Dual mandate
Support patients on hard days while collecting anonymized signal for researchers. Neither audience could be an afterthought.
Case study · Healthcare · Novartis
A hybrid mobile app for treatment care, trusted resources, and clinical research.
Articles, reminders, and healthcare provider listings for patients and caregivers, with secure feedback collection for analytics and clinical studies.
01 · Challenges & objectives
The goal was clear: build a hybrid app with articles, reminders, and provider listings while gathering user feedback for analytics and clinical research. Translating high-level requirements into actionable specs meant every design decision had to serve both usability and security, especially when handling sensitive medical data.
Usability vs. security
A robust feature set had to coexist with a seamless experience and strict data protection for thousands of simultaneous users.
Specification depth
High-level stakeholder requirements needed to become detailed, build-ready flows without losing the human context behind each feature.
Project objectives
Effortless care management
Empower users to manage appointments and medications without cognitive overload.
Curated awareness
Provide accessible, trustworthy articles that enhance lifestyle and treatment understanding.
Research-ready data
Enable efficient collection for clinical studies and analytics without compromising the daily experience.
Scale & security
Ensure the platform could scale securely with robust encryption and zero tolerance for data breaches.
02 · Discovery & strategy
Through stakeholder interviews, surveys, and contextual inquiry, two primary audiences emerged. Users demanded clear reminders, simple navigation, and data privacy as a non-negotiable requirement.
Hannah
Cancer survivorGoals
Stay informed about treatments and manage appointments without missing medication windows.
Pain points
Often forgot medication times and struggled to find trustworthy information online.
Dr. Ravi
The researcherGoals
Analyze patient data to identify trends for clinical trials and improve care pathways.
Pain points
Needed anonymized, compliant data while meeting strict privacy regulations.
Research themes
Personalization
Tailor content and reminders to each user’s medical journey.
Transparency
Provide clear, trustworthy information about clinical trials and healthcare providers.
Security
Ensure robust data encryption and privacy controls at every touchpoint.
Usability
Simplify sign-up, reminder setup, and article browsing into obvious workflows.
Navigation model
The home screen offered quick access to reminders, articles, and providers. Clinical trials and settings lived in separate sections so the daily care loop stayed focused. A later 2026 refresh refined this into five tabs with language-first onboarding for Malaysia (EN, BM, 中文, தமிழ்).
Today
Greeting, search, next dose, doctor visit, and later today. The hub for the next action.
Guidance
Clinician-reviewed topics and featured articles, filterable by therapeutic area.
Adherence
Progress for today, due-now decisions, and calendar-synced appointment schedules.
Providers
Healthcare provider listings by distance, specialty, and rating.
Trust
History, saved articles, care-team contact, privacy, clinical trials, and settings.
Critical user flows
Sign-up & login
Register via email or social accounts with privacy expectations framed as care, not legal theatre.
Setting reminders
Appointments and medication schedules synced seamlessly with phone calendars.
Accessing content
Filter articles by therapeutic area with featured stories and topic grids for scanning.
03 · User interface
From mid-fidelity sketches to interactive high-fidelity prototypes, each iteration addressed user pain points. Core flows across onboarding, daily care, education, and trust.
Feature 01
Language onboarding
English, Bahasa Melayu, 中文, and தமிழ் as equal choices. Continue opens Home, not a wall of forms.
Feature 02
Home · next dose first
Quick access to reminders, articles, and providers. Mark as taken is the primary action. Surveys never compete with urgency.
Feature 03
Reminders · progress you can feel
Today’s progress as a simple strip. Due-now cards offer Taken and Later, synced with phone calendars.
Feature 04
Add medicine stepper
Name. Dose. Frequency. Confirm. A linear three-step flow so people leave with a saved medicine, not a half-filled form.
Feature 05
Learn hub
Featured article first, topic tiles second. Filter by therapeutic area for carers and common questions.
Feature 06
Article · read or listen
Hero image, save, audio progress strip, and checklist sections. Empathy without pretending the app is a clinician.
Feature 07
Nearby providers
Search plus filter chips. Each row shows rating, distance, department, and a hospital photo.
Feature 08
Profile & privacy
Medicine history, saved articles, care-team contact, privacy & consent, and settings in one quiet place.
04 · Testing & outcomes
Prototypes were tested on both Android and iOS across three rounds of usability testing, plus a heuristic evaluation for error prevention, aesthetics, and efficiency.
Navigation hierarchy
Early builds buried key features. Information architecture was refined until reminders, articles, and providers were one tap away.
Reminder setup
Mobile responsiveness and the medicine setup flow were optimized until the daily loop felt obvious.
92% task success
Final testing confirmed the design’s effectiveness. Remaining gaps were small and documented for engineering.
+40%
Increase in time spent on the app after launch
85%
Users successfully managed their appointment schedules
+25%
Rise in usable data reported by researchers for clinical studies
0
Reported data breaches with robust encryption in place
“The app makes it so easy to track my appointments and medications. The articles are also very informative and accessible.”
05 · Reflections
This project reinforced that thoughtful design can transform lives, especially when balancing technical constraints with human needs on hard days.
Early user involvement pays off
Stakeholder interviews and iterative testing caught navigation and setup issues before they reached production.
Privacy is a product requirement
For medical data, consent and encryption change what you ask, when you ask, and how you store the answer.
Two audiences, two speeds
Hannah lives on Home and Reminders. Dr. Ravi lives on optional research paths. Mixing those speeds on one screen helps neither.
Calm UI is a clinical choice
Balancing a robust feature set with a seamless experience was challenging but rewarding. Whitespace and honest copy are not decoration.