Role
Tools
Timeline
UI/UX Designer
UX Researcher
Figma
Miro
Adobe Suite
Jira
MAXQDA
June 2023 - Present
Product Manager
Developer team
Data Analytics team
3 UX Designers
Team
Introduction
MI Umbrella is the umbrella term for several collaborative efforts between the University of Michigan’s Schools of Information and Public Health and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services designed to improve data-driven responses to disease outbreaks. I am part of the UX team at MI Lighthouse, an initiative under MI Umbrella.
MI Lighthouse is a private dashboard that supports local health departments by providing authorized state officials of 82 Michigan counties with vaccine data visualizations to track Covid-19 vaccine uptake, assist in outbreak investigation and resource allocation decisions during the COVID19 pandemic.
Objective
Due to its popularity and demand, MI Lighthouse is being expanded. My primary objective was to design the next iteration (v2). Lighthouse v2 focuses on tracking vaccine uptake rates for multiple seasonal diseases such as influenza or diseases with long-term impacts such as MMR, as well as opening out the dashboard to other key stakeholders such as school administrators.
A new set of users and features calls for additional UX considerations and challenges. As a UX designer, my responsibilities included:
Planning the UX roadmap
Executing the research phase
Presenting research insights to internal stakeholders
Prototyping features for
MI Lighthouse v2
Prior to my integration into the team, research on the different types of Lighthouse users had been done through a round of interviews. Three distinct types of user personas were identified:
Understanding Lighthouse v1
In order to develop features for Lighthouse, I had to first understand what it already offers. MI Lighthouse v1 was a rapid response to the COVID19 pandemic, so it had limited functionality.
Personas
Michigan Care Improvement Registry is the vaccine database for the state. Lighthouse made this data accessible to local health departments.
Data Sourced from MCIR
Lighthouse provides detailed geographic vaccine coverage insights for COVID19 only.
COVID19 Data Only
Lighthouse provides vaccine data down to county and census tracts in Michigan.
Granular Data
A screenshot of the Map page of MI Lighthouse v1
Since the jurisdiction of some health departments does not align with county boundaries, users had a hard time getting geospatial information for vaccine coverage in areas under their jurisdiction.
Users do not have access to different demographic data in order to analyze the effect of vaccination efforts
Tracking vaccine coverage over time requires effort in the form of data collection and analysis. Users want an easier way to do this.
Users use Lighthouse visualizations and data to make informed decisions about vaccine clinics. So, they need a way to share this information with stakeholders.
Users would like more geospatial information on vulnerable populations to target efforts.
There is a lack of accessibility to robust data that could be used for planning clinics and outreach.
User Interviews
To understand how to improve upon the existing system, we conducted another round of interviews to learn how users use Lighthouse currently and identify additional needs that could be fulfilled.
We spoke to 20+ Lighthouse users via structured interviews and unearthed the following insights through affinity mapping:
Potential Solution
User Goal
Ideation
With a new set of user needs in mind, we set to brainstorming potential solutions and features that could fulfill them:
We sketched out feature ideas that we wanted to implement:
Sketches
Design Concept
Lighthouse v2 features a partial map layout with a vertical navigation bar and horizontal menu. Coverage rate for counties across the state are indicated using a diverging scheme of colors to help identify regions of high coverage with saturation.
The vertical navigation bar allows users to see geospatial visualizations on the map page, as well as graphical and tabular visualizations on the metrics page. The date picker features allows them to observe the coverage map at any point in time in history.
Users are able to apply different demographic filters to customize the map view. This aids them in getting a deeper understanding of the effect of vaccine initiatives undertaken by the health department. Users can also set the desired boundary (county level or LHD level) to visualize the data.
In order to supplement users' analysis of vaccine data. A county card displays general information about the vaccine uptake rates of regions within the county (in county view) and state (within state view). The card displays the number of doses and the coverage rate, specifically.
Before
After
No color-blind friendly palette
Color-blind friendly palette
Less customizability
More customizable visualizations through filters
Set to county boundaries only; limits users
User can set preferred boundary level: county or LHD
User cannot download recipient data
User can download recipient data
User cannot access historical data
User can access historical data
It's important to prioritize which user needs need to be addressed first. We learned so much from our user interviews and had so many ideas that we wanted to dive headfirst into, but stretching ourselves thin would have made it impossible to build something tangible in time. Focusing on one thing at a time helped.
Takeaways
Design documentation is essential to track how your design has evolved and why certain design decisions were made. It also enhances productivity because you do not repeat mistakes made previously.
This is not the end..
The features above are only a fraction of what is going into Lighthouse v2. Usability testing will be done in the coming months and further iterations will follow.
This project is still ongoing with both research and design still underway :)