I-Ally
Providing community, peer support, and mutual aid to caregivers — created for caregivers, by caregivers.
What I did
As the sole and lead product designer, I conducted user and market research, strategized, coordinated, pitched, and redesigned I-Ally within less than 3 months. I worked closely with the stakeholders and an off-shore developer to guide the product vision and create a stronger value proposition.
Problem
I-Ally connects the family caregiver to others who may have experienced emotional and physiological stress associated with caregiving. People expressed high hopes for the app but did not feel engaged or supported.
Solution
If we create a safe and brave space where people can freely express themselves, give support and receive support from others, then adoption and retention of the app will improve.
Problem
There are over 50 million caregivers in America alone
19% are providing unpaid care to an adult with adult with health or functional needs
23% say caregiving has made their own health worse
61% of family caregivers are also working
Research
“I think we just need a better onboarding experience and resources!”
My client voiced worries about I-Ally's performance, pointing out that it could benefit from a stronger onboarding experience and improved resources. To understand the real hurdles hindering the product's success, I dove into research. I prioritized gathering insights through user interviews and usability tests, revealing some unexpected findings.
How does it feel to be a caregiver?
I wanted to understand a caregiver’s experience, especially the challenges they face. After conducting interviews with family caregivers across the U.S., I uncovered several recurring themes:
“I experience extreme caregiver burnout.”
“I want to be heard, understood, and empathized with.”
“Hiring extra caregiving services is too expensive.”
How does the product actually perform?
Are the primary concerns limited to the onboarding process and lack of caregiving resources? After conducting usability tests on the existing web app, I discovered that:
Users were overwhelmed by the abundance of information and resources
Clarity of products and services was lacking
Users were uncertain about their intended actions
High hopes but falling short on delivery
Users were initially excited about the product but were disappointed upon using the web app. They encountered issues such as information overload, malfunctioning features, and confusion that left them feeling more hopeless.
Collaborating with stakeholders
After gaining insights from the existing web app and caregiving experiences, I organized a design workshop involving stakeholders, caregivers, and design colleagues. It was an inspiring session where we brainstormed initial ideas, including:
Incorporating gamification to encourage story sharing and support offering
Introducing accountability or support buddy matching
Establishing support groups for caregivers with common challenges (e.g., Alzheimer’s caregiving)
MVP prioritizations
With numerous ideas on the table, we needed to focus our efforts for MVP. I led a feature prioritization session with stakeholders, and after thorough deliberation, we collectively decided to prioritize building a sense of community where caregivers can feel heard, understood, and supported.
Ideation
What people really wanted was a sense of community
After rounds of interviews and testing, I discovered that caregivers fundamentally desired to feel seen, heard, and understood. They sought support and guidance through this phase of newfound responsibilities in their caregiving journey. With this redesign, we chose to prioritize cultivating a supportive community and addressing significant usability issues stemming from the web app's lack of clarity.
After
I created an onboarding tour to quickly explain the support, resources and services that the app offers. I wanted to lay out clear expectations for users to reduce confusion and frustration.
Before
Users were extremely confused and uncertain about the capabilities and purpose of the web app. They did not know what to do and often times quit the experience upon login.
Helpful onboarding tour
After
Community and peer support were what caregivers expressed a deep desire for. I created a new community forum feature where users can ask for support, offer support, simply share their thoughts or get advice from experts. This feature was designed to be a more casual and less intimidating way to give and offer support.
Before
The intention of the “Ask for Help” feature was to provide emotional and/or physical support to those in need.
However, there were technical difficulties when putting in help requests and a lack of resources and people to provide support. Rather than helping, this feature created more friction, confusion and frustration to users.
Community and support
After
Through card sorting, I categorized each resource into groupings and designed an interface that is less cluttered and more inviting for users to discover and explore the many resources available.
Before
I-Ally offers a lot of resources for family caregivers but it was overwhelming to some users. There was an option to view details and contact each specific resource but some of the buttons did not work.
Hand-selected resources for caregivers
What I learned
This was one of my initial projects post-bootcamp graduation, an experience filled with excitement and nerves. During my three months at I-Ally, I gained valuable lessons:
Startup environments foster rapid growth, allowing you to wear multiple hats and make significant impacts
Setting clear expectations is crucial — whether regarding documentation, work processes, or compensation
Approach every situation with curiosity and a genuine interest in understanding people
3+ years later…
It’s hard to believe it’s been over three years since I began my journey into product design. Over this time, I’ve grown a lot and wanted to revisit this project and update the UI to showcase my current skills. This is a project that I think so fondly of, especially because of the people I came across! 💫
