Background
Today, women primarily search for information about hormones on Google. They are directed to various pages with information about specific areas they want to learn more about. However, the reliability of these pages may vary and they may be adapted to different age groups. The information on the pages often focuses on a specific phase of life and does not cover the entire hormone journey that a woman goes through. Additionally, many websites only provide factual information and lack the mentally supportive feeling that a woman may need during different phases.
For instance, schools educate young women about the phases of puberty, menstruation, and pregnancy, but perimenopause and menopause are often overlooked. This creates an information gap in later life, and the understanding of how hormones affect the body throughout life is excluded.
HighFive believes that there is a wealth of information on the subject, but it is scattered across various sources. They suggest creating a gathering place where women can access information, advice, and support. The group's goal is to create a visually striking and engaging platform to help women find information and enhance their current knowledge in this area.
Design solution
Our design solution resulted in a mobile-adapted website aimed at gathering information about hormones and the hormonal phases a woman goes through. The website should present the information in a welcoming and engaging way, as well as convey a sense of security as the information can be sensitive.
On the homepage, an overall timeline of a woman's hormone journey is presented. Above this timeline, there is a brief descriptive text that clarifies what the timeline means and how users can proceed. There are four main features on the homepage: choose phase, change language, search, and gender options. It should be easy to change the language so that the user can read in their native language if desired. Users should be able to search for terms or words if they are looking for specific information. Finally, users should be able to switch between the female and male hormone journeys.
The purpose of the website's color palette was to create a welcoming environment for both women and men, by using colors that are not too gender-specific but suitable for everyone. In our case, an orange spectrum was iterated to indicate the change over the primary hormone phases. It was important that the timeline's shape and colors indicated that the hormone journey does not have a significant end despite having a marked beginning. Each phase was assigned its own color, as well as two shades of that color.
Hormones: Here the user can find information about hormonal changes that occur in the body during the specific phase.
Characteristics: Here is information about different symptoms and discomforts that are common during the phase.
Well-being: Here is information about exercise and diet that can help the user increase their well-being during discomfort.
Uncertainty: Here are answers to common questions or concerns that arise during the phase.
Support: Here the user is linked to different help or support organizations, health centers, and websites that offer help and more information.
Quiz: To engage and encourage learning, a quiz was implemented where the user can answer questions regarding the phase they are in.
When entering the Puberty phase, the chosen heading becomes larger and the timeline structure follows suit. This is to create a visual thread throughout the entire prototype. At the top, an overview of information about the phase is presented as an introduction for the user.
Below is a supportive comment where users can click through to read about other people's experiences related to the phase in question. This is to be able to relate to other women and understand that they are not alone.
The user should be able to read more specifically about a phase by selecting from the subheadings: Hormones, Characteristics, Well-being, Insecurity, Support, and a Quiz. The subheadings have a corresponding icon, as research suggests that women are more likely to absorb information with the help of illustrations.
This structure is consistent across all phases of the website except for the pregnancy phase. As the empirical evidence suggested that there was a lot of information both before, during, and after childbirth, the group made a design decision to add four subheadings; Getting pregnant, Being pregnant, Childbirth, After childbirth. Under each heading, the user will find information related to the heading.
Design process
Research
The group received recommendations from the client for informational materials such as websites and podcasts. In addition to this material, the group also had access to a Miro board created by six specialists in the field. The Miro board was the result of two workshops where the specialists reflected on existing problems, target groups, and sensitive information.
Everyone in the group had limited knowledge in the field. Therefore, we chose to deepen our understanding by reading the materials mentioned above. Afterwards, the group gathered and broke down interesting parts from the Miro board together. These were clustered and compiled to give the group a good overview of the material.
What the group could confirm from the compilation was the following:
There are existing initiatives and services, but they do not necessarily cover all stages from puberty to menopause.
There is a need for special support and care.
There is a lot of uncertainty related to various phases.
The group then conducted a survey of existing services and websites that offer information on the subject of hormones. The discoveries showed that there is a lot of information and help on various websites and applications regarding the different phases of a woman's life, but not so much about how hormones affect these phases. The group could conclude that the information was scattered across different services and websites. For example, information about one phase could be found on the Youth Clinic (UMO) while information about another phase was found on 1177 Healthcare Guide, despite both phases being based on hormone production in the body.
Quantitative Data - Surveys
Quantitative research provides an overview of data and statistics, creating a comprehensive picture of the information being sought. Quantitative data is collected through surveys, answering questions such as how many or how much. To collect quantitative data, the group designed a survey with five questions that was sent to women in the Facebook group PinkRoom, friends, family, and some of the client's colleagues aged 18 and up. The purpose of the survey was to gain an overview of how women prefer to receive information about hormones, specifically which types of visual elements support their ability to absorb information and how they currently access information. The group added parts where participants in the survey needed to motivate their answer. Through motivation, the group could gain a deeper understanding of how survey participants thought, which could then be used to strengthen design decisions in our future prototype.
The survey data was compiled into a table so that the team could get an overview of the survey responses. A summary of the responses was also made, and an average of the knowledge that respondents felt they possessed was determined for each age group. The group also wanted feedback on which type of platform a hormone journey should be presented on. Our research resulted in different advantages and disadvantages to choosing different platforms, but we wanted more concrete answers to be able to make a design decision. To support the decision, the group chose to ask the question during a critique session with classmates. The result of the critique session showed that the artifact would be more reliable if it was a website, that an application for the hormone journey would not be used to the same extent, and that information about sensitive topics such as hormones and the body would rather be found on a website.
After the critique session, the group therefore chose to create the artifact as a responsive website, for both mobile and desktop, to make it accessible and create more reliability.
Qualitative data - interviews
Qualitative research is conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the target group's needs and behavior, where interviews are a typical method for collecting qualitative data. Interviewees can be represented by users or individuals who, in the group's case, belong to the intended target group. To understand the problems that women have regarding the information currently available concerning hormones, the group conducted interviews with five women between the ages of 16 and 62. As the topic can be sensitive to talk about, the group chose to conduct semi-structured interviews to make the interviewee feel more relaxed and able to speak more freely. After the interviews were conducted, the answers were compiled into different themes to find patterns that were consistent among the majority of women.
The results of the interviews showed that it is difficult to get an overview of the entire hormone journey throughout life. Just like the result of the quantitative survey, interviewees answered that the information is scattered. They also expressed that they want to search for information in a calm and safe environment while avoiding a sterile setup. Interviewees want to be able to relate to other women to get other perspectives and not feel abnormal and alone in their condition. It should also be easy to find relevant information on what is being searched for. They also expressed that the information should be easy-going and not too overwhelming because it causes more anxiety than actually helping and supporting.
Through the interviews, the group could also conclude that knowledge about the different phases Puberty, Menstruation, Pregnancy, Perimenopause, and Menopause varies greatly, but that information about the earlier stages in life was easier to find. Understanding how hormones contribute and function in the body was not considered the main focus in the existing services within the subject, which means that some women do not have or receive the right information on how they can prepare for or during the phases they go through throughout life.
Current-state user journey map
To get a holistic picture of how a woman feels during the different phases of the hormonal journey, we used the material from the client and our empirical research from the research phase to create a current-state user journey map. A current-state user journey map is a tool that visualizes and maps a current service to create understanding of the customer. The goal was to try to concretize the client's collected information to map women's experiences related to the different phases of the hormonal journey.
A vital part of a user journey map is the so-called touchpoints, which are different interaction points that a user encounters during their journey. In the group's case, touchpoints meant where they find information or get advice, for example, on a website, healthcare center, or counselor. These varied from phase to phase, depending on the age at which women seek different aids.
In the group's project, a holistic picture was created of a woman's hormonal journey because the different phases differ. The different phases in a woman's life were categorized into Puberty, Menstruation, Perimenopause, and Menopause. The current-state user journey map that was created gave the group insight into the problems in the area and the lack of information about the different phases. Especially in Perimenopause and Menopause, there was a lack of information about where to find information and what happens in these phases. There was also a lack of a connecting contact for information and support in a woman's hormonal journey. We took this result with us to explore and lay the foundation for our future artifact.
During the Menstruation phase, the group realized that the category contained a large amount of information that needed to be further divided. In this phase, some women go through pregnancy, which includes a lot of information related to it, such as information about delivery and post-delivery. Therefore, the group decided to add the Pregnancy phase as a separate part of the hormonal journey, even though not all women go through that phase.
Stakeholder map
To complement our current-state user journey map, a stakeholder map was also created to see where the information is currently located in the area. A stakeholder map can be used as a visual tool to create an overview of the service's actors, their impact, and how they collaborate. Through the group's stakeholder map, we were able to compare the actors, where the information is located, and how women find the information.
In the compilation of the stakeholder map, we found that there is less information about premenopause and menopause, which is consistent with the data collection previously done.
The group also realized that existing services that offer information such as UMO, 1177 Vårdguiden, school, friends and family lack education on the woman's entire hormone journey. We could once again observe that the information is scattered in several different places, making it harder to provide an overall picture of the hormone journey.
Further development
The service created by the group is not fully developed and there is great potential for further development. For further development of the service, the group proposes the following priorities:
Adding information or categories: This is to update or expand the knowledge on the website. In the list of different categories, it is easy to add information or create a new category if further development of the artifact is to be done.
Focus on men's hormonal journey: The service is only aimed at women, which we see can be developed to also provide information about men's hormonal journey. Men's hormonal journey differs from women and other phases must be taken into account. The website will be able to serve as a basis for facilitating the structure and layout of information in a possible development. The headlines on the first page, Puberty, Menstruation, Pregnancy, Pre-menopause and Menopause can be easily changed to men's hormonal journey with a button on the website, which takes the user to men's hormonal journey, but no information is available on the page.
Adapt the website for desktop: The website is adapted as a mobile website, which can be further developed by adapting it for desktop. This would make the website more accessible. If the website is to become more personalized and customizable depending on the individual, we recommend creating an application.
Personalize the content: During the project, the group focused on creating a prototype that gathers general information about women's hormonal journey. In a future iteration of the service, further development could be to add features that make the service more personal. That the user can specify age and that the content can be changed or reformulated depending on this.
The project as a whole resulted in a prototype that we hope HighFive can continue to work on. The subject of hormones and the journey the group has made in this project has been educational both from a design perspective and about our own bodies. In the subject, there is information and areas that require design development to increase public awareness of hormones. We conclude that it is in everyone's best interest for this area to be explored and designed more.