Telehealth app development & Balsamiq

(This actually happened a few weeks ago but I wanted to space out my blog posts.)

Today's job was pretty different to the usual. My boss asked me to look at/test the website of a telehealth service and identify possible improvements to the user interface, as well as translate those screens into the mobile app version if I had enough time.

The website and app are still in beta testing and I can't reveal the client's name but this company is moving into the telehealth app industry. What's that? Telehealth (or telemedicine) is basically healthcare from home. We can use modern technology to monitor our own health from home, whilst our doctors can see how we're doing from the data transmitted. What our client is doing is providing the means for that communication,  in a product and network that uses a mobile app. No need for visits - sounds ideal to me! I have trouble getting a face to face appointment let alone the time and money spent travelling there so it's definitely something I'd use. For now though, telehealth mainly serves lifestyle conditions like diabetes and COPD that usually require daily monitoring and frequent check-ups.

Anyway, I was also told I was allowed to report my suggestions using a wireframe mockup software called Balsamiq which you can actually trial for 7 days free. Now I don't have anything to compare it to, but I loved it! It's easy to use and creates really neat graphics (see below) - much funner than just scribbling over printed screenshots. 

Amongst my ideas I... noticed that if they asked for mobile number during the sign-up page, they could shorten the sequence by 2-3 steps, suggested a checkbox system for subscribing to conditions on the welcome page, and helped review the terminology (as the system was currently made for engineers addressing faults rather than healthcare professionals and abnormal observations.

Richard took my Balsamiq mockups of the app and website to the client's meeting the next day and I'm pleased to say it went down really well. We then held an internal meeting with Vicky (our graphics designer) who is working on making site graphics a little fresher and colour-coordinated with the company logo.

Our client's product is far from reaching market - once it even managed to send me text alerts every 3 hours for a few weeks, even after I'd unsubscribed from the condition! - but I look forward to the day I can point to someone's screen and say "I helped build that app".