QHealth-Designing for Good
Project Overview and Goals
QHealth is an app designed to help LGBTQIA+ individuals find healthcare providers, STI clinics, and other helpful resources.
The project goals was to create a place where queer folks could locate helpful information even in dire need cases. Folks should have access and information to help them find healthcare and assistance when times turn difficult.
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My role for this project was the head UX designer and researcher.
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The Problem and our Users
LGBTQIA+ people are higher risk of finding themselves homeless, jobless, and often without support systems. Everyone deserves to have proper healthcare and gender affirming care. Not only is healthcare important but all humans deserve to have proper housing access and food.
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The target users are queer identifying folks who might be in need of community help and assistance to receive medical care, proper sexual education, and gender affirming care. These were the groups that I polled for my research survey.
I conducted user interviews on target groups of queer individuals, which I turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that 85% target users would enjoy finding queer friendly and gender affirming healthcare. However, many folks that require the care the most are the most vulnerable to being homeless or estranged from their families. This created a problem for many users who can’t afford the proper care they require.
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The Process
I began with paper sketches of various home page layouts and started listing out the sections required for my architecture. I created digital wireframes focusing on finding the right kind of healthcare provider between testing clinics, general practitioners, and therapists. The main hero carousal front and center seemed the most efficient method for filtering people into the correct area.
I conducted a usability study to test how the navigations were performing. All users tested were unable to complete an appointment request due to missing pages and confirmations signalling the completion of the task. 60% of users tested discussed the lack of a search function and how that would be a hindrance to finding all the information. 40% users tested were displeased with the repetitiveness of the original designs and struggled to navigate the app due to the lack of difference between the different pages. Thanks to this feedback I completed the user flow to request appointments. I also added flow for leaving reviews and adjusted the navigation functionality to include a search bar with filter drop downs.
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I took this time as well to create the additional sizes to have my responsive design.
Usability Study
What I learned and moving forward
This project really taught me truly how much room I still have to grow as a design. I am proud of finishing the projects however I know there is so much room for improvement. I am looking forward to the future of learning, growing, honing my skills, and working towards creating a better future as a result.
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The next steps for this project are to run further usability tests to see if my current iterations could use any more adjustments to have a better user experience. Ultimately I would love to create this application and make it functional so that people can actually find the help they need. It was overwhelming thinking about the scale of what a project like that would entail especially in a national scope. Perhaps we start it local and build up from there.
I hope that even in the infant stages that my designs and visibility will help folks feel more comfortable in their own skin. In the real world, not all people are kind, friendly, helpful, or safe. But having any type of visibility helps send a message of positivity. During my usability study user Chuck said, “I did not grow up with proper healthcare due to my life circumstances. An app like this could have made a huge difference for me back then.” I remain hopeful that after this whole journey I am many steps closer to helping people have a better user experience for better lives.
The Impact