CARE WITH
COMMUNITY

The UX Evolution of Carina Health, a Group Care Startup

CARE WITH
COMMUNITY

The UX Evolution of Carina Health, a Group Care Startup

OVERVIEW

INVESTIGATE

DEFINE

PROTOTYPE

ITERATE

OVERVIEW

My team of 5 UX consultants collaborated on crafting the inaugural MVP for Carina Health.

My team of 5 UX consultants collaborated on crafting the inaugural MVP for Carina Health.

Developed in response to the rising demand for accessible group healthcare, our client's has a powerful vision for Carina Health: a user-centric health hub that integrates group medical care into a community space for users to unite around shared health objectives.

Developed in response to the rising demand for accessible group healthcare, our client's has a powerful vision for Carina Health: a user-centric health hub that integrates group medical care into a community space for users to unite around shared health objectives.

ROLE

ROLE

UX Researcher & Product Designer

UX Researcher & Product Designer

DATE

DATE

January/February 2024
3 Weeks

STATUS

STATUS

Development Scheduled for Q2 2024

Development Scheduled for Q2 2024

UX METHODS

UX METHODS

Competitive Feature Analysis, Comparative Feature Analysis, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Persona, Journey Mapping, Feature Prioritization, Design Studio, Prototyping, Usability Testing

Competitive Feature Analysis, Comparative Feature Analysis, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Persona, Journey Mapping, Feature Prioritization, Design Studio, Prototyping, Usability Testing

TOOLS

TOOLS

Figma, Zeplin, Notion, Keynote

Figma, Zeplin, Notion, Keynote

OUR TEAM WONDERED

OUR SOLUTION
Carina Health

How might we help patients in medical care groups feel supported by their community and engaged in their health journey?

OUR SOLUTION
Carina Health

OUR SOLUTION
Carina Health

Provides comprehensive medical group resources and events

Offers event and appointment reminders along with seamless health tracking

Fosters community within medical groups under the guidance of healthcare professionals

SCOPE OF WORK
What is our opportunity space?

SCOPE OF WORK
What is our opportunity space?

HYPOTHESIS

Users in group health programs often encounter challenges in maintaining connection with peers and sustaining motivation, hindering their overall growth and progress within these programs.

GOAL

Harness user insights to develop a comprehensive platform for group health programs, fostering connections and collaboration among individuals, healthcare providers, and peers. Through this platform, patients can actively engage in their healthcare journey, benefiting from mutual support and resources, resulting in improvements in patient outcomes.

INVESTIGATE

INVESTIGATE

BUSSINESS RESEARCH
Where does Carina Health sit in the industy?

We kicked off our research with a business analysis, wanting to get a better understanding of the business landscape. We looked into two different avenues; the closest industry competitors to Carina Health, and Health and Lifestyle apps with social and gamified features.

Competitively, it was clear -


Carina's proposed features would address a gap in the healthcare industry. While group healthcare platforms do exist, they often lack direction connection to the user’s provider or focus solely on serving one medical group.

Furthermore, many HIPAA-compliant apps are primarily designed with the provider in mind, often lacking user-centric features such as gamification.

Health & Lifestyle Gamification Comparative Analysis

USER INTERVIEWS
What is our target audience saying?

USER INTERVIEWS
What is our target audience saying?

USER INTERVIEWS

Conducted 11 User Interviews over Zoom

SCREENER SURVEY

Users have participated in Prenatal / Postpartum group healthcare online or in person

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Question guide designed for uncovering challenges, concerns, and unmet needs individuals face in group health settings

DEFINE

DEFINE

AFFINITY MAPPING
What user trends are occurring?

We distilled our interviews down to key insights, then captured them on digital Post-it notes and organized them by topic area through affinity mapping. Each affinity grouping uncovered trends and insights, revealing actionable opportunities for our app.

VIEW AFFINITY MAP

AFFINITY MAPPING
What user trends are occurring?

We distilled our interviews down to key insights, then captured them on digital Post-it notes and organized them by topic area through affinity mapping. Each affinity grouping uncovered trends and insights, revealing actionable opportunities for our app.

VIEW AFFINITY MAP

INSIGHTS → FEATURES
How can we solve our users pain points?

INSIGHTS → FEATURES
How can we solve our users pain points?

CONNECTION

CONNECTION

MODERATION

MODERATION

HEALTH TRACKING

HEALTH TRACKING

PERSONA
Who are we making Carina for?

PERSONA
Who are we making Carina for?

JOURNEY MAP
Where can we inprove our users experience?

JOURNEY MAP
Where can we inprove our users experience?

With a clearer understanding of our target audience, we humanized our findings by creating Audrey. Audrey revealed that maternity and parenthood can feel isolating amidst the flood of overwhelming information for expecting parents.

JOURNEY MAP INSIGHTS

INSIGHTS

FEATURES

Expecting parents want to connect with others who are in a similar situation and not feel judged.

Enable anonymous posting options to share concerns and support without fear of judgment.

New parents find they don’t know what to ask at medical visits.


Develop educational resources, such as checklists or guides, to empower patients for active participation and advocacy in medical appointments.

DESIGN & FEATURE IDEATION
How can we solve our user's problems?

To kickstart our transition to design, our team collaborated in design studio to brainstorm and develop our MVP feature list.

Using a feature prioritization matrix, we sifted through a pool of approximately 50 features ideas and idenified 18 key features that we believed would have the greatest impact on our MVP.

VIEW FEATURE PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

DESIGN & FEATURE IDEATION
How can we solve our user's problems?

To kickstart our transition to design, our team collaborated in design studio to brainstorm and develop our MVP feature list.

Using a feature prioritization matrix, we sifted through a pool of approximately 50 features ideas and idenified 18 key features that we believed would have the greatest impact on our MVP.

VIEW FEATURE PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

PROTOTYPE

PROTOTYPE

INTRODUCTING CARINA HEALTH
A vitual hub for group healthcare

INTRODUCTING CARINA HEALTH
A vitual hub for group healthcare

Explore Carina Health

in Figma

⇩

HIGH-FI PROTOTYPE

HIGH-FI PROTOTYPE

MVP FEATURE LIST
What features did we implement?

MVP FEATURE LIST
What features did we implement?

LOGIN / SIGN-UP
Onboarding

Tracking Permissions

Wearables Integration

LOGIN / SIGN-UP
Onboarding

Tracking Permissions

Wearables Integration

HOMEPAGE
Task Checklist

Events & Meet-Ups
Reminders
Module Resources

HOMEPAGE
Task Checklist

Events & Meet-Ups
Reminders
Module Resources

PROGRAM TAB

Module Overview
Resources
Task Checklists

Provider POC


PROGRAM TAB

Module Overview
Resources
Task Checklists

Provider POC

GROUP CHAT
Report

Group Goals

Reactions

Polls/Quizzes


GROUP CHAT
Report

Group Goals

Reactions

Polls/Quizzes

ACCOUNT

Profile Card

Vitals Tracking

Badges
Privacy Settings

ACCOUNT

Profile Card

Vitals Tracking

Badges
Privacy Settings

MVP DESIGN
How does our design address user needs?

HOMEPAGE

Right away, users land at the Homepage - the hub of the app.


This screen is where users get all the upcoming event info, their reminders, to-dos, so they're always in the loop of what's going on in the program.

PROGRAM

Next up is the Program Screen - here users can access all group resources.

From module summaries, to tasks, to documents, it's the user's ultimate guidebook to help them navigate the program smoothly.

GROUP CHAT

The Group Chat is the heart of community interaction on Carina.

The Group Chat is the heart of community interaction on Carina.

Users can collect achievements for participating and reaching their goals.

Users can collect achievements for participating and reaching their goals.

It has quizzes and group goals too, so it's not just chatting – it's an interactive experience.

It has quizzes and group goals too, so it's not just chatting – it's an interactive experience.

Our users told us how important it was that their health group be a safe and inclusive space - so we've included a report feature to allow users to flag problematic messages for moderator review.

Our users told us how important it was that their health group be a safe and inclusive space - so we've included a report feature to allow users to flag problematic messages for moderator review.

PROFILE CARDS

Through user feedback, it became apparent that interpetsonal connections helped people meet their health goals, however people found it difficult to maintaining meaningful relationships after the conclusion of the group.

Through user feedback, it became apparent that interpetsonal connections helped people meet their health goals, however people found it difficult to maintaining meaningful relationships after the conclusion of the group.
Personalized profile editing emerged as a solution to bridge this gap by enabling users to connect through shared interests and points of contact beyond the confines of the group.

Personalized profile editing emerged as a solution to bridge this gap by enabling users to connect through shared interests and points of contact beyond the confines of the group.

Through user feedback, it became apparent that interpetsonal connections helped people meet their health goals, however people found it difficult to maintaining meaningful relationships after the conclusion of the group.
Personalized profile editing emerged as a solution to bridge this gap by enabling users to connect through shared interests and points of contact beyond the confines of the group.

Clicking on a user reveals their profile card, where users can display their custom bio, share interests, and offer contact and social media links for connecting with peers.

Clicking on a user reveals their profile card, where users can display their custom bio, share interests, and offer contact and social media links for connecting with peers.

User are able to edit their profile card in their account page. Along with personal details and social media, users can also display their favorite badge achievements.

User are able to edit their profile card in their account page. Along with personal details and social media, users can also display their favorite badge achievements.

ITERATE

ITERATE

DESIGN CHANGES
What did we learn from testing our design?

DESIGN CHANGES
What did we learn from testing our design?

We ran two rounds of usability testing, first with a mid-fidelity prototype, then with our high-fidelity MVP, to determine the user friendliness our features.

We ran two rounds of usability testing, first with a mid-fidelity prototype, then with our high-fidelity MVP, to determine the user friendliness our features.

USEABILITY INSIGHTS

Most people didn’t initially notice the event cards on the dashboard, and were unsure where to find events in the app.

Most people didn’t initially notice the event cards on the dashboard, and were unsure where to find events in the app.

RSVPING TO EVENTS

RSVPING TO EVENTS

CHANGES

Relabeled ‘Upcoming’ to 'Upcoming Events’ so user recognize affordance to an event on Dashboard.

Divided Dashboard content into containers so the text is segmented for easier viewing.

Added an event page in Navigation which ‘Upcoming Events’ will source from.

Relabeled ‘Upcoming’ to 'Upcoming Events’ so user recognize affordance to an event on Dashboard.

Divided Dashboard content into containers so the text is segmented for easier viewing.

Added an event page in Navigation which ‘Upcoming Events’ will source from.

USEABILITY INSIGHTS

On the Program page, People didn’t realize they could scroll to find ‘Resources.’

On the Program page, People didn’t realize they could scroll to find ‘Resources.’

ACCESSING RESOURSES

ACCESSING RESOURSES

CHANGES

To signify scrolling capabilities, make module cards smaller to so ‘Resources’ peaks out above the navigation bar.

To signify scrolling capabilities, make module cards smaller to so ‘Resources’ peaks out above the navigation bar.

USEABILITY INSIGHTS

A few people noted that they had difficulty reading the text on the Group Chat page.


Some users did not know they could tap a message to send reaction.

A few people noted that they had difficulty reading the text on the Group Chat page.


Some users did not know they could tap a message to send reaction.

ENCOURAGING PEERS

ENCOURAGING PEERS

CHANGES

Increased the font size in the chat.





Added emote signifier to the chat bubbles to indicate an action affordance.

Increased the font size in the chat.





Added emote signifier to the chat bubbles to indicate an action affordance.

MOVING FORWARD
Where does Carina Health go next?

MOVING FORWARD
Where does Carina Health go next?

RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

GROUP GOAL INDICATION

TAXONOMY FOR GROUP CHAT

FURTHER USABILITY TESTING

GAMIFICATION FEATURES

PROVIDER INTERVIEWS

RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

DESIGN RECCOMMENDATIONS

GROUP HUB

EVENTS TAB

PLATFORM TOUR

MODULE INDICATION

PROFILE CARD

DESIGN RECCOMMENDATIONS

REFLECTIONS
What did I take away from this experience?

REFLECTIONS
What did I take away from this experience?

As I wrap up my involvement in this project, I'm inspired by the impact that community-driven healthcare solutions can have on individual health goals. Working on Carina Health has been an enlightening journey, highlighting the importance of deeply understanding our users and empathetically tailoring our solutions to their unique needs.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have contributed to the early stages of this product and eagerly anticipate Carina Health's continued evolution and the impact it will bring, enhancing the quality of group healthcare programs and improving participation and outcomes for group health participants and practitioners.

As I wrap up my involvement in this project, I'm inspired by the impact that community-driven healthcare solutions can have on individual health goals. Working on Carina Health has been an enlightening journey, highlighting the importance of deeply understanding our users and empathetically tailoring our solutions to their unique needs.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have contributed to the early stages of this product and eagerly anticipate Carina Health's continued evolution and the impact it will bring, enhancing the quality of group healthcare programs and improving participation and outcomes for group health participants and practitioners.