Empowering Type 1 Diabetic Kids and Their Families with a Fun and Easy-to-Use Platform.
Empowering Type 1 Diabetic Kids and Their Families with a Fun and Easy-to-Use Platform.
DIABEFIT APP
DIABEFIT APP
Role
Role
Led the project as a UX researcher and designer.
Led the project as a UX researcher and designer.
Team
Team
1 Project Manager, Design Team, Business Team, Engineering Team, Founder of the app
1 Project Manager, Design Team, Business Team, Engineering Team, Founder of the app
Timeline
Timeline
3 months
3 months
Project Overview
Project Overview
Diabefit is an app designed to support children aged 5 to 10 years old living with Type 1 diabetes.
The app provides a playful and easy-to-use interface to help kids and their caregivers manage diabetes effectively through gamified health tracking, educational content, and reminders.
The goal is to foster independence in diabetes management while ensuring engagement and learning through child-friendly design.
Diabefit is an app designed to support children aged 5 to 10 years old living with Type 1 diabetes.
The app provides a playful and easy-to-use interface to help kids and their caregivers manage diabetes effectively through gamified health tracking, educational content, and reminders.
The goal is to foster independence in diabetes management while ensuring engagement and learning through child-friendly design.
Why Diabefit?
Why Diabefit?
Managing Type 1 diabetes at a young age can be daunting for both children and their families.
Existing apps in the market are often too complex, overly clinical, or not engaging for children.
Diabefit bridges this gap by offering an intuitive platform tailored to young users, making diabetes management a less stressful experience for families.
Managing Type 1 diabetes at a young age can be daunting for both children and their families.
Existing apps in the market are often too complex, overly clinical, or not engaging for children.
Diabefit bridges this gap by offering an intuitive platform tailored to young users, making diabetes management a less stressful experience for families.
What was the problem?
What was the problem?
Children and their parents/caregivers struggle to manage diabetes due to a lack of accessible and engaging tools.
Existing apps are often too complex, overly clinical, or not designed with young children in mind.
Emotional well-being is overlooked, leaving children and their family anxious about diabetes management.
Children and their parents/caregivers struggle to manage diabetes due to a lack of accessible and engaging tools.
Existing apps are often too complex, overly clinical, or not designed with young children in mind.
Emotional well-being is overlooked, leaving children and their family anxious about diabetes management.
Problem Statement
Problem Statement
Children aged 5 to 10 with Type 1 diabetes and their parents/caregivers need a solution that simplifies diabetes management, provides interactive education, and supports emotional well-being.
Children aged 5 to 10 with Type 1 diabetes and their parents/caregivers need a solution that simplifies diabetes management, provides interactive education, and supports emotional well-being.
User Research
User Research
To gather insights into the challenges and needs of children with Type 1 diabetes and their caregivers, we conducted in-depth interviews with caregivers and healthcare professionals. The interviews were semi-structured, allowing for flexibility while ensuring key areas were covered.
To gather insights into the challenges and needs of children with Type 1 diabetes and their caregivers, we conducted in-depth interviews with caregivers and healthcare professionals. The interviews were semi-structured, allowing for flexibility while ensuring key areas were covered.
Interview
Interview
Key Insights:
Overwhelming Responsibilities: Caregivers expressed feeling burdened by the constant attention required for diabetes management.
Engagement Challenges: Children lose interest in tools that are not visually engaging or interactive.
Emotional Strain: Many children fear needles, and caregivers feel helpless during those moments.
Preference for Gamification: Rewards and playful interfaces are more effective in keeping children engaged.
Lack of Intuitive Tools: Current apps often focus on tracking without addressing educational or emotional needs.
Participants:
4 caregivers of children aged 3 to 10 with Type 1 diabetes.
2 pediatric endocrinologists.
Recruitment:
Participants were recruited via diabetes support groups, pediatric clinics, and personal networks. Caregivers were selected based on their willingness to share experiences and represent diverse backgrounds (urban/rural, working/non-working parents).
Questions Asked:
Participants:
4 caregivers of children aged 3 to 10 with Type 1 diabetes.
2 pediatric endocrinologists.
Recruitment: Participants were recruited via diabetes support groups, pediatric clinics, and personal networks. Caregivers were selected based on their willingness to share experiences and represent diverse backgrounds (urban/rural, working/non-working parents).
Questions Asked:
Key Insights:
Overwhelming Responsibilities: Caregivers expressed feeling burdened by the constant attention required for diabetes management.
Engagement Challenges: Children lose interest in tools that are not visually engaging or interactive.
Emotional Strain: Many children fear needles, and caregivers feel helpless during those moments.
Preference for Gamification: Rewards and playful interfaces are more effective in keeping children engaged.
Lack of Intuitive Tools: Current apps often focus on tracking without addressing educational or emotional needs.
User Persona
User Persona
I created 2 personas to understand their pain points and expectations. This was very helpful for me to focus on target users and not to lose sight who to design for.
I created 2 personas to understand their pain points and expectations. This was very helpful for me to focus on target users and not to lose sight who to design for.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive Analysis
I performed deep analysis of functional competitors and extracted important features. While doing this research, I investigated 3 apps to gather insights into their strengths and weaknesses.
I performed deep analysis of functional competitors and extracted important features. While doing this research, I investigated 3 apps to gather insights into their strengths and weaknesses.
Takeaway: While Rufus caters to children, its features are not fully gamified or personalized, leaving a gap for Diabefit to innovate.
Takeaway: While Rufus caters to children, its features are not fully gamified or personalized, leaving a gap for Diabefit to innovate.
User Flow
User Flow
Next, I created a user flow for the application. This process helped me decide how the app’s user experience might be designed to cater to the user’s needs.
Next, I created a user flow for the application. This process helped me decide how the app’s user experience might be designed to cater to the user’s needs.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
We explored the basic flow that considered all our findings with the ”Crazy 8’s” method using paper and pen. This collaboration was between the founder of the app as well as three designers including me (ux designer),a lead designer and Principal UX Designer.
We explored the basic flow that considered all our findings with the ”Crazy 8’s” method using paper and pen. This collaboration was between the founder of the app as well as three designers including me (ux designer),a lead designer and Principal UX Designer.
Final Design
Final Design
I worked on the high fidelity individually and designed from scratch in collaboration with the design, engineering and business team.
I designed the whole solution for both end-users (children and parent/caregiver) backed by strong decision-making to create an experience that did not require a big learning curve for the users.
I worked on the high fidelity individually and designed from scratch in collaboration with the design, engineering and business team.
I designed the whole solution for both end-users (children and parent/caregiver) backed by strong decision-making to create an experience that did not require a big learning curve for the users.
Parent/Caregiver
Clean and minimal step onboarding with parental settings to help parent/caregiver support their children
User can edit, delete, add entries in the log on behalf of the child to prevent from emergencies.
Children
Children
Easy and visually appealing onboarding
Easy and visually appealing onboarding
Intuitive home screen where user is given guidance to navigate through the app. User-friendly reminders to help users engage with the app.
Intuitive home screen where user is given guidance to navigate through the app. User-friendly reminders to help users engage with the app.
Educational content is made fun and easy to understand for the users by including adventures and short video tutorials. To keep the app engaging for the user, progress screen is created to track the levels and earn rewards on completing the tasks.
Educational content is made fun and easy to understand for the users by including adventures and short video tutorials.
Playful gaming feature for logging entries and getting rewards
Clean and minimal step onboarding with parental settings to help parent/caregiver support their children
Playful gaming feature for logging entries and getting rewards
To keep the app engaging for the user, progress screen is created to track the levels and earn rewards on completing the tasks.
Parent/Caregiver
Intuitive home screen where user gets an overview of how well the child is managing its diabetes condition and is given reminders to log any entries missed by their child. User can find the trends and insights with the data given by the child to help manage diabetes better.
User can edit, delete, add entries in the log on behalf of the child to prevent from emergencies.
For parents/caregivers emotional well-being, a blog feature is created to help them stay-up-to-date with diabetes management and gain support from the community.
Seamless data sharing feature is designed, so that users can share the child’s reports, glucose readings, trends directly to the pediatrician or download the files in pdf format for later use.
For parents/caregivers emotional well-being, a blog feature is created to help them stay-up-to-date with diabetes management and gain support from the community.
Seamless data sharing feature is designed, so that users can share the child’s reports, glucose readings, trends directly to the pediatrician or download the files in pdf format for later use.
Intuitive home screen where user gets an overview of how well the child is managing its diabetes condition and is given reminders to log any entries missed by their child. User can find the trends and insights with the data given by the child to help manage diabetes better.
Final Prototype
Final Prototype
Impact
Impact
90% of parents/caregivers in the pilot test reported reduced stress levels in managing their child’s diabetes.
Children engaged with the app an average of 4 times daily, indicating high usability and enjoyment.
Pediatricians noted improved obedience to glucose monitoring schedules among test users.
90% of parents/caregivers in the pilot test reported reduced stress levels in managing their child’s diabetes.
Children engaged with the app an average of 4 times daily, indicating high usability and enjoyment.
Pediatricians noted improved obedience to glucose monitoring schedules among test users.
Key Learnings
Key Learnings
Simplicity matters: Designing for young children required stripping away unnecessary features and focusing on intuitive, engaging interactions.
Empathy-driven design: Observing caregivers and children highlighted the importance of emotional support features alongside functional tools.
Collaboration is key: Working closely with the founder ensured alignment with the app’s vision, while input from the business and marketing teams helped refine the product strategy.
Simplicity matters: Designing for young children required stripping away unnecessary features and focusing on intuitive, engaging interactions.
Empathy-driven design: Observing caregivers and children highlighted the importance of emotional support features alongside functional tools.
Collaboration is key: Working closely with the founder ensured alignment with the app’s vision, while input from the business and marketing teams helped refine the product strategy.