportive tool to manage their health with ease.
- Simplify their experience with an intuitive and user-friendly interface designed to minimize stress.
- Create a sense of companionship, making users feel like they have a friend with them on their journey.
- Assist with personalized diet plans, period predictions, and foster a safe, welcoming space where they can truly feel at home.
Research
We developed detailed personas to represent our key user types, ensuring our design addresses their specific needs:
User Personas
Below are three types of user personas for pcod app, focusing on women with PCOD, each with detailed user attributes:
These personas give a comprehensive look at the different types of users who would benefit from pcod app, each with their own unique needs, goals, and challenges.
Each persona helped guide design decisions, with user needs reflecting simplicity, clarity, and minimal setup.
User Research
- I conducted surveys with over 20 individuals using Google Forms to understand the challenges faced by women with PCOD.
- In-depth interviews were held with several women, and I was surprised at how comfortable they were in sharing their personal struggles related to PCOD.
- To gain further insights, I took a proactive approach by reaching out to gynecologists, scheduling appointments, and gathering expert opinions on the condition.
- Through this comprehensive research process, I discovered the magnitude of the problem and how many women are seeking personalized solutions to manage their PCOD symptoms effectively.
Competitive Analysis
A strategic examination of leading LMS platforms, highlighting our innovative edge in providing unique features to enhance the learning experience.
- I identified 18 competitors in the market who are attempting to address the challenges faced by women with PCOD.
- I closely analyzed their solutions, evaluating their features, user interfaces, and overall approach.
- Through this research, I identified key areas where Pcod app can offer a better, more intuitive design and more personalized features, ensuring a superior user experience.
Brainstorming & Ideation
In this phase, we gathered the team to brainstorm ideas that addressed the identified user needs and project goals.
- We dedicated nearly one month solely to research, focusing on understanding the problems faced by women with PCOD and analyzing the gaps in existing solutions.
- I conducted a thorough analysis of 18 competitor apps, evaluating their features, user experience, and identifying pain points in their designs.
- We also studied user behavior—what excites users when opening the app, and how they navigate through it. This gave us insights into where users are most engaged and what features they find most valuable.
- Based on these insights, we created paper wireframes, keeping all the feedback and findings in mind, to ensure we designed an app that addresses these pain points and offers a superior experience.
- Utilizing techniques like mind mapping and affinity diagrams, we encouraged creative thinking to generate a wide range of solutions.
- We also focused on aligning our ideas with user personas, ensuring our concepts would resonate with our target audience.
Sketches & Wireframes
After generating a multitude of ideas, we moved to the sketching phase, creating low-fidelity wireframes to visualize the layout and functionality of the app. These sketches allowed us to explore different design concepts rapidly and test various user flows.
- After gathering insights from research and feedback, we translated our paper wireframes into digital wireframes to bring the app’s structure to life.
- These wireframes served as a visual blueprint for the app, showcasing its core functionalities, user flow, and layout while ensuring a smooth and intuitive user experience.
- We used digital tools to refine the app’s design, testing the placement of key elements like navigation, buttons, and interactive features to ensure a seamless journey for users.
- The digital wireframes allowed us to quickly iterate and adjust based on further feedback, ensuring the design was both user-friendly and aligned with the project goals.
Iterations
The design process involved over 9 iterations to refine and perfect the app. Each iteration was driven by valuable user feedback and insights gathered from testing.
With each round, we made improvements to usability, interface elements, and overall user flow, ensuring the app addressed all key pain points and provided a seamless experience.
Version -1
Based on the initial Google Forms survey, I assumed users primarily needed informative articles, which I thought would effectively address their concerns.
Version -2
After gathering user feedback, it became evident that the UI needed improvement to better align with the theme. I updated the design to match native iOS aesthetics with a more cohesive color palette.
Version -3
Users reported that the card elements felt difficult to engage with, requesting larger thumbnails for better visibility and easier access to the content.
Version -4
When finalizing the community tab, feedback suggested an added expert guidance section. To accommodate this, I restructured the community tab as a subsection under a new “Support” tab, integrating expert advice alongside the community features.
Version -5
Users expressed a preference for immediate access to articles rather than navigating through multiple screens. This feedback prompted a redesign for quicker article access.
Version -6
After implementing easier access and gathering feedback from users and gynecologists, a request emerged for live video consultations. Due to time constraints, I prioritized enhancing the community area for real-time Q&A, resulting in a UI that meets user needs for accessibility, support, and expert guidance.
- This iterative approach allowed us to continuously test, evaluate, and enhance the design, ultimately leading to a final app design that was both user-friendly and functional.
- Through these multiple iterations, we were able to ensure that every element of the app met the needs and expectations of our target users, making it ready for full-scale development.
Final Design
Due to an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) agreement and the ongoing patent process, along with the app’s pending release on the App Store, I’m unable to reveal the final design at this stage. However, this case study highlights our journey from identifying the core problem to reaching this milestone over a dedicated 7-month span.
Current Stage of Project
The app remains in active development, with continuous improvements underway and surely will be in production in upcoming months.
Feedback
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