Calmwave - Dashboard design for managing epilepsy
Background
Epilepsy. A condition that I know very little about. I decided to educate myself and understand it a bit more so I could create a dashboard (as part of a digital solution) for someone to manage their epilepsy and clinical care.
Research activities
2 x mini interviews - 2 distant relatives with the condition agreed to participate in a quick call. Ideally, a sample size of 5 would provide a better set of insights. I asked 8 open ended questions to understand what their care journey looked like and what was important to them and the management of their condition.
Competitive analysis - A quick review of several platforms to understand the mental model for similar tools and apps, as well as opportunities for enhancement in a short space of time.
Online research - Aiming to understand epilepsy better from medical guides and patient forums. Specifically, I wanted to understand what considerations there are for designing interfaces for someone that has a neurodivergent condition.
Findings
Clinical data - Diet, sleep and mood can influence seizures, so recording this data is key for clinicians to analyse patterns and recommend the best medication and care solutions.
Patient pain points - Forgetting to take medication and losing track of appointments and discussion topics at appointments are common pain points for people that manage their epilepsy themselves.
Carers - Some users will have a carer because they are minors or need additional support. The carer will require access to their tracking data and care plan in order to communicate with the clinicians.
Flexibility - Epilepsy can affect people from all walks of life, but it commonly occurs at childhood or in people over 60. I could assume that ease of use and the flexibility to customise the dashboard information to meet the varying needs will be important.
Visual requirements - People with this condition often have sensitivity to bright colours and motion, so soft and calming colours are recommended, and use of motion should be in line with WCAG standards.
Platform - This app requires daily use to track data effectively so a mobile app or progressive web app likely be the best platforms to use in order to make it accessible.
Design Decisions
Foundational
- Colour - soft and calming to meet the users low-stimulation requirements, primary accent is used very minimally
- Typography - soft and rounded, while still easy to read
- Layout - Bento grid to present lots of information in an organised way and allow for users to customise/change widgets without breaking the layout and hierarchy of information
- Icons - Linear to keep the interface light and spacious
Nav bar
- Overview - more user-friendly than the term dashboard
- Diaries - contains data logging for food, sleep, mood and events
- Record - Primary purpose of the app is to record seizures
- Medicine - Access to all medication types, doses and frequencies
- Care plan - Linked to patient NHS records
Widgets
Users can add, remove and re-organise widgets in their settings.
- Mood tracker - tapping a mood will trigger a diary entry modal to expand on the feelings
- Sleep tracker - shows the last 7 days highlights and on tap will load full sleep history and goals
- Seizures - Quick access to history and record button, which is the primary user goal
- Signposts - User can add shortcut links to popular sections
- Medicine - Dose countdown and on tap, user can access and edit medication type, frequency and dose
Onboarding
The dashboard (and app) is only as good as the data you give it. It's important for users to set things up correctly and learn the key features of the app.
- Skip - allow users to minimise and set things up their way or if some remaining setup items are not relevant, they can close it off
- Progress - give a sense of progress in a way people can understand
- Checklist - Tap on each item to complete the task and it will be checked off after completion, selected based on an assumption that these would be the key data touchpoints and most useful things to learn in the app
- Add widgets - Make it easy and obvious for users to start setting up widgets
Demo dashboard
The dashboard is designed to be flexible and unique for each user, but this is a demo of what a typical user may setup for themselves. Other widgets would be available based on the full features and functionality of the platform.
Feedback
I sent prototype screens to one of the interview participants for quick feedback.
• Loved the flexible dashboard, generally found it easy to understand and navigate, and most of the widgets/trackers felt relevant and useful
• The mood tracker may be limiting the range of emotions felt - anger, frustration, overwhelmed, depleted are all common emotions so the ability to select from more emojis would help
• They tend to get frequent updates/messages from their clinical teams, so a way to see new notifications would be useful
• Clinicians set health goals from time to time and it would be good to see progress - for example how much water drank today, progress on sleep targets etc.
Reviews
I am newer to this but I feel like for the top half of the main page, for the icons they should have a higher contrast. I feel like they kind of blend into the background.
I do love the timer for meds. I never would have thought of that but I love it. I always struggle doing simple calculations in my head when I am tired so having it there would be nice. The yellow has a nice pop to it and ends up grabbing my attention easily. A nice bonus would be changing the icon for record. Currently it is not the most clear but it does work.
Hey, Steve.
Love your work: colors, typography, icons. The dashboard looks clean and clear. Super!
Hi Steve,
You’ve done an outstanding job here! I truly admire how well-rounded your project is, and your dedication to conducting research is commendable—it really strengthens your concept. The niche focus is smart, and the branding ties in seamlessly. Fantastic effort overall! 🎉
Here’s some feedback that combines personal preferences with suggestions for refining an already excellent design:
Onboarding Checklist: Presenting all tasks at once might overwhelm users. Consider using progressive disclosure to break down the list. For instance, when users open a specific feature, introduce an empty state prompting them to complete relevant steps. This approach minimizes cognitive load while guiding users effectively. Additionally, making each item’s interactivity more apparent (like using CTAs or visual cues) could prevent confusion, as not all users may intuitively realize items are clickable.
Navigation Design: It’s refreshing to see you stepping away from a conventional navbar! This opens up a creative opportunity to incorporate a unique brand element, like an interactive brand icon. With some more polish, it could become really standout!
Dashboard Clarity: A clear, singular objective often makes dashboards more intuitive. Reducing redundancy, such as multiple CTAs for recording intakes, might streamline focus. On mobile, I generally like to prioritize fewer yet critical metrics to avoid clutter and maintain usability.
Prototyping: Incorporating prototypes can elevate your design’s impact, especially when presenting to stakeholders. It bridges the gap between concept and experience, helping your audience visualize interactions. While time constraints are a factor, prototyping is worth considering for future iterations.
Amazing work again—your thoughtfulness and creativity really shine through👏
Great work!
great work
Nice work, the dashboard UI is clean and professional with well-structured features.
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