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
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
So what problem was *Noetic* trying to solve for the neurodivergent people?
Their main goal 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!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Gimme the problem statement!
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!
Midjourney prompt I used for this image - 'millions of online screening tool'
How did you address that?
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
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
The very first version I designed 😱😭🥶
I mean, can it be more obvious than this that it's a healthcare app? And no, I dont mean that as a compliment!
One of the previous versions of 'take screener'
Would it be pleasurable experience for them if if they are unaware of the options they are being recommended from? 'View roadmap' flow is crucial!
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
Another of the previous versions
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
💫 The latest user-friendly version of 'take screener'
I've advocated the 'View roadmap' flow for months - more on that soon.
By simplifying the process of getting diagnosed!
What challenges did you face 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)
That sounds tough, how did you navigate through them?
It was tough for sure! But on the bright side - I think I managed to tackle all of them to an extent.
Take a look at below!
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! 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!
Thanks! Any major design changes after the usability testing session?
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
How did it look before?
One of the co-founders advocated the simple and concise result page for the ease of readability.
After the usability testings, I wanted to test out prioritising the helpfulness over conciseness - 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. I'm working on presenting them nicely so do keep an eye out on the update :)
Design system coming soon
So Insun, I know you're not neurodivergent. What did working at Noetic mean for you?
It was an honor to learn more and contribute to a meaningful project for the neurodivergent individuals - who truly deserves a greater understanding and support.
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.
Polaroids with colleagues @wework
So tell me, did Noetic manage to solve the problem for the target audience?
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