MY ROLE: UX/UI Designer

SPRINT TIME: 2 Weeks

THE COMPANY:

THE TASK:

PROJECT SUMMARY:

23andMe is a Direct to Consumer home genetic testing kit that aims to compile the largest database of genetic information. Their goal in doing this is to better understand genetic predispositions and as a result combat disease more effectively based on this information.

Conduct in-depth business and user research to better understand 23andMe’s business model and where their users encountered pain points or lack of features they desired from the service. After gathering this information, we were to develop a new product that 23andMe would add to their offering and test this product to validate if it met users wants and provided them with a more immersive experience.

My23Tree is an iOS application built to supplement the 23andMe product family. It is designed to create a community for users that supports them with counseling, activities, and genetic information individual to the user and based on their 23andMe results.

I led various aspects of the research and design phases and was responsible for planning the design sprint, leading usability test, synthesizing our research, and designing our proposed product. I delivered mid-fidelity wireframes for testing, while also conducting product & user research, usability testing to validate our design decisions, and delivering design iterations after synthesizing user feedback.

OUR PROCESS

USER INSIGHTS & IDEATION PHASE

I partnered with two other UX designers to uncover insights, and converted those findings into features that addressed our users behaviors and needs, while considering our clients business goals.

DESIGN EXECUTION & VALIDATION

Listening to our users, we combined insights from product research which influenced our design decisions. Validating those decisions through testing and iterating from feedback and the synthesis of our research would lead us to create and deliver final wireframes, prototypes, design specs and a research report.

THE PROBLEM

23andMe currently offers user information about their genetic predispositions however, once this has been delivered to the user, users tend to drop off from the service. The current lifecycle of a 23andMe user is extremely limited and leaves users with a large gap that 23andMe could use to add a few more touch points with them.

The Opportunity

23andMe has the technical means to provide users with relevant information about their genetics. By adding this information to an application that allows users to further understand what their results mean, be offered counseling on this information, and understand how they can take steps to further their health based on this information would be a massive addition. Users would then be able to get involved with their results as well as track and better understand these individualized results.

Within a 2 week Design-sprint, we were to research, synthesize, design, and test an iOS application that met our users needs without access to their current platform and to any design/structure assets.

RESEARCH PHASE

Methods Used

UNDERSTANDING THE BUSINESS

COMPETITIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS

We compared features found 23andMe’s current iOS application and then compared it to four competitor applications. Conducting a competitive feature analysis helped us identify industry standards that are expected and helped us gain insight into how the current features on 23andMe’s application stacks up against others in the field.

COMPARATIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS

As part of our competitive analysis, we also evaluated and compared application features of several of 23andMe’s comparators. Assessing the features of comparative organizations helped us re-evaluate what features should and should not be included in our application.

UNDERSTANDING THE USER

USER INTERVIEWS

After preparing an interview script, our team went out and interviewed 6 users who have all used 23andMe’s current products. the purpose of this was to better understand users wants, needs, behaviors, and pain points in regards to 23andMe’s current service.

AFFINITY MAPPING

Following our interviews, our team then wrote down key pieces of information and quotes from our interviews and placed them on sticky notes. We then organized them into similar categories and assigned them “I” statements which are designed to allow you to empathize with the user. This then showed us what users were actually wanting from the service and what other features to add in.

KEY TAKE AWAYS

• Users are very interested in their genetic predispositions and what that means for their health.

• Users do not want to take tests on their own and want to be a part of a community they built.

• Users want clear and individualized results that offer them insights about their own health.

DEFINING USER’S NEEDS

PERSONAS

Now that we have gathered insights from users, we are able to define the user need to ensure we are designing the right thing.

After synthesizing the research, we created personas which capture the behaviors, needs, goals and pain points of our interviews through fictionalized people. We created our primary persona based off of the different types of users that we interviewed.

“I want to know what my results 
mean!”

PROBLEM STATEMENT

From our persona we derived the following problem statement to guide our design and features to include in our MVP.

“How might we provide users with clear, pertinent information about their genetic health, as well as the support to understand their results, utilize this information and live healthier lives?”

DESIGN PHASE

Methods Used

DESIGN STUDIO

Immediately after our research efforts, our team moved into a design studio in which we incorporated what we learned from our research and created rapid sketches of our initial concepts.

FEATURE PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

Moving out of our design studio, we took the features that we built into our MVP sketches and ranked them from low to high effort on one axis, and “essential” to “nice to have” on the other. This helped our team visualize which features would be able to incorporate cost effectively and time wise.

MoSCoW MAPPING

In order to finalize which features would make it into our MVP, our team created a MoSCoW map. By doing this we were able to define which features “Must” be included, “Should” be included, “Could” be included, and “Would not” be included.

“FROM RESEARCH TO DESIGN”

TESTING & ITERATIONS

The first Iteration of our designs were from our sketches & white-boarding of early concepts and flows that my team collaborated together during our design studio. This translated into our first mid-fidelity mockups, which then were pieced together in InVision for our first prototype.

Two rounds of usability tests were conducted that resulted in High Fidelity “Mockup”.

USABILITY TEST #1

In order to test our initial design, we sourced 5 users to test our early InVision prototype. These users were run through 3 tasks. With each task a scenario was given in order to give context to the user in order to help them identify an objective for themselves within the application.

ITERATIONS

After our initial usability test, our team synthesized the results and behaviors of our users to help us iterate our next design. The largest takeaways were that users Users were confused about the step and sleep counter on the homepage and to add a way to add family directly from "My Tree".

USABILITY TEST #2

After implementing our iterations, our team went back into the field to test our iterations. The goal of our second round of usability test was to validate if users could find the step and sleep counter on the homepage and if it was easier for users to add their family directly from the “My Tree” page.

The results of our second round of usability tests are what directly influenced the features and design of our final prototype.

MOVING TO HIGH FIDELITY

HOME SCREEN

“MY TREE” SCREEN

CHALLENGES SCREEN

COUSELING SCREENS

API INTEGRATION & KPI’S

API’s NEEDED

Application Program Interface Integration to the application will be limited to two APIs.

• API from the users fitness/health tracking application that is preinstalled on their phone for iOS and Android.

  • Pulls users movement and daily exercise.

  • Pulls phones sleep/charging time to give approximate sleep figures for the user.

• API from 23andMe to pull all test results to the application for the user.

  • Pulls users report upon registering to display users results within the application.

  • Updates users results and information if any changes are made in regards to new tests.

  • Pulls other users information in regards to genes and challenges and updates in real time.

KPI’s

Our team developed a set of KPI’s to establish the success of the features of the application.

• Monitor “Family” kits sales to see if sales perform at a level comparable to other service kits offered.

• Track average amount of times users reach out to genetic counselors during the lifespan of their use.

• Track average amount of challenges created per user.

• Track average amount of “members” added to a users “tree” on a 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 month basis.

NEXT STEPS

Due to time constraints we passed a features list as next steps for our client to consider exploring & expand on top of our deliverables.

• Test the latest iterations of the prototype to validate the design.

• Synthesize and iterate on usability test results.

• Build out the personal health tracker feature.

• Implement stronger privacy controls for users.