Diabetes is a chronic condition that stays with the patients all their lives. Even though it can never be completely cured, it can be managed with positive lifestyle changes and medications. Konnect is a platform that connects diabetic patients with their friends and family for motivation to help them better manage their disease in the long run.
Patients with diabetes are noticed to have two to three times higher chances of depression and two out of three patients do not even realize that they have it. Diabetes depression causes frustration and submission to the condition.
I connected with 4 diabetic patients to learn about their daily challenges, motivation and the underlying behaviors affecting their decisions as they manage their condition.
From my research, I learned that patients LACK MOTIVATION & MOTIVATORS in their lives due to many reasons. This lack of motivation and support makes it difficult for patients to stay on track and they unknowingly surrender to the disease.
David is 59 years old, managing diabetes for nearly seven years now. He lives alone while his sons living in different cities. He is retired and has no source of motivation other than his doctor.
A day in the life of David includes a series of emotional ups and downs where he struggles to stay on track and has to keep thinking about his diet and medication. This cycle of emotional struggle repeats every day.
How might we help the patients stay motivated so that they better adhere to their prescribed diet and medication in the longer run?
Fitness tracking & management apps focus on providing a platform where people feed in their goals and track that data to manage their condition. I realized that fitness platforms could only work for people who are self-motivated and will not be sufficient for diabetic patients as they have recurring phases of low motivation during their entire journey.
“Surround yourself with people who have dreams, desire and ambition; they’ll help you push for, and realize your own.” — KushandWizdom
Motivation is contagious and being around motivated people can help others stay on track. With that, I learned that all of us have some small personal goals in mind which we aim to achieve for e.g drinking eight glasses of water per day, walking a certain number of steps each day or even sleeping for a certain number of hours each night. Why not connect the smaller goals of the family & friends with that of the patient to seek motivation? The aim is for the patient to be surrounded by people achieving their own goals so that the patient is motivated to achieve their targets.
Konnect is a platform that helps friends and family to be a part of the patient's journey without being commanding or annoying, which ultimately can make the patient feel understood and loved.
Based on the learnings from the research, the key requirements of the app revolved around effectively connecting the goals of the patient with a variety of other goals of their friends & family. With a significant amount of data coming in from various sources on the app, I ideated to design interactions that are quick and easy to absorb for the user. I started with creating user stories to flesh key features of the app from end user’s perspective. I also defined primary tasks, and designed end to end flows before I started to sketch.
Early explorations: User stories
Early explorations: Task flow
I tested the wireframes as interactive prototypes created on Invision with users and got feedback which later helped me refine the flows.
From this project, I realized that understanding the underlying causes of specific behaviors is crucial especially when designing for people with special health needs.
My father has Type 2 diabetes for 24 years now. I have seen him manage his condition and know all his struggles. It was challenging for me to not get distracted by personal needs of my father and design a product that can be of help to many others like him.