Prep O'clock
An app to help you with Prep On-Demand
Role
Product Designer
Project type
Personal project
Duration
November 22 – January 23
Skills
Design for Good, in-depth research and usability testing
Overview
Helping LGBTQ+ community to be HIV protected.
Prep O’clock is an app aiming to help those taking Prep On-Demand. Prep is a drug that protects you from getting HIV, making your sex as safe as a preservative. It’s widely used in the LGBTQ+ community.
✋🏿Stop a sec.
Do you know what Prep is?
Here is what you should now to empathize with Prep Users!
There are two ways of taking Prep: Daily or On-Demand (when you know you are going to have sex). In the last case, you need to take it in a very specific way to be fully protected following the Rule 2-1-1. This is 2 pills the first dose and then 1 pill every day until two days after your last sex activity.
Challenges
1. Ever-changing Intaking Pattern: The number of pills needed changes depending on the action of the user (sex activity) which sometimes make the user feel insecure and with fear. The Intaking Pattern becomes more complicated than the basic Rule 2-1-1.
2. Complexity needs to be easy: The app needs to be able to smooth a journey full of pain points and always give a clear picture of the user’s protection.
Goal
1. Design with an On-Demand-first approach app: Create the first app that is focused on Prep On-Demand.
2. Inform about Rule 2-1-1 through design: Use design resources to teach the 2-1-1 pattern in a natural and empathic way to inform users whilst using the app.
Back to the future
I know, I know: «Process and research over design»… but who can avoid tasting the cake when it’s still warm?
It's alive!
This is the result of the first iteration of this project.
Table of contents
Click to go to a specific section
Research
Secondary Research
To start this project I did indirect research, checking medical meta-studies to get insights about pain points and general difficulties of taking Prep On-Demand as long as getting a deeper knowledge of the field related to the app.
“Prep: A gateway to improve routine health but a health risk if taking it wrong”, researchers say.
These are my main findings:
– Prep enhanced sexual self-esteem.
– Prep also serves as a gateway to improve routine health and increase sexual healthcare utilization.
– A choice between daily or on-demand Prep regimens could be offered to men who have sex with men who have less frequent sexual intercourse. But On-Demand basics only work well in men having sex with men.
– Taking Prep wrong have health risk and long-term consequences of resistance to HIV medication so need to be taken correctly.
Here are some of the studies I’ve reviewed
Primary Research
Following the intaking pattern on Prep On-demand is complicated.
“Did I take the pill today? 🤔”
One of the biggest concerns when you are taking Prep On-Demand
“We need to build an app to help with ‘On-Demand’ that shows where you are during all your Prep journey."
After understanding this drug’s central ups and downs and the On-Demand regimen, I conducted User Research among a group of Prep On-Demand users.
Interview Goals:
1. I want to find pain points when taking Prep On-Demand.
2. I would like to understand where the main fears and worries come from when you are taking Prep On-Demand.
3. I would like to know about personal experiences with similar apps and find gaps in the market to use them as opportunities for our design.
Interview Participants:
– 5 men that have sex with men
– 18-99
– Prep On-Demand users
– In countries where taking Prep is available
– Potential users with a non-typical profile (immigrants & black community)
Aggregated Empathy Map
Research - Pain Points
User Personas
User Story
User Journey Map
Problem Statement
Hypothesis Statement
Competitive Audit
“Why nobody is really focusing on Prep On-Demand yet?”
I conducted a Competitive Audit just before to ideate solutions to look for strengths and weak points in other similar apps. My main findings are the followings:
– Prep apps are missing the visual point of the Prep On-Demand Pattern.
– It is hard to know at a glance where you are in your Prep journey.
– As a user, you need to put too much effort into understanding the information the app gives you.
– They are designed as calendars, which is not ideal for Prep On-Demand. They work more like a set of alarms to avoid forgetting to get your pill.
– They are not user-friendly, empathic or done with a UX perspective.
– Very often you need to do too many steps to give the required information to the app to start to see the benefits of the app.
Product Goal Statement
Prep O’clock will let users easily track their Prep On-Demand journey which will help them to take it properly and be HIV protected with a user-friendly interface.
Ideating the product
User flow
Information Architecture
Wireframes
I explored several ways to transform the idea of the On-Demand journey in solutions that could works to visualize the intake pattern. I was trying to combine a visual appealing solution with a clear visualization of the intake pattern.
Creating different versions of every main screen to find innovative ideas.
Prototyping - Lo-fi version
Alpha version ready to be tested!
Usability Testing
Usability test - First round
“Prototype was too wordy, and your protection status is not always clear”, studies showed.
I did two rounds of Usability Tests. In the first one, I was focused on refining the functionality of the design to get the easiest solution to allow users to get Prep On-Demand and had clear information about their current status, anytime.
In the second round of research, I was focused on checking whether the ideas I had collected from my previous study were properly implemented and getting insights to refine the look & feel of the first version of my design to be as nearest as possible to the happy path.
After organizing my findings by priority, I implemented P1 Findings from my research so I could make sure the user journey would work properly and I would get my MVP. I didn’t find any P0 to address.
– Is the taking prep journey easy or difficult to use?
– Are we missing any steps in this process?
– Do the users feel assisted in every step of the process?
– Are there any moments where users have fear of taking prep wrong?
– Is this app covering the whole journey of a Prep On-Demand user?
Unmoderated usability study
Location: London & Madrid
Date: 22th Dec 2022
Length: 25 min.
User will be asked to use a prototype to complete some task
5 men (men having sex with men)
I’ve included 1 immigrant and 1 black man within research’s participants
If you want to check in more detail how I planned my usability test you can check it in the following button.
Usability test - Affinity Map
Usability Study Patterns
If you want to check in more detail the usability patterns I got from my research you can check the following button.
Usability test - Findings
– P1 – Create a permanent Status bar based on a clear color code.
– P1 – Implement a toggle button to activate notification
– P1 – Text explanations need to be reduced.
– P1 – Make the day’s bundles in a journey clickable to navigate through the days with it.
– P2 – Incorporate features to allow take Prep Daily.
Iterating on the design
Iterating
A clear status bar? Voilà!
I created a fixed Status bar while removing text weight.
A better timeout bar and notifications
I’ve added an animated timeout bar and a notification switch when it’s relevant for the user.
An improved hierarchy
I’ve flipped the items in my design to fix the problems with text weight highlighted during the Usability testing.
Prototyping - Moving to hi-fi
Prototyping - Hi-fi version
It’s alive!
Styling and Design System
Design System - Overview
I’ve created a simple Design System that allowed me to build the app more efficiently once I got all the main design decisions taken. Here is an excerpt of colors, typeface and components I’ve built for this app.
Design System - Colors
Design System - A11y
Design System - Card Designs & Components
Sorts of components & bundles
Card designs for the different statuses of a Prep journey
Wrap up and Future work
Wrap up
Designing this app is something that brought me a very personal and intimate relief. As a On-Demand Prep user, I wasn’t always sure if I was taking it properly and I personally felt the majority of the fears and pain points I found in my research. Creating an app that could potentially solve those ones made me feel how useful for the Society I could be as a UX designer. This kept me very motivated all the journey.
Future work
Here there are some ideas I couldn’t scope on this first iteration that could be addressed in future rounds:
– Design a user profile section with all your tracked journeys to share with sexual clinics.
– Integration with booking systems of sexual clinics to get tested and get Prep.
– Incorporate a Daily journey for Daily Prep users.
Drop me a message!
You can email me to sergioriquelmesanchez@gmail.com