The statistics are frightening.

More than 125 MILLION people worldwide suffer from Scalp psoriasis & it has massive socio and psychological impact on the affected.

As part of my CCA system thinking program, I delved into the effects of Scalp Psoriasis and developed Comba. This sophisticated connected system effectively manages and regulates the condition for enhanced well-being.

Overview

My goal was to determine how technology can be integrated into people's lives to help them and their caregivers better manage chronic conditions. I chose Scalp Psoriasis as the chronic condition and attempted to design an integrated system that evolves with users while maintaining their sense of control. I constantly balanced the trade-offs between automation and control.

Research

To complete this task, I expertly employed a range of research methodologies, including interviews, surveys, and contextual inquiries- mainly speaking to patients and caregivers. I gathered comprehensive and invaluable data on regular treatments and medical application processes through these rigorous methods. Additionally, I was able to identify diverse patient needs and test topics of interest with a large and representative sample, ultimately providing me with highly reliable and compelling quantitative data.

Collecting data

One of the many personas studied to understand scalp psoriasis.

Finding low points in a regular patient’s daily life with this disease identified emerging needs.

Synthesis

Opportunity

How might we facilitate regular updates on the condition & easy application of topical drugs to deduce efforts from the patient?

Conceptual Model

Solution

Key Features

Next steps

Iterating the product's experience through testing would improve it, since it's still conceptual.

This design exercise was intended but couldn't be integrated into the solution due to time and project scope constraints.

If I were to hand off the development requirements for this solution, tools like a time and effort matrix would be important due to the presence of various feature types.

Takeaways

To confidently establish the product ecology, it's vital to identify the critical touchpoints and areas of opportunity that align with user intent. This approach will allow for a precise understanding of the user's needs and requirements, ensuring that the product is tailored to their preferences.

Establish people’s problem first - Start backward from the people’s needs or problems and move quickly with purpose.