Humor in healing
01
Introduction
Kill Pill is a mobile app designed to help and entertain those suffering from chronic illnesses by allowing them to easily track their symptoms with ease and humor.
Laugh ‘till you drop
Humor is an excellent way to ease the day-to-day management of chronic illness. Most disease management apps are very cold and formal, and don’t really engage with the user in a friendly way; they usually focus on the requirement for practical information, but forget to address the more emotional aspects of the user’s experience. Kill Pill was designed to answer the need for a friendlier user interface for disease management, while offering its users a lighter take on illness and physical incapacities. Seasoned with user-generated and personalized humor, the app guides the user through disease tracking and management features in an approachable and straightforward manner, without compromising over professional content.
Design rationale
As a designer, I understand the need to comply with certain templates characterizing medical apps, such as the requirement for approachable and coherent information. However, I wanted to take the user’s journey one step further and offer them friendly and humoristic visuals as well, which will increase their engagement with the app and soothe their experience with the often harsh medical world. In this way, I am able to provide users with a more holistic experience that answers both their practical and emotional needs. The app can be used to address different types of conditions. I chose epilepsy as a case-study; because there is no better way to recover from a seizure than with some dark humor!
02
Onboarding
When onboarding, the user receives a friendly welcome encouraging them to share their experiences and focus on how they’re feeling. The user is then invited to join a humorous community, making light of their condition, however responsibly. Users are encouraged to add and share their jokes with the community, and by doing so relate to other people who are going through similar physical and mental challenges imposed by their illness.
03
Registration & login
The registration menu is simple and requires that the user only fill in their email and a password of their choice.
App Customization
Next, users are able to select the level of humor they wish to be exposed to. There are three levels of humor, ranging from “Health is no laughing matter” to “Laugh my socks off.” Even though the app approaches disease in a lighter way, apparent in its humoristic visuals, the content offered to users remains at all times serious and professional. Regardless of the selected humor level, users will benefit from factual, well-researched content.
After selecting their preferred level of humor, the user can then choose the illness they wish to track and manage or to simply know more about.
04
Define laughter level
Users are able to select the level of humor they wish to be exposed to. There are three levels of humor, ranging from “Health is no laughing matter” to “Laugh my socks off.”
05
Disease selection
After selecting their preferred level of humor, the user can then choose the illness they wish to track and manage or to simply know more about.
06
Disease information
After completing the registration and defining the app’s settings, users can now choose to either move forward to the disease management features, read more about the disease itself or change their selection of the disease. If the user selects to move forward, they will then be directed to the app’s Home Screen, where they can enjoy several disease tracking and management features.
07
Home screen
In the case of epilepsy, the Home Screen’s features will include: a journal and calendar for tracking seizures, a feature showing how long ago was the user’s last seizure (with a running timer), a reminder and tracking feature for taking pills, which contains information about the pill as well, and user statistics.
08
Pills reminder
In the case of epilepsy, the Home Screen’s features will include: a journal and calendar for tracking seizures, a feature showing how long ago was the user’s last seizure (with a running timer), a reminder and tracking feature for taking pills, which contains information about the pill as well, and user statistics.
09
Seizure tracking
In the case of epilepsy, the Home Screen’s features will include: a journal and calendar for tracking seizures, a feature showing how long ago was the user’s last seizure (with a running timer), a reminder and tracking feature for taking pills, which contains information about the pill as well, and user statistics.
10
Emergency button
The app makes use of the smartphone’s features and settings for a better user experience. For example, the app is able to recognize real-time seizures by detecting uncontrollable movements and shaking. The app will automatically open the Emergency Button feature, which users can press to report a seizure. The user is then located based on GPS technology, and both the user’s defined contact person and emergency medical services (like Magen David Adom in Israel) are immediately notified.
11
Rate the seizure
After reporting the seizure, users are asked to rate it, and the rating is sent to the contact person and medical team.
12
After the seizure
The app is able to notify the user on the location of the medical team, to reassure them that they are being taken care of. Once they recover, the app offers the user to schedule an appointment with their doctor and keeps track of that as well by sending reminders when necessary.
13
The joke is on me
In the case of epilepsy, the Home Screen’s features will include: a journal and calendar for tracking seizures, a feature showing how long ago was the user’s last seizure (with a running timer), a reminder and tracking feature for taking pills, which contains information about the pill as well, and user statistics.
14
More screens
In the case of epilepsy, the Home Screen’s features will include: a journal and calendar for tracking seizures, a feature showing how long ago was the user’s last seizure (with a running timer), a reminder and tracking feature for taking pills, which contains information about the pill as well, and user statistics.