Client Advisor
Johnson & Johnson Jonathan Davidson (Johnson & Johnson)
(Student Project) Alexandre Hennen (Johnson & Johnson)
Team My Role
Regena Reyes. User Research, Ideation, User Flow, Wireframing, Prototyping
Siddhant Goyle
Xiaohan Miao
Duration
Sep 2019- December 2019
Task
We received a task of finding out new opportunities in eye health problem. This 16-week design research and integration explores the problem of computer vision syndrome in young professionals and synthesis and reframe the problem, ideation and iteration, a prototype is delivered in the end of the project.
Project Timeline
Research
Learning about the problem
Professionals around the world spend upward of 10 hours per day in front of digital screens in their home or office. According to the American Optometric Association, between 50% and 90% of computer users suffer from visual symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome. Computer vision syndrome and dry eye syndrome are a group of eye and vision problems resulting from prolonged digital screen usage. Symptoms include dry eyes, irritated eyes, headache, shoulder ache, irritability, muscle soreness.etc. If it left untreated, these syndromes could evolve into ocular inflammation and infection, both of which may result in blindness.
Treatments for these syndromes focus on alleviating symptoms, but permanently alleviating symptoms is difficult. Addressing Computer Vision Syndrome and Dry Eye Syndrome requires behavioral intervention to help workers develop habits to prevent symptoms from progressing.
Starting with a hypothesis
Office workers experience symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome(CVS), including Dry Eye Syndrome, when they spend more than 4 hours per day in front of a digital screen.
Untreated Computer Vision Syndrome Decreases overall vision health and can result in permanent reduction in visual quality. Our solution should present preventive care measures to slow progression of CVS that easy for people to incorporate daily while also educating users about CVS
User and Experts Interviews
We interviewed 5 eye health experts including optometrist, ophthalmologist and eye glasses store owner to better understand the computer vision syndrome and human behavioral when associated with treatment and prevention care. We interviewed 20 computer users to better understand the pain points when working on their computer all day long.
Research Objectives
What are the common treatment methods for these syndromes?
How do patients’ work habits affect their adherence to treatment?
What prevents patients from seeking the required preventive care measures?
Why do patients fail to maintain a regular treatment regimen?
How do patients view their digital screen usage in relation to their overall health?
Are patients aware of how excessive digital screen usage impacts their eye health?
Synthesis and Reframing
Key Insights
1. Decreased Blink Rate
Surprisingly, the main cause of computer vision syndrome is decreased blink rate. The more time a patient spends looking at the screen, the more time the eye spends blinking less frequently. Infrequent blinks allow the eye to dry quickly because tears evaporate more quickly than the eye can replace them. Experts indicate that the best way to prevent both Computer Vision Syndrome and Dry Eye Syndrome is to blink more frequently when looking at digital screens.
2. Busy at Work
During the interview, a lot of users mentioned that they do not feel they have time in their schedules to stop and take care of their dry, irritated eyes. Their schedules often do not permit them the time to stop and apply treatments for dry, irritated eyes. At the same time, they do not see their symptoms as severe enough to make adherence to treatment regimens a priority.
3. Glass and Lenses are not favorable
Almost all respondents interviewed indicated that they would not wear protective eyewear due to irritation and uncomfortableness. Respondents experiencing dry irritated eyes feel that lenses exacerbate dryness and irritation, and respondents are unwilling to wear glasses and/or lenses, even if those measures will prevent symptoms.
How might we help?
The revised problem statement
1. Providing tools that encourage users to exercise their eye muscles and to blink more frequently
2. Our tool should minimally impacting user's productivity
Ideation
Brainstorm and Sketch
Each of the designer in the team contributed in the brainstorm of ideation. We each had 5 ideas and wrote down what is it, how it works, why is it great. After a discussion in the team, we integrated some ideas and pin down to a solution of computer reminder to blink one's eyes
Narrow down the solutions
We narrowed down our solutions to three ideas based on the most votes in the design team. Our voting metrics include considering "How might we" and user insights we collected from the user interviews at the research stage.
Testing our solutions
We did user testing of our ideas, including calling back the first round interviewers and on-street intercepts. We went to a school building of the Computer Art major, where students work in front of computers all day. Let's take a look at our feedback!
Integrating Solutions
After the feedback from the users, we decided to keep the solution of computer reminder to blink one's eyes with eye movement to exercise eye muscles.
Prototype
We created a prototype to show users our ideas and to collect any positive or constructive feedback. Take a look at our prototype!
Background
The illustration in the prototype was created by one of our team members Sid, where he was compelled to use the image of an "Indian Mom," not only to represent his own mother but also a broader cultural icon of the tough-love mother who instills good habits in her children—including taking care of one's eye health.
User Testings
We did user testing with people from different backgrounds, including America, China, and Indian. Here are the feedbacks we integrated.
Positive Feedback
1. Participants liked the idea of online reminder
2. Participants told us they've learned something new about eye health through the user testing
Considerations
1. Respondents is worried that the tool might interrupt their workflow
2. Respondents like something that might be interactive
3. Without the explanation of the illustration, it's hard for respondents to understand the concept. Therefore, creating a simple and eye-related image is important for user to easier to adapt the concept, or bringing diversity to the illustration might be an option too.
Iteration& Final Design
After user testing, we iterated our product on add the customized time setting for different users to adapt their workflow. We improvsed the image into multiples options so that the users could interact with the image and choose the eye color they like.
User Flowchart
Prototype
Things to Improve
During the user research and user testing period, we tested out people from three different countries with different cultures and customs. Even though this assigned task doesn't tell us the demographic users' location, if there's another similar project, I would start only with one demographic group for more concise insights to provide better fit solutions for users.
