Adobe XD
Lo-fi Prototypes
Gamification
Research
UX Design
Fay Beening
The ZGT hospital in Almelo were developing an application for people with Diabetes Mellitus type 2.
The goal of the app is to support people with DMT2 in managing their diabetes and
obtaining/maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A more detailed description of the research and design here.
Trough the implementation of gamification and personalised design the app will enhance the motivation of the user, as well as help them commit long term to a healthy lifestyle.
Focussing on the essence of the Diameter, it can be described as a personalised coaching system where
the patient can manage their food intake, physical activity (PA), glucose values and medication. All
these values can give clearer insights into their lifestyle habits in relation to glucose values and also
provide diabetes health care professionals information on the self-managing of the patient.
Though, the main problem is that monitoring this data feels timeconsuming for the patient and is often forgotten, increasing the chance of incomplete data.
This can be solved by addressing the motivation of each individual patient.
The use of gamification elements is an often used tool to enhance motivation and engagement in different settings.
We aim to develop an interface that motivates DMT2 patients to commit to a healthy lifestyle with gamification and good personalisation.
"How might game elements be able to provide the user with the tools to help manage and keep working on a healty lifestyle for Diabetes type 2?""
The first prototype of the app is based on the literature on gamification, personalisation and real user experience. From this, MoSCoW requirements are derived that serve as the fundament of the design. These requirements translated into the game elements of a goal and point setting system, feedback elements and an avatar. Following, an iterative design process including an evaluation with the target group resulted in the final prototype and requirements. The end result shows a prototype including the game elements and a re-design of the interface.
Based on a brainstorm on games played by the target group their player profile could be defined. Below are the game mechanics and dynamics that resulted from the brainstorm and additional research.
With this knowledge we started the design process. This resulted in the implementation of a point system, goal setting, avatar creating and insightful feedback. Troughout the itterations the main focus stayed on balancing the game elements to not overpower the importance of the other elements of the app.
The design of the app was not the main focus of this research. But when implementing game features in an app an accompanying story needs to be told. We wanted to achieve a feeling of fun and loose most of the aspects that would make this feel like a chore or too serious. The colours that We choose are bold and playfull. We stepped away from data visualisations that could come over as too clinical and made them as if they are part of the game environment.
Copyright © Fay Beening 2023