Extended reality: A product first of its kind in New Zealand.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement with NIHI, I have omitted confidential information in this case study.
Background and context:
The National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI) provides innovative healthcare to improve the health of New Zealanders.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects 1800 children annually in New Zealand; but is poorly understood. Those with FASD lack the support needed to become self-sufficient adults.
The team at NIHI wanted to develop a Virtual Reality tool, to educate and support individuals with FASD.
My role:
Extended reality (XR) research
User interviews
Problem statement
Storyboards
Ethical considerations - research
Wireframes for landing pages (web)
Product release roadmap
Design team:
Vasuda Mistry
Nicholas Watt
Karly Cheung
Stakeholders:
Defined by NIHI, as creators and users of the tool:
FASD project management and coordination team
FASD VR Tool project sponsors
Users: Healthcare professionals and educators
Users: Families affected by FASD
My team and I were involved in Discover, Define and Ideate of the Design thinking process, due to time and budget constraints, which were always changing.
Design process:
Project scope:
For this two-year project, my team and I completed the outlined tasks within a ten-week timeframe:
XR research:
I researched all of the computer-generated environments (VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and interactive 360 video to get a better understanding of what these technologies are and how they are used.
Key information has been summarised here:
This comparison chart summarises the differences between the XRs and was used as a reference for recommendations to stakeholders.
User interviews:
We needed to conduct interviews to obtain information on users’ knowledge of FASD and VR, and areas of concern they thought the new tool should cover, to help them inform others of FASD. Three main user groups were defined by the project management team:
General practitioners (GPs)
Social workers
Educators (I was responsible for interviewing this group)
[Due to ethical considerations, myself and the design team weren’t allowed contact with families of affected individuals, so couldn’t interview them]
Interview analyses & findings
After I summarised my findings, my team and I identified common themes.
Accessibility of the tool was the main concern expressed, which would help us determine which XR would be most suitable for all our users.
Our research and findings indicated that Interactive 360° video best meets user needs, because it is:
The most accessible
Has the most features for a low budget
Provides 2-3 sensory experiences
Problem statement:
[Our stakeholders decided that social workers would be the first users of the tool - so I used my team’s interview findings to create the following problem statement]
Social workers need to better understand FASD and efficiently support people affected, because they need to easily offer them the guidance they need to understand their condition, live normal lives and reduce the stigma associated with FASD.
Storyboards:
Stakeholders agreed to shift from VR to interactive 360° video, so our ideation focused on storyboards and content that addressed user needs
I used storytelling from perspectives of different individuals for each iteration, to increase empathy
I produced eight iterations of storyboards. One example is shown below
Click here to see the rest of my storyboards.
Storyboard: Experiencing challenges: Perspective from FASD affected individual
Goal: For social workers to understand how an affected individual experiences challenges associated with FASD
Ethical considerations:
I researched ethical implications for our storyboards, due to the sensitivity around FASD and potential effects of extended realities.
Physical concerns: Motion sickness may occur, particularly with headset usage
Psychological concerns: Enhanced audio-visual effects could be overwhelming for some users
Privacy violation: Resemblance to user stories was possible, although personal records weren't accessible
Application to our storyboards:
Scenes centered in one location with minimal movement
Recommended minimal visual effects (3 flashing/blinking lights per second) following WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines
Used fictional characters, events, and locations
Wireframes:
After finalising the content, NIHI began plans for hiring a filming crew to bring our storyboards to life. At this point, we shifted focus to ideating the landing page exclusively for the interactive 360° videos. I completed sketches to generate ideas before I started, to maximise efficiency.
Click here to see sketches and all iterations of my wireframes.
I made my designs mid-fidelity, so that the team taking over following our ten weeks would better understand my work and continue on from it.
Version 1
This is part of the first wireframe version I created (above the fold). Stakeholders pointed out the following:
The image needed to be more reflective of the FASD experience
UI elements (strong colours) would have accessibility issues
Cards below the hero image are obscure
Click here to see the full page and video pages for Version 1.
Following stakeholder meetings, I iterated several more designs for the landing page, focussing on accessibility and usability. I sought feedback from other designers and applied design principles for consistency.
Version 6
This is the sixth wireframe version I created (above the fold). This was one of two options stakeholders favoured. A few elements I changed:
The hero image is a preview video, to give users more clarity of what this page is about
Colours have been muted, for accessibility
Usability heuristics have been considered and applied, to improve page navigation
Click here to see the full page and video page for Version 6
At this stage, our landing pages needed to be refined; however, this would be done after project management had decided on the number of videos and final content for the landing page.
For the last week of my internship, we were beginning to explore details of product release, to determine timelines and other jobs to be done.
Product release roadmap:
Our stakeholders advised that the tool would be promoted in stages, in accordance with funding. My team and I collaborated to identify three different pathways:
1) A professional development tool for social workers
2) A prevention and promotion tool for clients of social workers
3) A general tool for raising awareness for both social workers and clients
I was responsible for creating a roadmap to outline the tool’s promotion. This was out of the scope of my experience; however I researched several examples and applied my new knowledge:
Project outcome:
My partner and I completed phases of the project which were required by the project management team, along with an extra task (product release roadmap). We also managed to convince stakeholders to choose 360° video experiences, instead of virtual reality, as determined from our research and interviews.
Next steps: Prototype, Test… Ideate?
The digital team and stakeholders will need to complete the following tasks, for the remaining duration of the project:
Test and refine storyboard scenes with research participants.
Refine landing page designs, observe social workers' (testing), and apply changes
Determine tool dissemination through a roadmap or adapt based on business strategy changes.
Click here to see the full details of this project.
Retrospective:
Challenges
My main challenge was setting milestones and goals for the ten-week period. Engaging in the discovery phase required honing my questioning skills and utilizing stakeholder feedback. With guidance from a mentor and a senior UX designer, I conducted relevant research to inform subsequent design-thinking processes.
What’s next?
I spent a lot of time researching accessibility and the WCAG guidelines towards the end of this project, and there are still some elements of my designs which need to be further enhanced; so I would like to continue to learn about and apply more of the WCAG guidelines to aspects of this project, and to others.