DocGiveBack

The spirit of generosity is something that all humans value, no matter where they are or what time it is. It helps make relationships and communities stronger. The power of generosity has become increasingly evident as people unite to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 and advocate for social justice.

Despite this universal value, medical professionals often encounter barriers in their endeavors to give back. DocGiveBack empowers doctors to engage in philanthropic activities by streamlining the giving process through a user-centered platform tailored to their needs, fostering a culture of generosity within the medical community.

Role

Researcher, UX/UI Designer

Deliverables

Mobile app

Tools

Figma, Miro, Notion, Google docs

Time span

12 weeks

The Problem


Donation process is challenging for medical professionals, hindering their meaningful engagement in philanthropic activities

How might we reinforce a culture of doctor’s generosity?

The Solution

A centralized platform, tailored to the needs of medical professionals, empowering them to effortlessly explore opportunities and donate for causes aligned with their values, expertise and capabilities.

Tailored Opportunities

DocGiveBack will provide users with tailored AI- driven recommendations about available charitable opportunities based on their preferences such as location, working environment, amount of time, schedule, patients group, and donation type. 

Streamlined Donation

Users complete only one time registration with DocGiveBack, get approved and then effortlessly donate or volunteer to any hospital, clinic or charity organization.

Community Space

DocGiveBack provide users with a community space that fosters a supportive community of like-minded medical professionals who are passionate about giving back. Here Users can connect, create groups, share experiences, and support each other 

 

Process Overview

1

research
  • Secondary Research
  • Market Research
  • User Research

2

Synthesis
  • Affinity Maps
  • Problem definition
  • Persona
  • Empathy Map

3

Ideation
  • Design Concept
  • Card Sorting
  • Navigation
  • Gamification
  • User Flows

4

design
  • Visual Style
  • Brand Name & Logo
  • Design System
  • Accessibility

5

ITERATIONS
  • Sketching Iterations
  • Onboarding Iterations
  • Home Screen Iterations
  • Wireframe Iterations

6

TESTING
  • Hi-Fi Prototype
  • Usability studies
  • Improvements
  • Final Designs

1.Research

Secondary Research Findings


A large body of research uncovered main personal and professional barriers for medical professionals to engaging in philanthropic activities (McGeehan et al. 2016; Eid 2018; Kim et al. 2019; Alhomaid and Sulaiman 2022)

Time constraints

Organizational issues

Financial challenges

Age

Market Research

Comparing services, features, strengths, and weaknesses of the top 5 Medical Charities and 7 Telemedicine platforms provided valuable insights into areas for improvement

Lack of Personalization

Generic opportunities without considering doctors’ specialty, skills, interests, experience or availability

  Conflicting donation mission

Telemedicine apps charge money for their services, and this goes against the doctor’s donation mission

Lack of Impact Measurement

Doctors unable to see effectiveness of their contributions, what leads to reduced motivation

Complex process


Volunteers recruitment, coordination, and organization are challenging for medical 

User Research

Interviews with potential users provided qualitative data about their needs, motivations and challenges, revealing that giving back to the community and making positive impact were primary motivations driving medical professionals to participate in charitable activities.

2.Synthesis

Affinity Map

I’ve created affinity map to synthesize and analyze interview data that helped me to identify user needs and define a clear problem statement.

User Needs

User needs were identified and prioritized based on the analysis of the 12 emerged themes from affinity maps

relevant opportunities

  Seamless donation process

Impact Tracking

Supportive medical community

Problem Statement

Doctors need an easy way to find and directly engage in relevant charitable opportunities, fostering a supportive community for exchanging ideas and experiences among like-minded healthcare professionals, because they want to give back to the community and maximize their collective impact, make a difference to those in real need, and see the immediate impact of their efforts, which gives them a bigger sense of fulfillment.

User persona

Creating User Persona helped me to summarize user research findings and guide design process, ensuring that the final product aligns closely with user needs, expectations and goals.

Empathy Map

Creating an empathy map helped me better empathize with medical professionals, understand their feelings, motivations, needs and challenges more deeply. I’ve gained a clearer understanding of how to design solutions that would resonate with users on a more personal level.

3.Ideation

Design Concept

After several brainstorming sessions, HMW technique, user feedback, and iterations, I finalized my design concept around creating a platform connected to medical charities and hospitals, offering personalized donation opportunities for medical professionals.

Considering the usage patterns of the target users, I’ve decided to prioritize the design of a mobile app first. This choice is based on the understanding that users are likely to search for donation opportunities during weekends, between work breaks and after work hours . 

This mobile application will offer various features that perfectly solve identified users needs and gaps in the market. Next step will be to design a desktop application to enable the telemedicine feature. 

Card Sorting

A hybrid card sorting technique with two users revealed that they had different views on the app structure and naming compared to what I had initially developed (marked in red).

This method provided valuable insights into how users think, their preferences, and what makes sense to them.

Information Architecture

I’ve created IA based on the insights from Card Sorting technique:

  • Move impact to user dashboard
  • Move cabinet to user dashboard
  • Move goals to user dashboard

Navigation

Global:

Hamburger menu is used to save space on the screen, the most important links are in the footer and top navigation

Local:

Links inside global navigation

Contextual

Indicates screen description, so users know where they are in their journey, and use return back navigation

Gamification

Gamification elements were incorporated into the onboarding and donation process to enhance user engagement and motivation.

User flows

User flows served as a foundational reference that helped me to determine the number of screens needed, their order, and the components required.

2.Design

Visual Style

Color Palette

My color choice was based on the psychology of color (Cugelman, 2024) to evoke specific emotions and foster emotional connection with my product.

Primary green color

Associated with health and motivation was chosen for accents, specifically for inviting action buttons to emphasize motivational aspect of donating more

Primary blue color

It was chosen to evoke comfort, empowerment, and competence

Secondary colors

They were used to add visual interest and complement the overall aesthetic

Typography

I’ve chosen Inter for its readability and modern look, ideal for body copy and headers.

As a sans-serif typeface, it is highly legible on digital screens, which is essential for my app. Its clean and straightforward design also conveys professionalism and clarity, aligning well with the serious nature of medical charity work.

Montserrat was selected for the logo for its distinctive and elegant appearance. Its bold geometric letterforms with a touch of sophistication and modern vibe make the logo stand out, leaving a lasting impression on users.

Brand Name and Logo

Brand name reflects one of the main user motivations – giving back to the community

Design System

A cohesive design system was developed to maintain consistency and reinforce brand identity.

Accessibility Conciderations

Some basic Accessibility considerations were integrated to ensure inclusivity and usability for all users

COLOR CONTRAST

Adjusted color contrast to meet accessibility requirements for text, graphics and user interface components

ACCESSIBLE DESIGN ELEMENTS

Labels for forms, bold headers, icons with text labels, a combination of text, color and graphical objects were used to increase accessibility

CONSISTENT NAVIGATION

Ensured that repeated navigation components occur in the same order on each screen to help users to predict where they can find things on each page

3. Iterations

Numerous design iterations were undertaken during this project, progressing from initial sketches to high-fidelity mockups. These iterations were informed by self-evaluations, feedback from peers, instructors and users, as well as usability testing insights.

Sketching Iterations

I’ve iterated my ideas through sketching, user testing, self-critique and running design studios, incorporating feedback and suggestions along the way.

Onboarding Iterations

I’ve incorporated feedback from instructors, peers, and users as much as possible to deliver a smooth and engaging experience

Home Screen Iterations

I strived to design a clear and functional home screen for my users

4. Testing

Two rounds of Usability Study

Usability testings uncovered major issues and guided improvements

Round 1 Findings

  • Confusing home screen elements. Not clear what upper cards mean
  • Explore screen is overwhelmed with similar choices
  • Users prefer registration process to be at the initial stage and to have alternative registration options

Round 2 Findings

  • Lack of motivation and progress tracking in the donation process
  • Joined community group status is not clear to users
  • User onboarding, personalization and registration could be within the same progress bar

First Major Improvement

To ensure a clear and intuitive Home screen:

  • A section title has been added
  • Local navigation buttons have been redesigned and relocated above the cards section
  • Bottom navigation button has been changed to “Explore”

Second Major Improvement

User experience of exploring opportunities:

  • More detailed explanations have been added to each group
  • Sections have been reorganized to eliminate repetition
  • Filters have been moved to opportunities list screen

Third Major Improvement

Enhanced awareness
and motivation:

  • A motivational message has been created
  • Progress tracking has been added

Fourth Major Improvement

The confirmation screen was created to notify users of their successful group joining

Final Designs

Prototype

Next Steps

Further App Design

Design new screens and flows, such as Impact, Goals, Telemedicine and My Cabinet to enable a complete and immersive experience.

Implement microinteractions and some more animation effects to add engaging and delightful user interactions.

More User Testing

Test prototype with more users to gather a wider range of perspectives and feedback.

This helps validate the usability of the app and ensures that it provides a positive user experience for its target audience. 

Design Desktop App

Desktop app will greatly enhance user experience, particularly for the Telemedicine feature. Doctors will be able to effectively communicate with users and conduct visual examinations, leveraging the larger screen and enhanced capabilities of desktop computers

Key Learnings

Plan Testing early on

At the initial stage, it is important to consider the strategies for reaching your target audience, identifying interviewers and product testers, ensuring diversity among participants and their availability.

User experience significantly improves when conducting usability testing with enough amount of diverse set of users

Accessibility matters

Prioritizing accessibility demonstrates ethical responsibility and respect for all individuals.

Accessibility features enhance user experience for a wider range of users, making the product more inclusive. Planning for accessibility early in the design process prevents unnecessary redesign efforts later on.

Final Thoughts

I’m pleased with how the DocGiveBack app turned out and the positive impact it could potentially have on connecting medical professionals with giving opportunities.

Usability sessions and the iterative design process allowed for continuous refinement, resulting in an intuitive and motivating experience, ensuring that the final product meets the needs and expectations of the target users.

However, user testing could have been expanded to include larger and more diverse participant groups. This would have provided a broader range of perspectives and uncovered potential usability issues that may have been missed.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience expanding my knowledge in medical charity field and enhancing my research, design, and prototyping skills.

Need a designer?

Let’s work together!

helen.ko.design@gmail.com