Resume
5 Years Design Experience

Bobby Zhao
Product Designer

Background

Research

Ideation

Process

Final Design

Impact

WeCare

WeCare

Quality guidance for transitioning caregivers

Centralize and personalize family caregiver resources to provide quick, accessible, and community-oriented support.

Centralize and personalize family caregiver resources to provide quick, accessible, and community-oriented support.

Time

Time

Jan. 2024 - May 2024

Team

Team

Asha Wills, Bobby Zhao, Emma Stone, Yimei Hu

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Design Research,User Interview, Ideation, UIUX

Design Research,

User Interview,

Ideation, UIUX

Design Research,

User Interview, Ideation, UIUX

Background

Caregivers to aging patients with neurodegenerative disease experience constant burnouts due to limited knowledge and access to care resources.

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

53 Million

people in the US provide unpaid care to either an adult or child

AARP

24-41 hrs/week

is the average time caregivers spend in providing care for family members

AARP

84%

of caregivers report needing more information on caregiving topics

AARP

Stakeholder Mapping

Stakeholder Mapping

1

High touch - Caregiver

Debra has the most interaction with Edward (care receiver), her primary concern with the most influence over her behavior


2

Medium touch - Care Team

A robust care team and Debra’s other family members interact with her on a weekly basis


3

Low touch - Institutions

Debra’s decisions and experience are influenced by several institutions with systemic influence but low touch 

Problem Discovery & Definition

Problem Discovery & Definition

36

Detailed

Survey Participants

22

In-depth Caregiver Interviews

540

Minutes of

Insights

Survey

Survey

Prior to in-depth one-on-one interviews, we designed a detailed survey questionnaire to provide us with preliminary understanding of the family caregiver profile. We refined our interview guide based on the findings in this survey.

Interview Design

Interview Design

In-depth Interview Guide


  1. Becoming a Caregiver

  • Can you tell me more about when you first became aware that you provided regular care for a loved one? What was that like?

  • What things did you have to learn to provide care better? 

  • What were the sources you used to learn?


  1. Care Team

  • Do others help you take care of this person? 

  • What was the process like to divide up the roles?

  • What is the dynamic across everyone supporting? 


  1. Challenges & Joy

  • What does your typical day look like?

  • What are/were the most challenging parts of providing care for your loved one? 

    • Changed relationship?

    • Impact on personal life? work/life balance

  • How did you tackle these challenges?

  • What are the parts of providing care for your loved one that bring you joy?


  1. What if

  • If all your caregiving responsibilities magically disappeared/were taken care of, what would be the first difference you noticed in your life?

  • Resources that you wish to have but you don’t have yet

  • Resources that you wish you had known before

  • Coping strategies for mental stress

 

In-depth Interview Guide


  1. Becoming a Caregiver

  • Can you tell me more about when you first became aware that you provided regular care for a loved one? What was that like?

  • What things did you have to learn to provide care better? 

  • What were the sources you used to learn?


  1. Care Team

  • Do others help you take care of this person? 

  • What was the process like to divide up the roles?

  • What is the dynamic across everyone supporting? 


  1. Challenges & Joy

  • What does your typical day look like?

  • What are/were the most challenging parts of providing care for your loved one? 

    • Changed relationship?

    • Impact on personal life? work/life balance

  • How did you tackle these challenges?

  • What are the parts of providing care for your loved one that bring you joy?


  1. What if

  • If all your caregiving responsibilities magically disappeared/were taken care of, what would be the first difference you noticed in your life?

  • Resources that you wish to have but you don’t have yet

  • Resources that you wish you had known before

  • Coping strategies for mental stress

 

Interviews Insights

Interviews Insights

1. Getting effective strategies to cope with receiver’s changing conditions is difficult due to:

  • Non-responsive

  • Not personalized

  • Non-responsive

2. Caregiving support services are lacking in quality, accessibility and affordability

  • Availability Inconsistency & Inflexibility

  • Incompatibility

  • Lacking of Training and Experience

3. Caregiving team is hard to coordinate

  • Hard to update all caregivers as conditions change

  • Game of telephone to relay information between family and medical team

  • Medication management is extremely anxiety-producing for people with no prior experience 

User
Segmentation

User
Segmentation

To address the multifaceted factors that attribute to caregiving burnouts, we mapped out pain points based on three contexts: stage of aging, caregiver perspective and elder perspective.


We have identified first time caregiver (0-12 months) with elders who are in advanced stage of cognitive and physical decline to be our target users, who currently experience the most pain points while underserved by existing service infrastructures.

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Personas

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Pain Point
Definition

Pain Point
Definition

Based on research findings, we narrowed down the biggest pain point to trouble finding and retaining relevant caregiving information and resources in the early stage of caregiving (first 12 months).


The consequences are detrimental:

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Wasted Time

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Frequent Burnout

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Preventable Harms

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Emotional Isolation

The WHO reports 4.5 billion people lack access to essential health services.

Solution Development

Solution Development

Design Guideline

01

01

Must integrate seamlessly into the user's daily routine.

Must integrate seamlessly into the user's daily routine.

02

02

Must lessen the user's cognitive load.

Must lessen the user's cognitive load.

03

03

Must be cost-effective and affordable

Must be cost-effective and affordable

Ideation

Product Goals


We began product conceptualization with the brainstorming and affinity mapping of product feasibility and desirability goals.

Storyboard

Extension

Engagement

Enticement

User sees WeCare poster at key clinic waiting room and is handed WeCare journal

User scans QR code to download app or visits website

User enters information to set up profile

User browses through personalized caregiving guideline and community knowledge shares based on matching algorithm

User experiences frustration in a specific caregiving task

Visitor hunts for key phrases on WeCare, eyeing possible remedies

User browses through solutions/strategies posted by other family/professional caregivers (personalized knowledge transfer)

User tries out and fine tunes different solutions. 

User documents each solution experience and strategy variance based on the modification

User’s modified solution is added to the online repertoire as a solution variation

The Journal Packet

The Journal Packet

Offers a high-level overview of caregiving, equipping them with guiding and reflective questions around 5 key areas:


  1. Finding Care

  2. Financing Care

  3. Coordinating care 

  4. Planning Ahead

  5. Caring for Yourself

The Digital Twin

The Digital Twin

Exploration

Journal to Digital

Exploration

Journal to Digital

Navigation

Problem-specific

Resources

Navigation

Problem-specific

Resources

Execution

App to Journal

Execution

App to Journal

Engagement

Social Connection

Engagement

Social Connection

In-depth

information hub

In-depth

information hub

Personalized

Results

Personalized

Results

Applicable

Materials

Applicable

Materials

Dynamic

Community

Dynamic

Community

Product
Planning

Product
Planning

Product Planning

Core Features


  1. Searchable Knowledge Base

    Function: Allows caregivers to input questions and browse categories.

    Components:

    • Smart search bar (natural language queries)

    • Categorized resource hub (FAQs, common scenarios)


  1. Resource Recommendation Engine

    Function: Matches users with vetted care resources based on eligibility and needs.

    Components:

    • Onboarding form

    • Resource matching algorithm


  1. Community Knowledge Share

    Function: Let caregivers post questions and journal experiences that others can engage with.

    Components:

    • Community feed with search, tags, and likes

    • “Care Journal” for story logging


  1. Caregiving Roadmap

    Function: Visual step-by-step guide of a personalized caregiving journey.

    Components:

    • "To-do list" task recommendation

    • Progress tracker

 

Core Features


  1. Searchable Knowledge Base

    Function: Allows caregivers to input questions and browse categories.

    Components:

    • Smart search bar (natural language queries)

    • Categorized resource hub (FAQs, common scenarios)


  1. Resource Recommendation Engine

    Function: Matches users with vetted care resources based on eligibility and needs.

    Components:

    • Onboarding form

    • Resource matching algorithm


  1. Community Knowledge Share

    Function: Let caregivers post questions and journal experiences that others can engage with.

    Components:

    • Community feed with search, tags, and likes

    • “Care Journal” for story logging


  1. Caregiving Roadmap

    Function: Visual step-by-step guide of a personalized caregiving journey.

    Components:

    • "To-do list" task recommendation

    • Progress tracker

 

Sketches Feedback

The initial wireframe responses indicate that users prefer ease of information navigation and light cognitive load

Too much text on home page dashboard can be overwhelming

Too much text on home page dashboard can be overwhelming

It is helpful to see "similar solutions" on community posts

It is helpful to see "similar solutions" on community posts

All care resources and posts seem text heavy

All care resources and posts seem text heavy

Unclear how the app is connected to the journal packet

Unclear how the app is connected to the journal packet

Mid-Fi
Wireframe

Mid-Fi
Wireframe

Final
Design

Final
Design

Exploration

Journal to App

Wecare journal’s digital twin provides a bridge to additional in-depth caregiving resources all in one place

Wecare journal’s digital twin provides a bridge to additional in-depth caregiving resources all in one place

Navigation

Personalized Directory

Personalized curation of caregiving suggestions and resources based on user profile
Personalized curation of caregiving suggestions and resources based on user profile

Problem-specific solutions explored by fellow caregiving users

Problem-specific solutions explored by fellow caregiving users

Action

App to Journal

Top community inputs are featured in the next version of wecare journal, validating users’ contribution

Top community inputs are featured in the next version of wecare journal, validating users’ contribution

Applying community validated materials and practice to users’ own caregiving workflow

Applying community validated materials and practice to users’ own caregiving workflow

Engagement

Community Connection

Gamification encourages user participation and recognizes caregivers’ value

Gamification encourages user participation and recognizes caregivers’ value

Community-centric engagement promotes connections and minimizes social isolation

Community-centric engagement promotes connections and minimizes social isolation

Delivering to Caregivers

Delivering to Caregivers

Partner with nonprofits, employers, and health insurance companies to get wecare journals into the hands of family members transitioning into caregiver roles for an aging loved one.

Impact

Impact

92%

92%

Of users rated WeCare usefulness 5/5 in increasing early transition confidence

Of users rated WeCare usefulness 5/5 in increasing early transition confidence

Design

art

Bobby