The Brain Self-Portrait
HMW visualize medical test results in an understandable, engaging and fun way within the Self-Portrait?
Long story short:
The Child Brain Lab is a clinical research lab located in the Sophia Children's Hospital. Children with brain conditions undergo a circuit of tests which can take multiple hours. Currently, Creative Agency MCW is developing a platform called the "Self Portrait". Within the Self Portrait the test results will be shared before the results are discussed with a professional, the child and parents. The goal of the self-portrait is to prepare the children for their visit to the child brain lab and also to encourage them to ask questions to the professionals. This also helps the health professionals to get a better insight into the patient’s needs and wishes.
As UX Designer, I created the translation of the medical test results in an understandable manner. I conducted user research, including interviews with health professionals and parents, questionnaires, observations, and literature research. I translated findings into insights, personas, a design vision, and requirements.
I also facilitated brainstorming sessions with the design team and co-creation sessions with children. I developed concepts and evaluated concepts with stakeholders including parents and health professionals. I designed user journeys, style guides, wireframes, and prototypes in Figma. I tested the prototype several times with children.
She used a design thinking approach, working individually and in close collaborating with the design team and stakeholders.
A clickable prototype and a comprehensive user journey was presented as result. These deliverables are currently being used in the ongoing development of the "Self-Portrait" app.
Get the Big Picture: Explore the Project in This Video
My notes and reflections will go here.
My notes and reflections will go here.
The problem
The Child Brain Lab is a clinical research lab located in the Sophia Children's Hospital. Children with brain conditions undergo a circuit of tests which can take multiple hours. Currently, Creative Agency MCW is developing a platform called the "Self Portrait". Within the Self Portrait the test results will be shared before the results are discussed with a professional, the child and parents. The goal of the self-portrait is to prepare the children for their visit to the child brain lab and also to encourage them to ask questions to the professionals. This also helps the health professionals to get a better insight into the patient’s needs and wishes.
This is very important because, currently, children aren’t actively involved in their own healthcare. Children's experiences of being asked questions in a hospital setting are generally not positive due to the fact that professionals only ask a few specific questions, mostly about symptoms, and then discuss the matter with their parents. Medical professionals have reported that parents often dominate consultations and that they usually try to involve the child first, but the child is not always in the mood to engage in the conversation. In turn, this may have a negative effect on their use of healthcare services, compliance with treatment, and consequent health outcomes.
The aim is to communicate the children’s test results in an understandable, engaging, and fun way within the self-portrait.
Research Approach
Empathizing
This is a quick overview of the empathizing phase. Here you see the 6 most common conditions.
This project proved to be quite challenging. A few weeks in, it came to a standstill at MCW, leaving me to continue independently with minimal guidance. I had to explore alternative research and testing methods, reach out to professionals on my own, and conduct tests with children independently.
I did my best to overcome the challenges, and in the end, I received a 9.5 for my graduation project. Additionally, the external assessor, a UX strategist from Capgemini, offered me a position on their team of UX designers.
Observation and interview
The first time I went to the Child Brain Lab and was guided by the lab technician through the lab. She led me experience some tests and I asked her the interview questions I prepared. She explained a lot about the tests, how she communicates with the children and how the children respond to the tests.
The second time I visited the lab, I underwent a specific set of tests. This experience gave me valuable insight into how challenging and stressful it can be for a child to go through such a lengthy testing process.
During this project, my primary focus was on the test results. As my research progressed, I narrowed it down to concentrating on the walking mat and added another focus area: providing emotional support.
For the brainstorming session with the design team, I created these slides to help them better understand the target audience.
I underwent the test myself to use the results in the design process.
In hindsight, I would have conducted the session differently. The 8-year-old found it difficult to understand the concept of something being "easy and difficult to understand." I also noticed during the other sessions hat the girls were eager to draw, stick, and write things down themselves. Placing the cards on the matrix didn't seem to spark the same interest in the girls. This is a helpful takeaway for the next time and I kept this in mind when planning the co-creative session at the daycare.
Understanding the test results
When I received the raw data it was way more complex than I had expected. Therefore, I talked to an expert who knows everything about the walking mat from a research perspective. He explained me what all the abbreviations and medical terms mean.
I gathered so much data that the diagram became enormous. However, it was incredibly useful in gaining a deep understanding of the problem and in empathizing with the children, parents, and professionals involved.
What would a child want to know?
I was unable to talk to a medical specialist who could have provided me with more information about what would be most important to show the children from a clinical point of view.
At the Child Brain Lab, I organized a co-creative session with two master students who are also researching and designing for the lab. Each of us had 30 minutes to work with a 12-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl who had previously participated in lab testing. While these girls had experienced the testing process, they did not have a brain disease. This is an important distinction to make, as their experience would be very different from someone who suffers from the negative consequences of a disease.
The brainstorming session was incredibly productive! I placed inspirational infographics and target audience information on the walls, so whenever someone felt stuck, they could easily find inspiration.
Children love drawing and sticking things onto paper, which proved to be a great way to discover what a calm space means to them. The atmosphere during the session was also very positive. Afterwards, they expressed a desire to have their collages returned to them once the project was over. This made me realize that creating something like this fosters a sense of ownership, which is important to them.
Analyzing data
I was struggling a lot with choosing images for this session. I decided to choose emojis, because it's almost like a set of building blocks. Everyone is familiar with emojis and it covers almost all elements you can think of. It's a well though out collection of icons. It also helps to keep the experts to think in a simple way. The children need simple explanation of the results and this helps us avoid very complex visualisations.
After collecting a huge amount of raw data I processed the data in a few different ways. The interview recordings were transcribed, and interesting data of the desk research, interview quotes, questionnaires were extracted. These are collected on "data cards". On each data card the raw data is formed into research statements. The benefit of creating data cards is that I can easily categorize and sort the data, making it easier to identify patterns and insights.
To introduce the children to the Child Brain Lab, I showed them a video from Jeugdjournaal that explains it very well. Then, I asked them to complete a few tasks, such as walking in a straight line across the room and standing on one leg, to give them a sense of the experience. Of course, it’s not the same as the actual experience, and it’s definitely different for a healthy child.
Proposal to change user journey
Based on my research, I've concluded that the user journey might need adjustments. Instead of presenting test results before the consultation, it would be better for both the child and parents to receive them afterward. Experts warn that sharing results prematurely can have a significant emotional impact, potentially leading to misinterpretation and stress, which can affect both the parents and the child.
I proposed altering the user journey, but it won't be changed because it was developed in collaboration with the Child Brain Lab team, who agreed on the current process. While some psychologists of the lab expressed concerns, the majority of professionals supported sharing results through a digital app. Their reasoning is that the child and parents, after emotionally processing the information, can engage more effectively during consultations. This approach aligns with the hospital's recent adoption of value-based healthcare, where the quality of care is measured by how valuable the outcomes are relative to their costs.
Although the user journey will remain the same, it's crucial to address the emotional impact by integrating strong emotional support into the design.
The children were very enthusiastic and clicked through the prototype incredibly quickly. I realized that they really enjoy clicking on everything, making it almost impossible to follow the protocol I created. They also hardly read the text.
Key Insights
Design Vision
We want pediatric patients to feel prepared for the consultation and to feel a sense of autonomy by including visually interactive elements and customized aesthetics that promote playfulness, curiosity, and exploration. The patients also need to feel valued and confident through emotional support. This will help them participate actively, comply with treatment and achieve positive health outcomes.
Persona’s
Ideation
To kick off the ideation phase, I planned a brainstorming session with MCW. Ideally, I would have liked to include health professionals, parents, and children in the session, as it would have been valuable to see their interaction and have them give each other new ideas and insights. However, it was difficult to get everyone together at the same time, as health professionals and parents are all very busy, and it's also difficult to reach children due to privacy concerns. Therefore, I decided to do the brainstorming session with designers from MCW agency who are visually strong creators. My goal was to produce sketches with descriptions as outcomes. Later in my process, I included parents and experts during evaluation and testing.
List of HMW questions:
"How might we translate the test results into a visual interactive format that child patients (6 to 12 years old) can easily understand?"
- HMW prepare the patient for their upcoming test results?
- HMW encourage the patient to ask questions about the test result preparation?
- HMW support the patient and parents emotionally when given the test results?
Co-creation with children
During the collage session, I aimed to find out what a calm and peaceful place feels like for children. Ideally, the session would have been conducted with patients, but this wasn't possible due to time constraints and ethical board requirements. Instead, I worked with healthy children at a child day care facility. After looking at the collages and speaking with the children, I gained several insights that should be considered in the design. These insights are briefly described below.
Feedback from experts and parents
After creating the 3 concepts I planned a design critique. I invited all the experts and parents I interviewed during the research phase.
Concept Sketch
Based on the collage session with the children, the feedback I received from experts and parents on the concepts, and the input from my company mentor, I created the final concept. It's a combination of elements from all three concepts.
The most important aspects of the concept are going through the results step by step and providing emotional support through the chosen travel buddy. Instead of focusing on close interaction between parents and the child, as in the second concept, the support is provided by the character. One of my insights was that children would prefer to hear their test results from a friend or digital character, suggesting they would rather build a connection with a character. Another important aspect is ensuring the child feels a sense of ownership within the application. In the second concept, the game could only be played together with the parent, which might feel more like shared ownership rather than full ownership. Therefore, I decided to focus on building a connection with the character. The character not only helps the patient but also receives help from the patient to calm down and feel happy, creating a mutual connection.
Creative session with data experts
During the brainstorm session the ideas were more focused on the steps that need to be taken to go through the results. It was more about the journey and not about the actual visualisation of the results. The concepts is also focused on the journey and not on the visualization of the results. Therefore, I decided to get in contact with a teacher from the Hague University of Applied Sciences who teaches data visualization and storytelling to help with creating more ideas focussed on data visualization. He provided me with ways to get in conctact with more data visualization specialists either teachers or data analysts. I organized a creative session to brainstorm ideas together and gain new insights about data visualization. During the time of my internship I also went to a few classes of the course Data visualization and story telling and also read the most important chapters of the course book to gain more knowledge.
Wireframes
Prototype & Testing
The test was conducted at the daycare with four children, and I also guided parents and health professionals through the prototype to gather valuable feedback.
Based on my observations, the usability problems encountered by the participants included:
- Difficulty in reading the text, especially for the younger participants.
- Lack of audio support or spoken instructions.
- Unclear navigational cues, such as the orange arrow or icons representing actions.
- Challenges in understanding and interpreting specific terms or unfamiliar words.
- Inability to locate important elements, like the explorer bag.
- Confusion in navigating between sections or progressing through the experience.
- Disinterest or lack of engagement with certain sections, possibly due to unclear instructions or presentation.
Making changes to the prototype
These are some of the most important improvements that I made after testing and evaluating.
The overal experience
Results and takeaways
The feedback received from the healthcare professionals at the Child Brain Lab was largely positive and constructive. The interactive nature of the prototype, particularly the ability for the patient to be in control with the stirring wheel and the incorporation of animal comparisons, was highly appreciated. The use of colors and the overall sense of calmness were received positively, although some suggested that the sleekness could be toned down.
There were discussions about the target age range and whether the design would be equally appealing to children aged 6 to 12 years old. Suggestions were made to provide examples of questions, allow children to choose colors, and tailor certain features to older children (around 10-12 years old) to avoid the design appearing too childish for them. The guidance provided in the prototype was appreciated for its ability to make the experience easier for the child.
Overall, there were numerous elements and ideas that were well-received and could be incorporated into the final design of the Self-portrait.
What lessons can I apply to future projects?
Conducting user tests with children posed some challenges. Initially, I created a protocol with tasks and interview questions. However, during the tests at the daycare, I quickly realized that I should have approached them differently. Similar to the session in the child brain lab, I should have made the tasks more engaging and enjoyable for the children. They struggled to stay focused and were unable to explain the reasoning behind their actions.
In retrospect, I believe that when testing with children, it is essential to let them discover and explore rather than following a strict protocol. It's more about listening to them, encouraging their voices, and creating a comfortable environment. Furthermore, I discovered that it was impossible for me to take notes, make the children feel at ease, and give them instructions simultaneously. Although I chose not to record the sessions to respect the children's privacy, I realized later that having a recording would have been beneficial, as I couldn't capture everything in my notes. Next time, I would approach this aspect differently.