A new app for employers to support their employees when planning for eldercare and give some light support during crisis situations
LivWell Connects App
TIMELINE
Discover & Scope: July-August 2022
Design Process: Oct 2022
App Launch: Winter 2023
Continuous Improvement: Ongoing
MY ROLE
Research
UI/UX Design
User Personas
User Flows
Wireframing
Business Strategy
User Journey
Information Architecture
App Design
TOOLS
Figma
FigJam
Adobe XD
Google Suite
Opportunities are all around
I had the honor of meeting the great team behind LivWell Seniors and LivWell Works in July of 2021. Our first meeting was exciting as my team and I intently listened to Rhonda Halterman, the CEO of LivWell. She described this faint idea she had about a resource app that would help people (hopefully before a crisis situation) with their elder care planning.
Although I wasn't familiar with the Elder Care planning process and the steps that one goes through to start, I could empathize quickly through the stories that Rhonda shared with us. She described the mental load that it takes on working adult children to figure out how to help their loved ones in crisis situations and not knowing where to start. She speaks on this topic regularly at the University of Iowa and informs employees that LivWell Seniors can help with this planning at no cost to them.
LivWell Seniors regularly guides people and points them in suitable directions based on their unique situations. Rhonda's idea is to help them before those crisis situations arise and treat elder care planning like you would financial planning. It's something that is going to happen eventually, so how can you get ahead of it as much as possible? How do you get this in the hands of the people that need it and how do you keep it going from a financial standpoint?
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Being a UI/UX Designer, it's always a privilege to be entrusted with someone's blooming ideas and turning it into a real thing. I always enjoy the process of uncovering and figuring out all of the little details. Turning that small dream into a reality is what drives me forward and prepares me to dive into the pool of possibility.
How can the LivWell Connects App help with the complexities of elder care planning?
To start shaping goals for the LivWell Connects App, a deeper understanding of the problem was needed. We needed more information about elder care planning and what that involves in a detailed measure. We understood from Rhonda's descriptions that this app is going to be a one-stop-shop to help individuals start planning for the future. If we did this right, it would streamline access to essential information for elderly caregivers, minimizing research time, and boosting productivity for employers like the University of Iowa.
As the idea blossomed, we had a lot of questions to be answered, but a few larger questions formed in our minds that would catapult us into the Discovery Phase of the project:
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What does the elder care planning process looks like?
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How much does elder care planning affect adult working children and who else does this benefit?
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What business strategies could be implemented to fund the continual growth of the app?
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What features could the app have besides being a resource app?
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Are there more things that could help the elder care planning process for app users?​​​​​
Understanding more about the problem and the opportunities ahead
Discover & Scope:
​During the discovery phase, we conducted as many interviews with as many members of the LivWell team as we could to understand the Elder Care Planning Process, their referral model and the elder care industry as a whole. After interviewing the subject matter experts, we created a large board with all the wishes, wants, and elder care planning details, and started to piece together an MVP (minimum viable product).
As we took a macro view of all the information we uncovered to understand the industry, we obtained a number of internal document resources to understand LivWell's current and intended audience. It became clear to us that there were even more opportunities for the app and features that we could incorporate.
​Business Opportunities: The main intended business strategy is that the LivWell Connects App was going to be marketed to HR Directors or CEO's and offered to employees as part of benefits packages. ​
A secondary revenue stream uncovered itself during the interviews. We noticed that LivWell has a number of partners that they refer people to for various services because of their excellent care or attention to details. This knowledge opened up an additional opportunity to feature partners for facilities or for other services that LivWell can vouch for as being a good partner and resource for the people they service. They could have these partners contribute article content to the app, as well as contribute monetarily to the app to have a marketable space within their 'Caring Communities' or 'Caring Network' pages.
​The app would need a space to show who was considered a preferred partner and give them space to share their specialties and services:
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Caring Communities: An easily filterable search of available properties in areas that LivWell supports.
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Caring Network: This extends to partners that are outside of facilities which could include legal and financial partner support.
​​Customizing the App for Users: Resource heavy apps are always used best when the content is tailored to it's users. The question then became, "How can we best tailor our content to users?" It was determined that a Survey of Needs was the best approach when a user is using the app for the first time and setting up their account.
The Survey of Needs had two goals to achieve:
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Help gather some information about the user and the person who is being planned for, in the event that they want LivWell to contact them and help with their elder care planning
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Curate content based on survey question responses to put relevant articles on their home page.
​Milestone Planning: Through the interviewing process and reviewing the process that LivWell Seniors undergoes while planning an elder care situation, we noticed that there are 'milestones' that could be created as a general checklist for users on the app to get them started with their planning. For instance, knowing what your elder has in place for investments, estates, veterans benefits, or even a track record for health history. These things are easy checklists to get started.
​Milestones feature:
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Help inform users on actionable steps they can take to start planning
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Make it a checklist that can be updated over time as users go through some of the big milestones for elder care
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How does eldercare impact employee performance, productivity, attendance, and mental health of working adults?
Rhonda has an established working relationship with the University of Iowa, and their HR representatives expressed interest in the LivWell Connects App as an employee benefit. As such, the University of Iowa conducts email surveys that employees fill out and we were provided with some anonymous data insights to understand their employee base better.
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Notably, within the University of Iowa, they have more than 14,000 employees and 66% of employees fall within the 45-65 age range, and 33% of them express caregiver-related concerns impacting their performance.
Percentage of University of Iowa Employees between ages 45-65
Percentage of University of Iowa employees that have expressed caregiver related concerns impacting performance
Based on this data and the insights we've gained so far, three main user personas were created: the Working Adult Child, HR Director, and an Individual Planning for their future.
​User Personas are utilized to represent a realistic picture of the intended LivWell Connects App audience - who they are, their goals, and any barriers they experience when achieving these goals. While this doesn't cover all of the potential users, it's just the start as it relates to the app's intended goals.
HR Director
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ASSISTANCE
A curated library of resources from an expert
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NEED
Increase employee productivity
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EXPECTATIONS
Provide an employee benefit in an area that is a major pain point for majority of their workforce
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GOAL
Employee retention and happiness
Adult Child
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ASSISTANCE
Seeking assistance from LivWell Works for a crisis situation or understanding options of potential care
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NEED
Assistance from LivWell Works & understanding next steps for current situations
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EXPECTATIONS
Receiving help from LivWell Works or knowledge from the app resources
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GOAL
Receiving help & knowledge
Individual Planning for the Future
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ASSISTANCE
A curated library of resources from an expert
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NEED
Resources outlining what should be done at each stage of life after retirement
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EXPECTATIONS
Resources outlining what to do in an emergency situation to feel more prepared during a crisis
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GOAL
Future Planning
Designing the Elder Care Planning App of Our Dreams
The product design process begins with empathizing with users to understand their needs deeply. This insight helps in defining the problem statement clearly. Next, ideation sparks creative solutions followed by prototyping and testing to refine those ideas into tangible products, ensuring they meet user expectations effectively. Some of these steps have already been covered in the Discover & Scope phase so let's skip ahead to the Define step!
It's important to note that while this process may seem linear, any of the design steps can be revisited at any time as the product undergoes refinement towards its final state.
DEFINE
After gaining a better understanding of the audience, required features, and business opportunities, I used a 'how might we...' statement to reframe the problem and encourage brainstorming.
"How might we create an elder care resource and planning app that is easy to use and is something that users want to regularly engage with?"
In addition to reframing the problem, the list of goals for consideration also needed to be defined.
LivWell Connects App Goals:
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Help individuals and families plan for elder care in the future or understand steps to take in crisis situations
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Boost employee productivity by cutting down research time for elder care
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Create a new revenue stream for LivWell Works​​​​
App Map: As with any product, it's good to start mapping out features and logistical pieces of the product. My first focus was on the user journey and how they were going to navigate the app. I made a couple iterations of this process, but landed on a simple map like below:
Survey of Needs: The survey is going to be served when a user logs into the app for the first time. Responses from the survey will inform what article content is going to populate on the user's home dashboard. The Survey of Needs went through several iterations as the app categories were refined throughout the design process.
Caring Network & Caring Communities Journey Map: Since the Caring Network and Communities significantly contribute to LivWell's app revenue, we aimed to create compelling incentives for businesses to invest in the app. The following image depicts one of the Journey Maps, highlighting access points to specific sections and showcasing sponsored articles contributed by various partners.
WCAG Compliance: When working with established brands or launching a new product, it's essential to conduct a color contrast check prior to starting the design process. This ensures buttons and text are legible, maintaining awareness of color combinations that may pose readability challenges for individuals with visual impairments.
IDEATE
At this stage, I have a pretty good idea of how the app is going to come together and it's time for wireframing and trying out ideas. I always start with wireframe sketches and work my way to the computer after I've done a good amount of quick thumbnails in my notebook. Wireframes are created after that.
PROTOTYPE & TESTING
Prototyping plays a pivotal role in the product development process, enabling designers to validate ideas, gather feedback, and refine concepts before final implementation, setting the stage for a rigorous testing phase to ensure functionality and user satisfaction.
Retrospective
This project officially launched to the app store in Winter of 2023. We're continuing to make improvements on it as we get feedback and additional data. When I look back on this from the beginning though, I was so glad I was able to be a large part of crafting this experience and creating a product that could really help people.
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Rhonda and Angie, who were our LivWell team champions, were over the moon when they saw the app and were so excited to finally have the app in their hands. They were even more excited to start sharing it with the University of Iowa and conduct a beta testing group to test the app. We're still in the planning phases of testing that out with the University, so I'll update this when we have feedback from them.
Bonus
Rhonda and Angie were so thrilled with the app and it's launch that they asked me to stretch my visual design skills and direct them to their branding and marketing materials to pair with their new app launch. To see that work, visit the link below!