Sophia Manalo's Portfolio

PillPall

Humanizing Care Experiences for Seniors

ROLE

Product Designer

Interaction Designer

TOOLS

Design Thinking

User Research

Prototyping

Visual Design

CONTRIBUTORS

Jessie Li

TIMELINE

7 weeks

OVERVIEW

Humanizing Healthcare for Seniors

PillPall is an care assistant paired with a smart pillbox that uses voice recognition, automation, and accessible design to offer clear communication and comforting daily routines.

The Challenge

Ensuring that seniors without caregiver support can manage their daily routines independently, while still feeling cared for and emotionally supported.

FINAL PRODUCT

Key Feature 1

Routine Reminder

These features prioritize efficient interactions that many tracking apps lack, causing poor user retention. I focused on quick, straightforward daily-use features.

Key Feature 2

Voice Assistant and Screen Reader

In understanding accessibility concerns from medical conditions — I added a voice assistant and screen reader for low vision individuals. Additionally, with Dynamic Type the interface can be customized for larger text sizes.

Key Feature 3

Safety Measures

Guided flows allow for complete control over taking medicine using PillPall. Step by step users can focus more on how they feel rather than ensuring they took the correct medication.

RESEARCH

Secondary Research

Many seniors struggle to manage complex medication schedules on their own, without reliable support

As an already vulnerable population, it’s essential that seniors have the right support to manage their medications safely and consistently, reducing the risk of serious health complications.

Background and Inspiration

I conducted interviews with caregivers and seniors to understand key pain points

User Journey Map

Many interviewees said their medical conditions made it hard to confidently manage their medication, so helping them feel “in control” became a key focus.

Defining Accessibility

Background and Inspiration

The competition doesn’t focus on accessibility, feels impersonal, and makes it hard for users to manage things on their own

HMW

How It Works

Creating the Pill Case

First Draft

We ideated what the pill case should be shaped like to create delight, but ended up choosing a flower

User Testing

Changes

We created a screen because users wanted visual feedback on the physical product to make the process more efficient

Creating the Screens

There were a few key learnings about accessibility and mediaction that shaped my design direction

Medication Standardization

I found that FDA-set doses make the input process much simpler for users

I was struggling to find a simple and intuitive flow for inputting medication since I thought schedules varied, however, it is standardized, making the input process after scanning easier.

WCAG Compliance

Text & Color Accessibility

I ensured that all text on the screen had a minimum 16 pixels, however, I left white space for users that had settings for larger text size.

Before moving onto creating any visuals, I ensured my colors had a high enough contrast ratio. I used the color accessibility checker in Figma to do this.

User Testing

Home Screen Iterations

Inputting Dedication Information

UI Elements

My Reflections

I would love to have tested a version with the screen, however due to time constraints, that wasn't possible