Let me tell you a little story of how I managed being a solo designer at an early stage startup.
Meet my midjourney-generated AI characters - they'll be guiding the story.
My AI bot 'Insun.ai'
My AI pet 'serial questioner'
(It's 3 months old 👶🏻)
Hey Insun! Did you join this early-stage startup as the only designer?
Yeah! So everything here is designed by myself from 0 to 1 :D
Been working part-time from May 2023 so it's been 7 months so far.
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Why did *Noetic* even exist? 🤔
The main problem they were trying to solve was simplifying the process of getting diagnosed for neurodivergent conditions!
a.k.a. reducing the cost and wait times.
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Gimme the problem statement asap 😫
Based on the usability testing sessions conducted remotely with 5 users,
Users were not being communicated how their total scores and results were calculated from the clinical side
Users were not given enough clarity and guidance on what to do next after completing the screeners
Users expressed confusion at the often long and ambiguous screener questions
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Part 1 - translating founders vision
Part 2 - after usability testings
You didn't explain why they are a problem… 🙁
Be patient, I was going to!
If they are not being openly communicated how their scores/results are calculated, how are they supposed to trust us?
If they don't know what to do next and don't feel support enough, why would they come back to our app?
If they are confused and cannot answer the screener questions correctly, how are we supposed to give them the results?
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Part 1 - translating founders vision
Part 2 - after usability testings
Fine. How did you address them then? 🔍
Working closely with the clinical research team to accurately translate their research into the interfaces was key 🔑. As the designer, I worked as a facilitator and a mediator to support the users' needs.
facilitating cross-functional meetings to reach design decisions
filtering out what the user has to know from all the data-heavy clinical information (that they really dont care about ✋)
leaning on my visual skills to interpret those not-so-fun information in a user-friendly and engaging interfaces 🗣
Testing with the users to validate the direction and if my translation/interpretation works
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Midjourney prompt I used for this image - 'a designer trying to propose business direction, solve the problem, interpret clinical research, design great interfaces, manage stakeholders, building a design system from the ground up all at once
Previous version
User-friendly version
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
First iteration 😱😭🥶
Can it be more obvious than this that it's a healthcare app?
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
User-friendly version
I've advocated the 'View roadmap' flow for months - more on that soon.
I dont get it 😒 Explain to me why they are user-friendly?
In a nutshell - I was reducing cognitive overload and managing expectations clearly which was especially crucial for our neurodivergent audience.
reduced the UI elements to the bare minimum
improved visual hierarchy
strategic use of colours
re-decided on the name with the clinical research team and took out the repeating copy
implemented consistent iconography for visual cohesiveness / intuitiveness
How well did you consider the neurodivergent audience really 🤔🚨
I focused on archetypes to effectively address user needs. Here are core behaviours & needs for our target audience (ADHD & Autism):
Core behavior 1: Difficulty sustaining attention
Need: Break tasks into smaller, manageable chunks, and provide frequent breaks.
Core behavior 2: Adaptability strugges (anxiety in unpredictability)
Need: Make it clear what they're walking into - e.g. clear and predictable layouts, progress indicators, reduced visual clutter
Ok nice. Now is the time to share the challenges you faced at Noetic while solving this problem 😁
Well, as the only product designer at an early-stage startup, the main obstacles for me were:
No access to the 'real' users
Constantly blocked from waiting for decisions
Lack of seniors to guide me
Lack of engineering staff (We had a head engineer briefly)
How I tackled - 'No access to the 'real' users'
How I tackled - 'Blocked from waiting for decisions '
How I tackled - 'Lack of seniors to guide me'
How I tackled - 'Lack of engineering staff'
Nice one! Can I get a peek of the usability testing you conducted? 👀
Yeah! I'll link the usability testing report I've made alone here. Or you can click the right image.
I've also attached some preview images of the usability report below!
Impress me with the biggest change made after the usability testings? 🤔
So initially, one of the founders advocated the concise result page for the ease of readability.
After the usability testings - 5/5 users said they don't get what's next after the result page - I wanted to test out prioritising the helpfulness over conciseness.
How did it look after reiteration?
The most crucial direction I took after the testings was re-iterating on the 'result page' (see right) to:
clearly communicate all the available support
provide transparent clinical explanations
signpost them better towards the next steps and personalised support
hence the longer result page that has all the "next step" guidance the user might need.
Very cool - any fun story from collaborating with the clinical research team?
We had a discussion on the possibility of harnessing AI/NLP for intelligent screening.
This could help us address the limitations of the traditional screeners. (e.g. users not fully understanding the question)
I worked closely with the in-house clinician to go over his thoughts and visualise demo materials.
Harnessing AI/NLP to make screening intelligent
Demo flow - AI chatbot integrated into the screeners to make sure the user understands the question & answers adequately and consistently
Wow! Btw did you work with a design system?
Yeah! I created Noetic's design system from scratch - no tailwind involved. It's not huge but it gets the job done :)
Molecules!
Wow! Btw did you work with a design system? 🎨
Yeah! I created Noetic's design system from scratch - no tailwind involved. It's not huge but it gets the job done :)
Atoms
Colors / Typography / Atoms / Molecules
So Insun, you're not even neurodivergent. 🤷♀️ What did working at Noetic mean for you?
It was an honour to learn more and contribute to a meaningful project for the neurodivergent individuals - who truly deserves a greater understanding and support.
Polaroids with colleagues @wework
Those are kind words but sound cliché tbh 😪
Manners. I was getting to it!
Also being a part of an early-stage startup has provided me with the great level of autonomy and responsibility that I might not have found in a larger, more established company - which I believe I have made the most of.
I believe working in this environment has strongly rewarded me in resilience, flexibility, and problem-solving mindset.
Polaroids with colleagues @wework
You didn't tell me if Noetic solved the problem or not?! 🤫
Well… for now, I'd have to say no. We haven't yet been able to launch the product, so there are currently no users that are benefitting from our 'solution'.
The company is still in the early stage, so fingers crossed that the neurodivergent community can benefit from the cool Noetic mobile app soon!
Polaroids with colleagues @wework
What would it have looked like if they did solve the problem? 😀
Good question - you're getting smarter! 😮
We would have had some really joyful customers because they were able to get diagnosed faster and cheaper + get deeper insights about themselves (e.g. traits / impact areas) from our screening journey!
A central neurodivergence hub
