the PHEOBE app
Project Overview
the PHOEBE app is a menstrual health app that seamlessly integrates herbal medicine practices throughout the user interface, offering herbal remedies for physical symptoms and scriptural remedies for emotional symptoms.
My Role
Sole researcher, designer, and content strategist: I scoped, executed several rounds of research, and iteratively designed this multifaceted app while maintaining a user-centered lens.
In This Case Study
OPPORTUNITY SPACE What user experience contains a problem that my unique area of expertise can improve?
METHODOLOGY Variety of qualitative research methods as well as current and future user journey maps
FEATURES & RESEARCHER’S INSIGHTS 3 key features to meet the users needs
1 — Provide easily digestible herbal education
2 — Infuse herbalism throughout the user experience
3 — Build user confidence in herbalism with custom plans
SUMMARY
For this project, the goal was find the unique opportunity space between my skills as a UX practitioner and my expertise outside of UX.
Because of my history as an herbalist that specialized in menstrual health, I approached a common digital tool like a menstrual health tracking app through the lens of improving the user experience.
Any menstrual health tracking app on the market is able to do the basic functions of logging symptoms and cycles, perhaps with some additional features or menstrual health education, often for a price.
But there is a gap in this market for women seeking natural (ancient) remedies or protocols to support their menstrual health. Herbalism has been rejected by modern society for the most part, and according to my research this largely stems from a lack of knowledge. I learned that wisdom has not commonly been passed down in recent generations that garner an appreciation for herbal remedies. Because of this, women are often wondering how effective herbs could really be, and how might one even use them effectively?
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I present a solution: the Phoebe app.
This app does the usual things like tracking symptoms and allowing a user to manage their goals (including tracking their periods, getting pregnant, tracking pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause) but it also infuses herbalism throughout the user experience rooted in the Christian faith.
OPPORTUNITY SPACE
What user experience contains a problem that my
unique area of expertise can improve?
The most difficult part about the project was to ensure that the right information was presented to the user at the right time, in a way that was interesting and meaningful.
By “meaningful”, I mean that the user feels compelled to try the herbal remedies the app suggests and eventually finds a protocol or herbal system that best suits their specific needs.
My research participants consisted of Christian women, ages 23-40, with a varied menstrual health background. Some had given birth, some experienced normal menstrual cycles, and some experienced irregular and painful menstrual cycles. Because of this variety, I was able to better understand what types of features might be important to any user.
This helped me stay clear on my goals to offer an app that meets the user where they are at, and maybe more importantly — helped me build more empathy for my user. I, too, have a menstrual cycle and the temptation was there to build an app for me. In order to create the distance necessary to avoid this potential trap, I crafted my approach to the research from a place of curiosity and user-led story telling. This allowed me to discover areas in which the participants felt alone or unsupported, and I followed these leads to discover what the key features of my app should be.
METHODOLOGY
Research Testing: UX Researcher Ashley Madich interviews 3 testing participants to learn about their menstrual health practices, history, and needs.
User Journey Map: Based on the research, UX Researcher Ashley Madich produced a current and future state user journey map. Greatest insight: most period tracking apps don’t support the wide range of needs women may require. This app should consider those needs in future iterations.
The first functionality I incorporated that stemmed from my research was the education portion. This area of the app includes several components, but importantly it offers a Lessons tab with 11 short instructional modules that allow the user to self-study or reference back to. They were designed to sum up these key components of herbalism into bite sized pieces that allow users to develop confidence in selecting an herb and using it effectively.
KEY FEATURES & INSIGHTS
1 — Provide easily digestible herbal education
2 — Infuse herbalism throughout the user experience
The second functionality within this section consists of remedies that are directly correlated to symptoms a user has logged in a given day. This expands on “Today’s Insights”, a scrollable feature on the home page that offers one herbal recommendation per symptom logged, by listing all relevant herbal protocols that might support a physical body symptom. Uniquely, Scripture recommendations based off of logged mood symptoms are also offered here. This feature that pulls in Scripture to support mood symptoms was a direct result of my research, as I heard from my users that their emotional and spiritual health are equally top of mind as their physical health.
3 — Build user confidence in herbalism with custom plans
The final unique feature that was inspired by my research includes “My Apothecary”, the area in which a user can view any saved protocols, organize them into plans, and log when they begin a specific protocol. This feature is one of the most integral parts of how the app infuses herbalism throughout the user experience because once a user activates a protocol, the app now knows that anytime the symptom is logged while the protocol is active, it not only won’t recommend new remedies but it also tracks the protocol’s effectiveness. If after a certain amount of time passes (according to the herbal properties) and a symptom continues to be logged with no indication of improvement, the app will then recommend a new protocol that targets a different root cause.
This logical recommendation system takes the burden off of the user. Herbalism is a complicated and sometimes abstract subject and can take years to deeply learn. By having a partner (the PHOEBE app) tracking along side the user and making suggestions that consider different root causes, users build confidence and don’t experience burn out as quickly.
Red Raspberry Leaf Article
A sample article from the Resources Library within the PHOEBE app: an integral part of the herbal education mission of the app.
Home Screen
A sample Home Screen within the PHOEBE app that shows Today’s Insights including protocol recommendations based on symptoms logged, and an indicator on the Resources icon guiding users to discover more. An integral part of infusing herbalism throughout the user experience.
My Apothecary
A sample of My Apothecary that indicates how a user might utilize this feature to customize their experience and organize the protocols the may want to try.
My Plans
A sample of My Plans that indicates where a user would activate a protocol, letting the app know to pause recommendations based on a particular symptom and to begin tracking its effectiveness for the user.
Menstruating women have all sorts of tools at their fingertips to track their menstrual cycles, but none offer seamless and easily digestible herbal education throughout the user experience that builds the user’s confidence.
the PHOEBE app bridges this gap.
What’s Next:
As future iterations of this app develop, I plan to incorporate several new features and continue to build upon the existing foundation by expanding the current herbal library and Scripture recommendations.
New features may include:
a secondary mode for girls experiencing menarche that limits some of the features not suitable for that age
push notifications
the ability to add protocols to a user’s personal calendar
SUMMARY
Key frames from the annotated wireframe deck:
Top: Home Screen indicates when new protocols are available that suit user’s logged symptoms, while also offering key recommendations as a scrolling feature in Today’s Insights
Bottom: Resources Screen offers 3 distinct areas of education including tangible herbal remedies based on physical symptoms, scriptural recommendations based on emotional symptoms, and a Lessons tab to educate or offer herbalism refresh courses to users.