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HANDHELPER APP 
Feb - Mar 2023



HandHelper App Demonstration

This is a 5 week arduino project for a design course at SFU. Our team was tasked to create a project using sensors related to health monitoring through researching existing problem areas and solutions. For the last week, I was responsible for creating the user interface that acompanied the device. I also took part in researching to help gain insights for our project.

MY CONTRIBUTION           TEAM                          TOOLS


Visual Design                         Daphne Borrel          Figma
User Interface Design           Karina Shuen            Arduino
User Experience Design       Leanne Ngong          Processing      
User Research                        Michelle Wang





1. PROBLEM AREA 


 In our exploration of health monitoring challenges, our team focused on arthritis—a condition causing incurable joint inflammation and pain, primarily prevalent in the hands. Through research, we learned more about its widespread impact affecting over 350 million individuals and gaining key insights that would help narrow our scope. 




2. INSIGHTS 


We discovered that within those 350 million people with arthritis especially older adults struggle with


USER DIFFICULTIES


① Stiff Joints makes it difficult for those with arthritis to move their joints hard which limits their range of mobility.

② Severe Joint Pain can progress until the individual can no longer move making it hard for them to perform necesary daily tasks and acitvities.

 ③ Emotional Impact of Arthritis can create feelings of helplessness and frustration from not being able to perform everyday tasks. 



3.  PAIN POINTS

 With these insights in mind, we researched current devices that are designed to assist with arthritis. In doing so we observed some aspects of these products that could hinder joint rehabiliation.


① Hand Massager


 With the hand massager, the user is restricted from moving their hands which does not allow further movement which can limit the users range of mobility further.

② Grip Strengthener


With the grip strengthener, the user is only provided with one exercise which does not leave room for more flexibility and range of motion. 
③ Cold Laser Therapy


With cold laser therapy, the exposure to infrared lasers can exclude those who are pregnant or have cancer that want to use this device. 

EFFECTIVE FORMS OF RELIEF

With further research, we discovered two effective forms of relief.

① Hand Exercises



② Hot and Cold Therapy





4.  FRAMING 

 To faciliate an informed research based project considering our insights, we asked:

How Might We Effectively assist individuals with Arthritis in improving their range of movement to help ease pain through exercises ?

PROPOSAL




Our project proposal was to create a rehabilitation device called Hand Helper, which will assist the elderly with hand arthritis. We will create a stress ball that will help guide them through joint exercises by detecting their current pressure. This will increase their range of motion to relief joint pain.





5.  USER INTERFACE DESIGN



 While I developed the art direction of the app, I researched various styles and created different moodboards that captured our product and target user group.  Ultimately, I chose to maintain a clean and neutral color palette while incorporating a touch of yellow to infuse energy in order to distinguish our product from typical wellness apps.



ART DIRECTION



Screenshot of my moodboards in figma



KEY APP FEATURES

I studied important features that are present in similar wellness rehabiliation apps or games. With this I discovered that successful rehabiliation apps or tracking games all have features including



① Having a visual indication of user’s movement through tracking

② Users can visually see their stats

③ Instructions are clear and concise

③ Illustrations help demonstrate  steps more effectively

③ Users are aware of what step they are on



Screenshot of jumping jack challenge app



USER INTERFACE

I developed numerous iterations of interface designs with a primary focus on readability and simplicity but also keeping in mind that these elements were to be drawn with processing. This involved refining elements such as progress bars to guide exercise performance, stop/continue buttons, and maintaining sets indicators—all following a fundamental user flow during the prototype stage


Screenshot of User Flow




Screenshots of my user interface iterations #1


Screenshot of my user face iterations #3 (Ilustrations drawn by Leanne)




5.  SOLUTION

HAND HELPER APP

After conducting further research, specifically targeting seniors aged 65 and above with arthritis, I determined the significance of incorporating the following design guidelines into the user interface.


① Illustrations should be used to demonstrate exercises.
② Avoid unnecessary elements to avoid clutter and keep the interface simple  and easy to understand

③ No text smaller than 24pt to maintain legibility

③ Visual and text indications that tell the user how well they are performing

③ Inform user of the current and upcoming steps

③ Make users aware of their movement that is being tracked visually






USER INTERFACE STATIC PROTOTYPE



FINAL INTERFACE (ON PROCESSING)  + SENSORS

   CONTACT ME
  
  DMB7@SFU.CA / LINKEDIN