Mobile app: Designing the world’s first seizure forecasting app

Validating and testing novel seizure forecasting technology, before launching it to the world!

This is a teaser of the full case study, which is still being written. If you’re interested to know more, feel free to reach out at evenawong@gmail.com.

Approximately 3 in 10 Australians cannot control seizures despite medication.

At Seer, after years of research, we believe we’ve found an answer in seizure forecasting. Prior to the launch in June 2022, we needed to validate some existing design concepts for risk forecasting, and figure out what users actually felt about it. Then, we needed to explain the technology to around 250,000 Australians living with epilepsy in our official launch (no pressure).

Delightful illustrations courtesy of Drawkit

Overview

Problem

Seer was working on one of the biggest problems within the epilepsy space; seizure uncertainty. We had a few early concepts on the feature, but it was never validated with actual users.

How I helped

As the main Product Designer, I first conducted user interviews with a selected cohort to understand perceptions of the current risk forecasting feature. The research yielded surprising results, and I recommended a pivot in what we should redesign.

Impact

The app was launched to great reception, increasing its monthly active users from 1300 to 2200, receiving overwhelming positive feedback, and hey, we made the ABC news!

  • User interviews

    Workshop

    UI Design

    Prototyping

    Animation

  • Product Owner

    Product Manager

    Software Developers

    Data Scientist

  • 3 months

Recap of impact

95% positive feedback

526 of 551 users who sent feedback said that the app was helpful, and easy to understand.

50% increase in engagement

Number of users actively reporting seizure events using our app increased by 50%

We made national news

The app was featured on ABC news, and has been recognised in the Prime Minister Science Awards.

The app goes national

I also wrote, narrated, and animated this video... which was used in ABC’s official coverage of the app.

How’s that for being a start-up swiss army knife ? :)

Design Challenges

Interviewing vulnerable populations

Talking to users who lived with seizure burden meant that a sensitive, nuanced approach to interviewing was required.

Stepping up and into bigger shoes

The sudden departure of my Design Lead meant that I had to rapidly step up to lead research and design, and keep all the stakeholders happy!

When the research doesn’t quite match the business plan…

Research yielded surprising results about user engagement with seizure forecasting… which meant difficult decisions had to be made regarding a pivot.

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