Drew Long
Lexical

Lexical

Client
New product concept

Over one month I completed end-to-end design on an early stage prototype for a vocabulary learning app. With medical professionals as the target users, I conducted primary and evaluative research of an app inspired by the principle of associative learning.

Role

UX Designer and Researcher

Duration

One month

Tools

  • Information architecture,
  • Wireframing,
  • Prototyping,
  • Competitive analysis,
  • User research,
  • Usability testing

Objectives

Perform competitive analysis and user research

Design the low-fidelity prototype for a mobile app

Conduct first-round usability testing based on prototype

Problem

Career professionals in technical fields are continuously learning jargon and technical language, especially in healthcare settings. Web searches are easily forgotten and don’t leave a trace. Context, however, is everything.

What if there were a learning app based on associating terminology with user notes and contextual indicators?

Phase 1: Research

Competitive analysis of vocabulary learning apps suggested integrating the following key features:

  • intuitive and familiar interface with minimal onboarding
  • fully and immediately functional to first time users
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In user interviews and surveys, health science professionals described the challenge of learning terminology at work. Most indicated the lack of any system for doing so.

A proto-persona was developed based on user research.

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Phase 2: Design

The user flow with its many decision points reflects the user's power to create a bespoke glossary of personally significant terms and associations.

In flow 1 (left), the user adds content. Multiple decision points reflect the number of choices about the type and application of content. In flow 2, the user searches content by entering a tag.
In flow 1 (left), the user adds content. Multiple decision points reflect the number of choices about the type and application of content. In flow 2, the user searches content by entering a tag.

The wireframes reflect a constructivist approach to learning:

  1. new user opens app to a clean but empty UI
  2. user adds content: terminology, notes, images
  3. user builds associations between terms and notes using tags (e.g., people, place, date)

The first time user opens an app that has no content, like an empty moleskin. The UI suggests a notetaking app.
The first time user opens an app that has no content, like an empty moleskin. The UI suggests a notetaking app.

I built a low-fidelity prototype incorporating the hand drawn wireframes using Marvel.

Phase 3: Evaluation

For usability testing, the fundamental consideration was to find role-matched, authentic potential users of the app: health science professionals. Through my personal network, I connected with:

  • a doctor
  • a nurse
  • a nurse practitioner
  • a health policy specialist

Usability testing was highly productive, revealing several major usability issues. Download the full usability testing report, including the script, scenarios and notes.

Usability Testing Report-Lexical228.6KB
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Outcome

The challenge in this project was limiting the scope of work. Fully realized, this project would likely require cognitive scientists, computer scientists, experts in visualization.

The lesson for me as a future UX designer and researcher is to narrow my focus and recognize the limits of what is achievable given realistic constraints of time, money, resources.

drewlong.ux@gmail.com · Linked In · Resume · Medium

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