Me v PMDD
Fem Tech | Mental Health | Health Care
Services
UX Audit
User Experience
User Interface
Iconography
Illustrations
User Research
Competitor Analysis
Wireframing & Prototyping
App Design
Introduction
Understanding PMDD
The popular medical term premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is described as the cyclic recurrence of symptoms that impair a woman’s health, relationships, and/or occupational functioning. PMDD (Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder), a severe form of PMS, also may be a separate condition and requires the presence of 5 or more symptoms, 1 of which must be:
irritability,
depressed mood,
anxiety, or
affective lability.
These diagnoses should be based on prospective documentation of symptoms over at least 2 menstrual cycles and carefully distinguished from the premenstrual magnification of somatic or mood disorders. PMDD has only recently been formally recognised as an “official” diagnosis in the medical and mental health communities.
Me v PMDD
Brand Overview
Me v PMDD is a Symptom Tracker app that provides users a digital method to track PMDD symptoms, provide a guideline for self-diagnosis incorporating graphs that help doctors understand how to treat PMDD more effectively.
Me v PMDD app operates in a crowded market space and is not a first-to-market menstruapp. However, Me v PMDD takes period tracking a step further. It is specifically designed for women with PMDD who need the ability to track many mood symptoms that the leading period tracking apps do not cover in detail. The hope is to contribute to the changing tides surrounding women’s menstrual health and lead to better support, resources, and more effective treatment for women with PMDD.
The Need
There is a strong need for a solution that ties together various aspects of the prognosis of PMDD. This is achievable only when the app leads the user to action, in tracking all possible areas connected to the diagnosis as suggested in the Symptom Management Program which encompasses:
Self- regulation
Diet and Nutritional Modifications
Physical Activity
Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies
Problem Statement
The aim is to make Me v PMDD the preferred app of choice for women and persons Assigned Female at Birth (AFAB), among all other period tracking apps by providing a tool to add and manage personal affirmations, coping mechanisms, in-app access to peer support, suicide/crisis hotlines as well as finding doctors in the user's specific area, who treat PMDD.
It can be difficult to get diagnosed with PMDD because doctors often misdiagnose, have never heard of it, or don’t believe their patients have it. There are no current blood, x-ray or urine tests that can provide a definitive diagnosis of PMDD. Women/ AFABs will need to chart their symptoms and receive other lab results, to rule out other possible illnesses.
To put it simply, we frame this problem as a
How Might We statement
How Might We enable women/persons Assigned Female at Birth (AFAB) suffering from specific symptoms arising prior or during their menstrual cycles to detect, record and manage these symptoms, maintain a lifestyle log and self-love journal, through a digital solution to help them understand the symptoms and themselves better, such that the solution can help them take action to proactively seek effective treatment as required.
Understanding the Why behind the Redesign
Business Pain Points
Low conversions among users
Community based app/ not for profit resulting in lack of funding for platform based development
No updates to the application since 2018
Negative reviews on App Store and Play Store
User Experience Pain Points
Difficulty in locating features
Too many taps to get to a particular page
No reminders available to notify users about upcoming cycles or arising symptoms
Unintuitive user flow
No safety security feature to lock app with a password
No data protection notice/disclaimer
User Interface Pain Points
Disorienting layout
Background colors seems to take away focus from the central task.
User interface does not appear tactile
Wordy copy on buttons
Overuse of stereotyped colors
Information Architecture
In the absence of proper information architecture, the existing version of the Me v PMDD app has users voicing out concerns about the difficulty they face in using features or how they could not locate a feature that was already available.
Redesigning the User Flow
The process of redesigning the app begins with mapping user flows and the way screens should behave. The map below provides a big picture view of the entire application.
Ideation
The invaluable insights gathered through app reviews, surveys and interviews, were translated into sketches where multiple solutions were ideated for every page, with the overarching user flow in mind.
Interaction Design
Once the information architecture and the user flows are mapped out, the next step is to create a basic visual understanding of the pages of the app.
Wireframing is the method used to design the structural level of an app. Wireframes are used early in the development process to establish the basic structure of a page before visual design and content is added, that simplify navigation and the overall user journey.
Visual Design
Research conducted by Peyton et al stated that menstrual apps that they reviewed tended to use stereotypically feminine attributes with the interface being predominantly pink or using hearts and flowers in its imagery. Several app reviews considered femininity a more negative design trait. The very same users valued gender- neutral designs.
Staying true to the insights gathered through surveys and app reviews, a major overhaul was made to the color palette. The new color palette is elegant, clean and modern. It aims to evoke a sense of freshness without stereotyping the user.
The app also includes graphics and flat illustrations that make the screens more appealing and generate interest instead of a standard productivity app based interface.
The overall interface of the app has been kept simple, minimalistic and intuitive that follow a typical user’s mental model that would help achieve their goal of tracking their moods, symptoms and cycles.
