Migraine Monitor Usability Testing

The Elon University UX Research Team was contacted by Health Monitor Network to conduct usability testing on the app.

Designed by neurologists, Migraine Monitor tracks your triggers and treatments, records your symptoms and connects you anonymously with other migraine patients.
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https://migrainemonitor.com/patients/

Summary

We proposed solutions, including mockups demonstrating how those solutions may be implemented, to the client. These solutions will be considered and implemented at the client’s discretion following the conclusion of the project.

PDF files with full write-ups will accompany the sections to which they are relevant.

Overview

Client Name: Health Monitor Network

Client App Name: Migraine Monitor

Client App Purpose:  A way for individuals, suffering from migraines, to track their triggers and treatments, record their symptoms and connect anonymously with other migraine patients. There is also the ability for doctors to monitor their patients’ migraine care through their online dashboard.

Client Target Audience (provided by Client data, also supported by the migraine data/research listed in the persona section below- unable to find data in Alexa, Quantcast, Similar Web )

• Female
• Ages 25 – 50
• Suffer from migraines

Client Objectives:

• Understanding the journey of the application from the app store or google play store to installation
• How to keep users engagement levels high / dropout rates low
  • What will make users want to come back and continue using the app?
• Examine the general navigation and ease of use of the application

Persona

Testing and Analyzing Results

Our findings were as follows:

Positive Points:

• Migraine Monitor (MM) is easy to find in the app store. None of our participants struggled to locate the app.
• The overall presentation of MM within the app store is clear and well presented. A majority of participants thought MM’s color scheme & screen designs were more appealing than Migraine Buddy (MB), stating the design appeared “clean, crisp & calming.”
  • Participants were able to gain a good understanding of what MM offers based on the description in the app store.
• The iconography is visually appealing and exhibits a consistent design.
• The process of registering for MM is straightforward and quick to complete.
• The process of recording a migraine is easy to complete and understand.

Frustrations / Challenges / Dislikes:

• MM has less reviews and fewer stars in the app store than MB.
  • While participants were willing to download and try MM, reviews and ratings are the first things our participants look at when downloading the app. If they had to decide between the two, these ratings and reviews could influence their decision on which to download.
• Half of our participants stated they would likely not use the doctor component as they would not want to communicate with their doctor through an app.
• The meaning and/or functions of unfamiliar/uncommon icons tend to be unclear.

• The tutorial was too long & confusing.
  • Some participants were confused because they thought the tutorial was interactive
  • There was confusion as to why it appeared before entering the app
  • Found some components of the tutorial were not presented in a linear/organized manner
• Participants experienced frustration with the password functionality for registering/ logging in.
  • There are unspecified rules for creating a password which caused participant errors and multiple entry attempts.
• There is a lack of visual hierarchy in the profile.
  • Participants found it difficult to see the reminder to log headaches.
• It was difficult to find common medications to add within the profile (i.e. ibuprofen).
• Participants found it very challenging and frustrating to find a migraine that had been recorded / entered into the app.
• The presentation of the results were confusing, some participant went to the ‘Calendar’ and some went to the ‘Report’ screen which did not provide the full summary of the migraine they just entered.

Proposed Solutions

• Advertising Migraine Monitor to have a more prominent app store presence.
  • Encouraging users to leave reviews.
• Ensuring that the presentation of the Primary Provider component is clearly indicated as optional.
• Keeping the size of MM as small as possible as it could become a deterrent if it becomes too large.
• Simplifying, reordering and placing the tutorial after the user signs into the app.     

• Defining and clearly outlining rules specifying credentials required to have in the password during the registration process and adding the option to show/hide the password so that users are able to see any mistakes they may have made while typing.

• The Profile Screen needs visual hierarchy.
  • For instance, an increase of font size to the ‘Log Headache’ reminder will help it stands out from surrounding elements.

• Streamlining MM use of icons, using a single icon for each function or concept it is supposed to represent.

• Smaller pool of icons should contain distinct visual representations; for example, many of the current icons mimic the appearance of a notepad, checklist, or document, and these types of similarities are confusing for users.
• Functionality of each of these icons should match the expectations of the users upon viewing them.
  • By maintaining awareness of how some icons may be used in other contexts, such as with the provider messages’ “Red Cross” icon often used to represent hospitals or other urgent medical aid, MM can utilize these contexts to either reinforce the functionality of its icons or avoid unnecessary conflicts with users’ expectations.
• Making the ‘Detailed Report’ page available and prominently featured on the overall summary page as well as on the home screen. 
• Restructuring the information architecture on the detailed summary page to make reading and understanding migraine data approachable and quickly consumed.

• Making iconography more succinct across the application, thus eliminating navigation confusion when attempting to locate the summary.

Mockups

Low-fidelity mockups of the proposed solutions were made for screens covered by the scope of our testing, which were used as a brainstorming method and reference for our high-fidelity mockups (above).

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Client Reports

Condensed reports were sent to the client to accompany a conference call presentation and Q&A session. Both the client report and presentation files are available in PDF form below.