Spark
UX Research and Design for Hikmah Tech
Mckenzie Warren
Ken Ngwa
Jennifer Roche
Allison Putnam
“One in two sexually active persons will contract an STI by age 25….Even though young people account for half of new STI cases, a recent survey showed only about 12% were tested for STIs in the last year.”
American Sexual Health Association
Getting Started
My team worked with our stakeholders to determine the scope of the project and its intended users.
We identified several key aspects of the product we would be designing for Hikmah Tech:
reach gen Z and millenials
remove taboo & stigma from conversation
accurate information
encourage sti prevention
calming without saying “its ok”
non-clinical language
simple UI
We interviewed 13 people to understand what problems sexually active gen-Z and Millennials were facing.
Affinity Map and Key Insights from User Interviews
Affinity Map & User Insights
We learned quite a bit about how people were navigating their own sexual health. While many people had had some form of sexual education, either in a formal school setting or a conversation with parents, there was still a lot of incorrect information available. Many people reported that they got much of their information about the intersection of sexual desire, protection, and socially acceptable ways to engage with potential partners, from peers. Potentially exacerbating the lack of concrete information or allowing social dynamics to determine behavior.
We observed that users, regardless of sex or orientation, behaved passively when it was time to talk about using a condom. People would wait for a partner to bring it up, and they were often relieved when it came up. Some of the fears surrounding this conversation were fears that the partner would be offended or that the mood would be ruined.
Even users who identified themselves as assertive often behaved passively, using coded language to communicate.
People would be willing to risk their own physical health to avoid this conversation.
User Quotes
“I validate new partners based on level of trust.”
“If I’ve been seeing someone and they want to take the condom off, I ask something coded, like…‘Are you good?’”
“If I’m using condoms, I assume I’m covered.”
“I go to the doctor when I think something is wrong.”
Persona Development
(more detailed data available)
Robert
28 years old, sexually active, dates men and women. He uses dating apps and uses his intuition about who he trusts.
Robert makes choices about his sexual health based on things he assumes about his sexual partners & sometimes engages in risky sexual behavior.
He knows he should be using protection every time, but doesn’t always know how to bring it up.
The Problem
Behavior must change from passive, reactive and partner-motivated to assertive, proactive and self-motivated in order for rates of infection to be reduced overall.
How might we develop a product that addresses such a large social problem?
How might we change how users behave in the midst of an intimate encounter?
Initial Design Solution
In communication with our stakeholders, we decided that a gamified approach to design would provide the lightheartedness that the topic needed in order to be appealing to millennial users
In the design, the user navigated a series of quests, passively learning about STIs.
A future iteration could include ‘badges’ or some other signifier to be used on data apps.
Other must-have features we included in our design:
Communication Information & Difficult Conversation Tips
STI & Prevention Information
Sexual Activity Tracking
STI Screening Tracking
Password Protection
Major Issues
Through a series of design sprints, we created a game that would give users information about STIs and protection as they played. Once the user passed a key point in the game they were awarded a badge of completion. This badge could be put onto dating app profiles or social media to promote the user as someone who values safe sex and is not afraid to talk about it.
When we spoke to users, however, there were several problematic aspects of this design that we had not anticipated:
Badge could be misused
Badge automatically communicated the the user was sexually active
Game designs did not test knowledge of STIs or protection
gamified solution
Pivot: Design Solution # 2
Returning to the main problem, we needed to take a passive, partner-motivated individual and move them into the behavior space of an assertive and self-motivated individual.
We created a design that featured a calendar to track sexual experiences as well as appointments with doctors or free clinics. The user would see a visual representation of their behaviors and modify according to internal recommendations within the app.
Through tracking sexual activity and sexual health appointments. The user would come to take ownership over their sexual health.
User Testing & Improvements To Design
Through usability testing my team found that users would not use this calendar feature alone because it did not provide enough value. In the final high fidelity iteration, an analytics page provided the users with insight into the cumulative information they logged into the app. More detailed pages addressing communication with sexual partners further addressed the core problem of communication.
referenced from Affinity Map (above)
paper prototype of second design
User flow to add an appointment or track sexual activity
analytics, find a clinic, social guidance & conversational tools