Introduction

GoalEasy encourages diabetics to live a healthier life by allowing them to track and set activity goals, share their progress systematically with their doctors, and keep up to date with the latest news on diabetes.

The primary goal of the application is to allow tracking vital information easy for diabetics in order to prevent them from developing complications associated with diabetes and improve their overall health.

Process

I first researched about diabetes - mainly it's causes, types, symptoms and preventive measures. The research allowed me to prepare for the questionnaire with diabetics. The questions were:

1. When did you first diagnosed with diabetes?
2. Are you experiencing any symptoms that are directly related to diabetes? If so, what are they?
3. Have you had to change any part of your lifestyle due to being diagnosed as diabetic. If so, what have you found to be the most difficult?
4. When monitoring yourself, how do you normally keep track of your information?
5. What have you found most problematic when you are monitoring yourself?
6. What are the most important things that you need to keep track of when monitoring yourself?
7. With a change in lifestyle associated with being diabetic, what are your ultimate goals? (e.g., improved eating habits, improved physical activity, weight loss, no longer requiring medication, etc.)

Based on the research and questionnaires, I've come up with target audiences who are the people in their twenties and early thirties with Type 2 diabetes. They are the people who want to actively take part in their health by setting activity goals, tracking their health information, and sharing it with their doctors and family members.

End goal of the personas are:

• Prevent complications associated with diabetes.
• Improve their fitness and health.
• Lower their glucose level.
• Track vital data.
• Continue to learn about the diabetes including new researches.
• Reduce the amount of apps and devices needed for tracking vital information.

Usability Testing

I have chosen think aloud protocol to listen to the reaction of our participants and observe their actions. Following this, I conducted an interview to ask more direct questions regarding their thoughts on the interface. The study took place at the participants' home because it would be the most common place they would use this application.

Think Aloud Protocol

• Participants were satisfied with the amount of functionality given by the application.
• Some participants said that "Learn" page is very helpful for them.
• Couple of participants were confused by the foot monitoring feature. While they are affected by the foot swelling, they normally just keep their feet elevated to heal and they said they weren't told to monitor it.
• Couple of participants said that the texts are hard to read.
• While looking at the "Today" page, a participant said that the information is hard to read because the information is presented to them in vertical orientation as opposed to horizontal.

Interview

• Participants who were familiar with mobile applications were generally satisfied with the layout and behavior of the application, however, people who weren't familiar with mobile application found the application hard to use at first.
• Monitoring foot condition feature was a bit controversial. Some participants said that they just take rest and never track their foot condition but others said that it would be a great feature that could prevent diabetics from amputation.
  While talking to the participants, I realized that it all comes down to their different severity levels of type 2 diabetes and their physical health. This feature could be extremely helpful for diabetics with weight problems and nerve damages.
• Some participants said that it would be helpful to allow comparing their measurements to optimal ranges for them to strive towards.