Discover Problems in Everyday Life
How to bring value into people’s daily life through powerful user-centered experiences.
The Redesign of COVID19.LACounty.Gov
Overview: I began to take the UX Design course with eCornell, part of Cornell University in December 2020, and completed the online course in April 2021. Each student was challenged to develop a personal project with the research process and design tools learned throughout the Bootcamp course. Click Here to see earned certificate.
Responsibilities: User Research, Concept & Persona Development, Information Architecture, Visual Design, Prototyping & Testing
Education: eCornell of Cornell University, User Experience Design
Project Time: December 2020 - April 2021
The Process
The project was developed based on the Design Thinking Process, an iterative process that required the key phases of Empathizing, User Research, Problem Definition, Ideation, Prototyping and Evaluation.
Identifying the Problems
Booking COVID-19 vaccination and testing appointments were such a pain for many during the pandemic. The online scheduling process can be difficult and inefficient when the local county provides multiple sources to book these services. CVS, Curative, and Fulgent are three major health services used within LA County. Despite their general usability, they all have inconsistent features that can create confusion and frustration within users.
Time-consuming process
Chaotic scheduling during high traffic time
Users are forced to learn new registration process from different providers
No shortcut path for return users
Inconsistent sequential flows
Inconclusive results sometimes
Users cannot complete multiple tasks through a single application
Setting Goals
The ultimate goal is to create a standardized booking application on covid19.lacounty.gov to deliver a streamlined experience for local residents to book various COV-19 testings and vaccinations.
Gathering Insights
After collecting data from the contextual interviews, I conducted affinity mapping to synthesize the pains identified. I grouped these problems under common themes and features in the platform. This process helped me to reorganize my findings and understand the users from their perspectives.
User Persona
After collecting data from affinity mapping, I created a Persona to represent the user group collectively. It was a critical step that helped me to define the user requirements.
Concept Development
Jointly sketching low-fidelity wireframes & information architecture. The advantage was a direct buy-in of the approximate structure.
Prototyping & Evaluation
The mid-fidelity prototype was developed in Balsamiq, which was focused on the sequential flow of the renovated website. Most of the content details were kept as placeholders to save time.
After the mid-fidelity prototype was built, I conducted two usability tests with participants who joined the contextual interviews and two more with new participants. By comparing the feedback received from both parties, I was able to formulate a heuristic evaluation and refine the prototype to a high-fidelity level in Figma. To view the existing website, please visit covid19.lacounty.gov.