Medi
Supporting Better Medication Habits
Designing a medication management solution to support users in building better habits to increase their medication adherence
person
role
UX Researcher & Designer
access_time_filled
timeline
4 Months (Jan. - Apr. 2025)
work
skills
UX Research, UX Design, Behavioral Design, Prototyping, Storytelling
group
team
4 UX Researchers & Designers
brush
tools
Figjam, Figma
overview
It's difficult for people to keep track of their medications given their hectic, busy lives. This not only leads to people not taking their medications as prescribed, but is also a source of stress and anxiety for many.
For this project, our team explored how to create a solution to help users manage their medications more effectively, instilling a sense of responsibility and ownership over their well-being.
As a UX Researcher and Designer, I conducted user research to uncover the key barriers people face when taking medications. Using these insights, I helped design our solution, Medi, from initial concepts and mockups to the prototype.
problem Space
50%
of people don't take their medication as prescribed
There's a multitude of reasons why people don't take their medications as prescribed, such as fear of side effects, high cost of medication, or complex regimes. For our project, we're focusing on people who want to take their medications, but are struggling with following through with their prescriptions.
Even with this narrowed target audience, the scope was still wide and full of possibilities. We needed to conduct user research to understand the barriers faced by people who try to, and fail, to take their medication as prescribed.
User Research
research methods
We first conducted user research to better understand the problem space of medication adherence.
Secondary Research
Understanding general trends in medication adherence through papers and articles
Comparative Analysis
Exploring 11 existing solutions and their approaches to medication management
User Interviews
Understanding 5 participants' experiences with maintaining a medication routine
Surveys
Discovering key pain points of 37 respondents related to taking medication as prescribed
key insight #1
Busy and unpredictable lifestyles make it difficult for people to build the habit of taking medication
"I'll most likely miss taking my medication if I'm busy and not having dinner at a regular time or if I'm out with friends.
Sometimes it's because I only remember after finishing the meal. Sometimes it's because I forgot to bring my pills when I go out for dinner."
— User Interviewee
key insight #2
Using habit stacking leads to higher medication adherence than just reminders and alarms
"When I wake up, I need to immediately take my medication first. So I have it sitting on my bedside so I don't forget."
— User Interviewee
key insight #3
Not only do people forget to take their medication, they also forget if they've already taken their medication
"I don't have anything that really tells me if I actually took my medications or not, which could leads to me deciding to risk either missing a dose or overdosing."
— User Interviewee
Defined Problem
Our user research insights allowed us to move from a vague problem space to a specific, actionable one. We were now trying to answer:
How might we help people consistently and confidently take their medications as prescribed?
ideation
persona
Based on our research, our ideal user is a tech-savvy person who historically forget to take their medications, even if they set reminders /alarms. It's difficult for them to build the habit of taking medication given their busy daily lives.
initial explorations
First, we created a sitemap to figure out what kind of functionality we'd need and how it should all flow and be organized.
Then, I sketched out low fidelity concepts of how users could:
add new medications
set up a reminder schedule
stay motivated to continue taking their medications
design Details
Setting Up a New Medication
To figure out what steps are needed to add a new medication and its reminders, we created a user flow.
For setting up reminders, and aspect we especially focused on was how to input times for each round of reminders
Inputting Times for Reminders
Rather than limiting users to a single time for each dose, we let them set a timeframe in which they want to receive reminders until they've actually taken their dose, providing more flexibility.
Our first iterations experimented with different methods of entering multiple times. However, they were overwhelming and not easily accessible.
After several iterations, we landed on a final design that mimics the interface of standard clock apps. This not only leverages existing standards for inputting times, but also matches users' mental models of when to take their medications. It also clearly communicates the system's state and the user's previous entries, improving usability.
Logging Medication Doses
We recognized that with any reminder system, there's a risk of "notification fatigue," where users might dismiss a prompt without thinking. This creates an inaccurate medication history and defeats the core purpose of the app.
To solve this, we aimed to design a logging experience that promoted mindful confirmation, encouraging users to be present and intentional when recording that they've taken their medication. By designing the logging interaction to require more than a simple, thoughtless tap, we'd be building a safeguard against accidental or premature logging.
We first experimented with some different types of interactions that were more involved than simply tapping a button.
During user testing, we found that users felt the dragging interaction was more engaging.
We also decided to change the direction of the dragging interaction every time to prevent users from building a habit of doing the same motion over and over again. This requires users to pause and focus on taking their medication.
Reward System
To keep users motivated and help them build the habit of taking their medication as prescribed, we wanted to introduce elements of gamification.
To help users remember to take their medications every time, we knew we wanted implement streaks, motivating users by leveraging loss aversion.
We also wanted to implement a reward system to periodically provide extra motivation, but we were debating between 2 different ways of actually implementing it: points-based or badge-based.
To decide, we conducted user testing comparing the 2 options, and people preferred the badge-based system.
With the badge-based system, users felt more motivated seeing how taking and logging doses of medication directly contributed to specific badges.
They also found the badge system less confusing than points, which had an extra layer of complexity
FINAL DESIGN
final designs
Introducing Medi — never stress about forgetting your medication ever again
Multi-modal reminders and gamified streaks and badges help users build and maintain the habit of taking their medication as prescribed. Medi's interactive logging mechanism also helps users feel confident about whether or not they've already taken their dose.
Manage All Your Medications
Add medications to keep track of prescription details and when to get a refill
For important medications, set up multiple rounds of reminders to ensure you will take it
Customize the types of reminders to fit your needs and lifestyle
Keep Track of Your Doses
Meaningfully log when you take a dose with a dragging interaction
Dragging interaction changes directions every time, so you won't build the muscle-memory of logging without actually taking a dose
Track whether or not you've taken your medication with the history of doses
Stay Motivated and Celebrate Your Wins
Stay motivated to take your medication every time to keep your streak alive
Keep track of how we'll you've been on top of taking your medication day by day, month by month
Earn badges as rewards for keeping up with your medications
reflection
We presented our project at the UMSI Expo…
… and won 2nd place in the Community & Civic category!
always come back to the users
Throughout this project, it was crucial for us to tie every design decision to user insights. We iterated and made key design decisions based on user insights and feedback, which ultimately led to us creating a stronger solution that actually addressed the problem at hand.
