About the project

This project was ambitious, with a scale beyond anything I had worked on before. It was to be pitched to NHS Wales, focusing on streamlining aspects such as relocation, verifying and gaining credentials, and managing training and staff members across various organisations. It was to serve as an accessible “staff passport” and patient records database, useable as both a mobile and desktop app, that would cut down the time and effort required to manage the numerous tasks faced by NHS staff daily, whilst replacing and updating the infamously out-of-date systems that they use currently.

Problem statement and users

The main problems faced by NHS staff could be narrowed down to two words. Time and complexity. With so much on their plate, a convoluted, slow and outdated system only adds to stress. This results in certain shortcuts being taken. One notable example was that frequently, one member of staff would log in on a computer, and everyone else would use that same account. This means that tracking who did what and when became next to impossible, as all notes and changes would fall under the name of one user’s account. Aside from this, transferring organisation and managing training and records was also a difficult and time-consuming practice. The app had to cut all of the fat, with clear and concise labelling and simplistic pathways.

Another important problem surrounded visual aesthetics. An app or website that looks unappealing and clunky, will turn users away, no matter how useful it may be. While meeting WCAG standards, Govt websites are often very sterile and unappealing, so balancing these elements was key.

Methodology

- Guided research into current and planned systems for the client

- Creating and understanding key user stories

- Design an interconnected user journey for both staff and HR

- Collaborate with and playback work to stakeholders to flesh out the prototype and make adjustments where necessary

Research

The research phase was quite short, as I was allowed a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the current system. I discussed the various pain points with a handful of stakeholders who had first-hand experience and planned out a series of key user journeys with Audrey.

The target audience was medical staff however, their ages, and as such their technical abilities, would vary. The ability to access their staff passport on the move was also important, and being the more challenging version, it is what the design started with.

Foundation and challenges

- Guidance was spotty at times, so many inclusions came down to my own research

- Condensing an expansive list of detailed features into a single app design

- Balancing complex functions with visual fidelity

- Being the sole designer on the project left me with a lot of responsibility

- Feeding back the designs and explaining the details to multiple stakeholders all with different expectations of how the app should look/function

Design

The final design varied between the two log-in paths. The “Digital Staff Passport,” used by staff members to manage their credentials, used blue as its core colour, whilst the HR side of the app, or the “Patient Record Database” had an inverted colour scheme. Both used stark greens and reds, as well as clear iconography in specific areas of importance, to distinguish them from the rest of the app. The choice of blue and white as the core colour scheme was made to meet the brand guidelines of the NHS, whilst also delivering a product that was more dynamic and visually appealing, whilst also remaining accessible.

The choice to focus on an app was not solely to allow users to access information on the go, but to allow for a swift sign. The current version requires a lot of information every time the user signs in, however, mobile devices allow for especially secure and easy methods, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, which would cut down on time spent and increase the security and traceability of staff profiles.

The start of all primary user journeys were placed along the navigation bar at the bottom of the screens. I included a small circle that dipped into the bar, which would roll across the screen and hover over the selected path. This was a small visual that would help users understand what section of the app they were using, especially considering that less stylised solutions would be difficult with the focused colour scheme.

Another adjustment was the method of assigning training. In the current system, users can only assign one credential or training at a time, and to only one person. I adjusted the feature so that users could go about assigning such things in two different ways. Either, the user could select a credential, and then select multiple staff members to assign it to, or they could select one staff member and assign as many training modules or credentials as they liked. You can see an example of this in the image below, four screens from the right. The inclusion of a message system was made to focus usage onto a single platform, allowing for quick and seamless communication instead of requiring the user to change platforms to send an email or chase up people in person, neither of which are reliable.

Outcome

Project Apollo’s development came to an end sooner than I would have liked, due to changes in business goals at the time. Whilst it never progressed into full-scale development, the numerous stakeholders I was in contact with were all excited about the direction the project was going and were very enthusiastic about the design solutions I presented.

“The outcome was a wireframe design which was very professional in both look and feel and exactly interpreted the client's requirements. Jamie was able to present his design confidently, demonstrating the overall functionality and honing in on the areas where he had made changes to improve the system's look and usability. Although he was given a poorly defined brief, he was able to produce an output to a very high standard by using his experience and relying on his intuition and design feel. A great piece of work which really impressed the Client and Stellar Omada.”

Alan Campbell, Head of Testing at Stellar Omada