Supporting students in times of illness by offering assurance and compassion

Wikisick harnesses the power of student communities, experts, and doctors to provide the best remedies and actionable steps, helping students recover quickly and stay on track with their exams.

A project with University of Chicago of Medicine based startup, with another UX designer.

CLIENT

University of Chicago

TEAM

2 UX Designers

DURATION

9 Weeks

PLATFORM

Mobile

Project Description

Wikisick is a mobile application designed to support University of Chicago students in understanding, managing, and preventing illnesses.

The app leverages the collective expertise of the social community, medical experts, and doctors to provide guided assistance for identifying and addressing symptoms, offering precise solutions, and educating users on proper care and preventive measures.

Our Impact

"We want users to get actionable advice, not just advice from doctors."

- Dr Stephen Weber, Chief Medical Officer, SVP 
Clinical Excellence at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Increase in user engagement within the school campus driven by personalized recommendations and community-driven support.

Fewer missed deadlines as students recover faster and stay on track with their coursework.

Process

With just 8 weeks left before summer break ends, we broke down the sprint from defining the scope and product to creating final screens that could help launch the MVP and get it ready for testing.

College is already stressful, but when illness hits, it only adds to the challenge

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Through our research, we found out students feel

Helpless

Students often feel helpless when they fall ill in college, as limited resources and constant fatigue make it difficult to manage daily responsibilities.

Lonely

Research indicates that loneliness among college students ranges from 20% to 80%. For many, it's their first time away from home, and when illness strikes, it only amplifies their longing for the support of loved ones.

Frustrated

Frustrated, students often struggle to find accurate, non-generalized information, while limited campus healthcare access and commuting challenges add to the difficulty.

Students need information that’s not just accurate but helpful, relatable, and accessible.

INSIGHTS FROM PARTICIPANTS

Excessive generic medical advice, coupled with the absence of a space for sharing problems

leaves students unsupported and isolated

Introducing

An app that offers personalized guidance for managing illnesses, with help from social communities, experts, and doctors. It tailors recommendations based on the user's unique preferences and cultural background, ensuring relevant and contextually appropriate solutions.

An app that addresses students' health problems, offering relatable remedies

OUR APP IS ROOTED IN THESE 3 CORE VALUES:

Well-Being
Handling tough assignments and making deadlines shouldn’t sacrifice your well-being, at Wikisick we empower students to manage their illnesses and promote their health.

Community
When ill and away from home, students often feel helpless. Our community offers comfort through personalized posts and connections with friends who share similar backgrounds.

Veracity
Wiki-sick provides accurate health info, expert advice, and community insights, empowering students to make confident well-being decisions.

Curing student illness with curated remedies from medical experts and the community

The Care Navigator gathers input to provide tailored remedies, leveraging a curated blend of expert advice and community insights.

• Symptom, intensity and duration inputs
• Actionable recommendations based on feedback from other users
• History of symptoms and illnesses
• Ranking of recommendations

Peer-reviewed medical resources for students from diverse backgrounds

Wikisick offers students information that is curated by doctors, a shop to buy medicines, research alternative medicines and learn more about home remedies.

• Curated expert contents
• Store for buying medicines from your preferred pharmacy
• Professional help on-call

A supportive environment to share stories, uplift, and help each other through difficult times.

Our community and group pages allow students to talk with other people with similar backgrounds and interests

• Tags to help find relevant posts, filtering of posts
• Liking, commenting, and sharing posts
• Verified users
• Curated content with background information

Let's see what our users have to say

USABILITY TEST INSIGHTS

We designed a test with our existing user flows to gain evidence for our hypothesis and designs. We conducted this test with 10 to 20 students and found 4 main themes highlighted below.

Next Steps

01

Perform additional usability tests to identify opportunities and uncover any gaps.

02

Measure the success or impact rate of the design

03

Continue to refine and improve based on the feedback from users

04

Align with engineering team to determine the feasibility of the design

With Wikisick, you can take charge of your health and wellness, and join a community of students who care about each other.

Want to see how we did this? Click below to read our presentation and see our design process.

Like my designs? Or want to work together? Hit me up on LinkedIn or mail.

Let's Chat

apatil54@id.iit.edu
+1 (312) 866 7105

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