Nijapanion
This research is geared towards providing a better medical experience for Nigerians travelling to India for medical treatments, its goal is to provide valuable access to Nigerian companions with the sole aim of creating a more comfortable experience for Nigerian patients during their medical period at the hospital in India.
The digital solution is geared towards providing a platform that would aid the networking of Nigerians in India and Nigerian patients that recently relocated to India for medical purposes. Most times these patients come alone and would need assistance that is best understood by people from their country. Naijapaniun provides a platform for free and paid for Nigerian patients helping them get the best out of their current visit on medical treatment in India.
Project Overview
Project: Private project Dec. 2021 - Jan 2022
Timeline: 1 month
Role: UX Researcher, Design Strategy, UX/UI Designer
Tools Figma, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Coral draw
Project summary
Approximately 20,000 Nigerians travel to India every year, spending above 1 billion USD on treatments, they haven't always had the best experience during their medical period in the country. Sometimes due to language barriers, religious beliefs and special assistance which can only be provided from someone from a specific ethnic group.
According to Al Jazeera, many Nigerians are lured into the country by these Indian hospitals because they know that Nigerian patients are in desperate need of such services, promising services that they will not keep up. Most times the patients come alone due to the huge cost involved in acquiring a visa for more than one person. The patient will definitely have a hard time getting the best experience during his or her stay at the hospital.
HMW…
How might we help Nigerians Patients engage the services of other Nigerians in India to alleviate dietary issues, combat loneliness and help with errands during their stay at the hospitals?
Persona
I went ahead and gave my clients a personality via a persona named Mary Amaka. She is a teacher and has recently been diagnosed with cancer. She would have to travel to India for treatment but unfortunately, no one would be travelling with her to aid her during her stay at the hospital. She needs a Nigerian companion who will assist her during her stay in India.
Paper wireframe
Once I had empathized with my persona and understood their pain points, I went ahead to create wireframes for a solution. I made sketches that were strongly backed with human-centred designs.
I made a series of sketches for every screen and assembled unique features that would enhance the efficiency of my solution.
Low-fidelity wireframe
After making individual sketches for my solution, I went ahead and created low-fidelity wireframes for my solution. These solutions were designed for easy navigations and addressed key pinpointed addressed by our persona.
After designing the individual screens for the low fidelity wireframes, I went ahead and assembled a low fidelity prototype.
Usability study: parameters
Study type: moderated usability study
Location: Canada Remote
Participants: 5 participants
Length: 20-30 minutes
2 rounds of useability studies were conducted with a series of adjustments made for a better user-centred solution.
Evaluation task
Sign in a patient, fill out hospital details, create an account. Select the category of companion titled Daily Companions. The tester will have to filter through some options within the daily companion which includes gender (female), tribe (Igbo), time available (6 am). After the filter has been completed, the tester is to select Jane lily as her companion. Then make a booking of 6 hours. Make payment and then exit to the home page.
Evaluation result
1
Testers pointed out that the fonts should be a little bigger. The fonts used for the various options on the filter menu should be increased.
2
They suggested that we add a confirmation page before the final payment confirmation page
3
A suggestion was made that the AM/PM option should be relocated to the right side behind the numbers.
4
The word gender should be changed from gender to sex.
5
The total number of raters should be added beside the ratings of a companion.
Hi-fidelity Prototype
Once the hi-fidelity mockup was completed I went ahead and created a Hi-fidelity prototype for my solution which went through a series of testings and iterations for a user-centred solution.
What I learned
I learnt the importance of empathy in design and the place of iteration and usability studies in coming up with an effective design.
From my research, I discovered that a lot of Nigerians who have travelled to India had had a lot of issues at the hospital especially Nigerians who travel alone.
Impact
Users found Nijapanion an effective medium for alleviating stress from Nigerian patients who travelled to India for medical reasons.
Some also made it clear that it would unite Nigerians more in India and build a caring community for Nigerians in general.
1
I would like to integrate a smartwatch feature that would synchronize with the application making it easier for users to get notifications and alerts ease.
2
With further iterations and user testings, I would like to carry out more researches on the application, expanding its feature as it creates better and meaningful services to the Nigerian patients travelling for treatments and companions in general.
3
I would like to integrate more accessibility features in the application which would cater to the needs of visually impaired citizens as well as hearing-impaired citizens. This would make the application more efficient for the masses.