Overview
Conceptual platform exploring how a national healthcare provider could support members in building sustainable health habits through personalized action plans and behavioral science principles.
My role
Led the continuous onboarding experience design. Conducted user research across North America, co-launched diary studies with a business designer, and collaborated with a multidisciplinary team including other service and interaction designers, visual designers, design directors, business designers, and the client's internal working group.
Outcome
Validated through research with 158 participants that digital tools can drive sustainable behavior change, with the majority of study participants shifting from contemplation to active behavior change. Delivered high-fidelity prototypes and strategic recommendations that informed the client's preventative care strategy.
SETTING THE SCENE
An internal startup for preventative care
The client wanted to explore a proactive approach to member health. Rather than waiting for people to get sick, what if they could help members build healthier habits before problems arose?
The challenge: designing for a broad definition of "personal health" that meant different things to different people (chronic conditions, stress, sleep, nutrition). The solution needed to meet people where they were without overwhelming them.
THE CHALLENGE
How might we design a system that supports sustainable behavior change?
Phase 1 research had identified six health archetypes and created four high-level experience concepts. Our challenge was to move from concepts to a concrete platform that could actually help people change their behaviors.
key questions
This wasn't just a design problem. It was a behavior change problem. We needed to understand not just what people wanted, but what actually worked in their daily lives.
My task: Lead the continuous onboarding experience while contributing to the broader service design work through research, testing, and strategic recommendations.
01
Habit formation
What helped them form habits?
02
Barriers
What barriers prevented them from following through?
03
Contextual
How could we design a system that adapted to each person's unique context?
research approach
Multi-method research with 71 people
To answer these questions, we conducted comprehensive research over 10 weeks to understand how people defined personal health, made progress on their goals, and what behavior change techniques they currently used.
I led semi-structured interviews across Northern Virginia, DC, and San Francisco. These weren't typical 30-minute sessions. We spent 2.5 hours with each participant, doing concept testing, ecosystem mapping, and walking through their kitchens and refrigerators.
01
Defining health
Our primary aim was to gain a deeper understanding of how individuals define health, their motivations, successes, and challenges.
02
Mapping health influences
To gain visual insights into the factors influencing people's health and their relative importance, we asked participants to fill out a health ecosystem map
03
Evaluating concepts
To gauge what design concepts people found both desirable and valuable. We aimed to accomplish this through concept evaluation and ranking
A participant showed us zipongo, a health app she currently uses to track recipes.
A participant shows us his kitchen and food pantry.
A participants evaluates an experience concept.
DIARY STUDIES
4-7 days of health journeys
Working with a business designer, I launched a longitudinal diary study through dScout. Participants completed 4-7 days of daily reflections on their health goals and progress.
What this revealed: Health aspirations aren't static. People's motivation, energy, and circumstances shifted day by day. Any solution needed to adapt to this reality.
key questions
Our research revealed four critical insights that shaped the entire platform design.
01
The definition of "personal health" varies
02
People are more than their conditions
They desire to be seen holistically by their care team, beyond any specific diagnosis.
03
Progress over perfection
Incremental steps towards small and significant achievements enable individuals to reach larger health goals.
04
The influence of social circles
People are influenced by their social circles. This can influence or impact starting or maintaining healthy actions.
05
Self-reflection incentivizes behavior by creating a sense of self-evaluation and awareness.
06
Weight loss as a window into health issues.
Everyone wants to lose weight. Oftentimes weight loss provides a window into bigger health aspirations or underlying private concerns.
design approach
Building a north star based on research
During the remaining nine weeks of the project, our team focused on designing a service blueprint, ideating concept features, conducting usability testing, and creating high-fidelity prototypes. We aimed to create a future-state concept that would enable sustainable healthy habits and improve health outcomes through behavioral change techniques.
Ideation
Mental models
Guided experience
Self-guided experience
with care team
FROM INSIGHTS TO SERVICE MODELS
Translating research into design directions
Based on our research insights, I worked with the team to design four service model concepts to test with participants.
Why service models, not just features: We were designing a holistic system, not just an app. Each model represented a different philosophy about what support people needed: human guidance, data insights, or both.
Launchpad
A data-driven platform offering insights, recommendations, and self-visualization tools.
Launchpad + care team
The data platform enhanced with care team integration and family features.
lifecoach
A digital coach providing personalized guidance and action plans (called "Pursuits").
lifecoach + care team
Combining digital coaching with human health coach support and family health tracking.
TESTING THE CONCEPTS
Service model desirability testing
We recruited 9 participants (6 from our priority archetypes: Overwhelmed Caregivers and Lifestyle Nurturers) for hour-long desirability testing sessions.
What we tested: Participants evaluated each service model and its sample features individually, scoring them and providing feedback on what would make each feature better for their lives.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Our research revealed four critical insights that shaped the entire platform design.
01
Provide guidance
All participants saw value in “Lifecoach” as a starting point to achieve their health aspirations and goals.
02
Eliminate clutter and noise
"It eliminates doubt, noise, and clutter, giving you the confidence that your efforts will have a tangible impact. I'd download it today!"
03
Rewards felt familiar
I would say [rewards] is probably the most effective because it's familiar with what I am doing."
04
Connect with people
“It's like having your best friend who helps me stick to my goals and provides support to get there and stay on track.”
usability testing
Learning, building, and iterating on Healthy Habits
Taking what we learned from our desirability studies, we created wireframes of Healthy Habits. We then conducted three sprints of usability testing, focusing on our prioritized features. Our objective was to gauge people's responses to the onboarding experience, collaborative action plan, and other key elements.
key takeways
01
Enhance onboarding guidance
Participants found the onboarding process to be fairly straightforward but expressed a desire for more prompts and guidance, particularly during interactive sections like the mad libs.
02
Create a ‘safe space’
Participants appreciated that Healthy Habits emphasized the privacy of reflections, assuring them that their thoughts and reflections are only visible to them unless they choose to share them.
DEFINING THE PLATFORM
A service design framework for behavior change
With the Lifecoach model validated, I collaborated with the team to design Healthy Habits around four interconnected pillars:
MY FOCUS: CONTINUOUS ONBOARDING
Making the first experience feel personal
Within this broader platform, I led the design of the continuous onboarding experience, recognizing that first impressions would determine whether members engaged or abandoned the platform.
The concept: Rather than a traditional tutorial, onboarding would introduce members to behavior change concepts through their first "Pursuit."
Step 1: Introduction to Pursuits
Explain what Pursuits are, set expectations, and give members agency to choose whether to start.
Step 2: Getting to know you
Members define their health goals and log activities over the past 24 hours, creating a personalized baseline for their health journey.
Insights
Capturing, analyzing, and presenting information that matters to people and HCPs.
Continuous onboarding
Self-visualization
Actionable insights
the final concept
Introducing Healthy Habits
Pursuits
Recommending short behavior change recipes, made up of small actionable steps
Pursuit recommendations
Pursuit steps
Reflections
Guiding insightful reflections related to personal wellness
Feedback
Mood check-ins
Prompted reflections
Support
Providing the righ support, at the right time
Motivational nudges
On-demand health coach
Celebration and rewards
VALIDATING WITH USERS
Testing efficacy with 87 participants
600+
3,600+
BEHAVIORAL CHANGE HAPPENED
From contemplation to action
Participants showed significant increases in their health or perception of their health after the study. Using the Stages of Change model, we saw shifts from contemplation (thinking about change) to action (actively changing behavior).
Digital Only: 89% in contemplation before, 34% in contemplation and 66% in action after
Health Coach: 86% in contemplation before, 30% in contemplation and 69% in action after
What this proved: Well-designed digital features could be as effective as human health coaching for certain populations, opening possibilities for scalable preventative care.
Examples of participant's mood check-ins
reflections
Lessons from designing for behavior change
Service design reveals what matters
This project reinforced that the best healthcare design happens when you understand the full system. By spending time in people's homes, observing their routines, and understanding their contexts, we uncovered insights that traditional research methods would have missed. The kitchen walkthrough revealed more about food relationships than any survey could.
Designing for the overlooked
Overwhelmed Caregivers taught me that the people who need health support most are often the ones designing for themselves last. Meeting them where they were, with tools that worked unobtrusively in the background, became the key to creating something valuable. This population reminded me why I design for healthcare: to serve those who are underserved.
Research rigor builds confidence
Conducting interviews and studies, co-launching an 87-participant validation study, and grounding everything in behavioral science gave the team and client confidence in our recommendations. When you do the work, people trust the insights.
Behavior change requires patience and personalization
The most valuable insight: people don't need more health advice. They need tools that meet them where they are, celebrate small wins, and adapt to their lives. Progress over perfection. Health is dynamic, not static, and our designs should be too.
Continuous onboarding sets the foundation
Designing onboarding taught me that first experiences shouldn't just teach features. They should build trust, demonstrate value immediately, collect data for personalization, and set expectations for the relationship ahead. Onboarding is where behavior change begins.
