Context and Project Goals: Align is an organization focused on enhancing engagement for seniors and those who serve them. They offer solutions in employee engagement, customer experience, real-time feedback, care transitions, and personalized wellness. Their approach involves innovative strategies to improve employee retention, customer satisfaction, and overall wellness in senior care settings. Align provides tools and resources to listen to residents, engage employees, and make informed business decisions to drive better outcomes in senior care.

The totalE app is designed to be a comprehensive solution for improving employee engagement and retention. The app is HIPAA compliant and available for both iOS and Android, with desktop and mobile views. The primary goal of the project was to design a new application that enhances user experience, streamlines navigation, and improves visual appeal while ensuring that it meets today’s workforce expectations for communication, recognition, and personal growth.

My Role and Contribution:As the UX/UI designer, I was responsible for designing the majority of screens from scratch. This included developing wireframes and prototypes, and iterating designs based on feedback. I also designed the logo and various assets for the application. My role involved close collaboration with the product team and developers throughout the project.

Research and Analysis

Understanding pain points and user needs, focusing on the unique challenges faced by senior care leaders.

Performed a competitive analysis to identify industry standards and opportunities for differentiation.

Ideation and Concepts

Created multiple design concepts and presented them to stakeholders for feedback.

Participated in brainstorming sessions with the team to refine ideas and address potential challenges.

Wireframes and Prototypes

Developed low-fidelity wireframes to outline the app’s structure and user flow.

Created high-fidelity interactive prototypes in Figma to visualize the final design.

Visual Assets

Designed the app logo and various assets, including some icons and illustrations.

Ensured the visual design was consistent with the brand identity and appealing to the target audience.

Approved totalE Logo

Other logo options

User Stories and User Flows:

Created detailed user stories to capture the specific needs and scenarios of the app’s end users, ensuring the design addressed these effectively.

Developed user flows to map out the various pathways and interactions within the app.

Design Features and Consistency:

Designed numerous features such as newsfeed, secure messaging, employee recognition feature, knowledge base, reminders, polls and others. Each feature required careful design consideration to ensure consistency across the application and meet user needs effectively.

Spent significant time on each feature to maintain a uniform design language and high usability standards throughout the app.

Poll creation:

Poll results:

Collaboration and Development Support

Gathered feedback on the prototypes.

Made iterative changes based on insights to enhance usability and satisfaction.

Worked closely with developers to ensure the design was implemented accurately.

Provided detailed design specifications and assets for smooth handoff.

Challenge: The app contained numerous features, each requiring careful design consideration to ensure a consistent user experience. Balancing these features while maintaining a uniform design language was challenging.

Solution: I followed a style guide with defined typography, color schemes, button styles, and layout grids. Regular design reviews and feedback sessions with the team ensured adherence to these guidelines. This systematic approach helped maintain consistency across all features and screens, providing a cohesive and intuitive user experience.

Challenge: The app needed to cater to a wide range of users, including senior care leaders and employees with different needs and technical proficiency levels.

Solution: I developed detailed user personas to guide the design process. To ensure the interface was intuitive for all users, I implemented clear navigation structures, easy-to-understand icons, and accessible design principles.

Challenge: The app needed to cater to a wide range of users, including senior care leaders and employees with different needs and technical proficiency levels.

Solution: I developed detailed user personas to guide the design process. To ensure the interface was intuitive for all users, I implemented clear navigation structures, easy-to-understand icons, and accessible design principles.

Challenge: Mapping out comprehensive user flows and creating detailed user stories for the app's various functionalities was complex and time-consuming, especially given the diverse user base and multiple features.

Solution: I developed user flows for each feature, ensuring that all possible user interactions were accounted for. This process involved close collaboration with stakeholders to align on business goals and user needs. I also created detailed user stories to capture specific user requirements and scenarios, which helped guide the development process and ensure that all features were designed with the end user in mind. This thorough approach ensured a seamless and intuitive user journey throughout the app.

Challenge: Mobile screen size limitations posed a challenge when trying to fit numerous features and information into a small space without compromising usability and readability.

Solution: I prioritized the most critical features and information for mobile screens, using a minimalist design approach to avoid clutter. Additionally, I used responsive design principles to ensure that the app looked and functioned well on various mobile screen sizes.

The design of the totalE app resulted in a comprehensive and user-friendly application, ready to improve user engagement and retention upon launch. The app is still updating but already active, enhanced with features, intuitive navigation and modern, clean design.

These real-world challenges and their solutions demonstrate my ability to handle complex design requirements, maintain high standards of consistency and usability,. This showcases my proficiency as a UX/UI designer and my commitment to delivering user-centric and compliant design solutions.

This project highlighted the importance of continuous user feedback and iterative design. It also enhanced my skills in user-centered design and collaboration with cross-functional teams, contributing to the successful delivery of a user-friendly and secure product.

Effective collaboration with cross-functional teams, including developers, product managers, and compliance experts, was crucial. Clear communication and regular alignment meetings helped ensure that the design was feasible, compliant, and aligned with business goals.

Using design system was critical for maintaining consistency across numerous features. This approach saved time and reduced errors, ensuring a cohesive and polished final product.

The challenges of balancing multiple features, ensuring compliance, and designing for diverse user groups enhanced my problem-solving skills. I learned to prioritize tasks, manage time effectively, and find creative solutions to complex design challenges.