Medcases - A Product Design Journey
Website: www.medcases.io
Project Duration: June 2018 - November 2019
Scope: Product Design, UX Design, UI Design
Industries: Education, Healthcare
Key Deliverables: Personas & Target Audience, Information Architecture, User Flows, User Interviews, Scalable Design System, Mobile & Desktop App Design, Animations, User Analytics
- Established the product's core objectives and target audience.
- Crafted a seamless, user-friendly app interface.
- Developed a robust design system for consistency and rapid updates.
- Achieved over 10,000 active users within the first year of launch.
Project Duration: June 2018 - November 2019
Scope: Product Design, UX Design, UI Design
Industries: Education, Healthcare
Key Deliverables: Personas & Target Audience, Information Architecture, User Flows, User Interviews, Scalable Design System, Mobile & Desktop App Design, Animations, User Analytics
- Established the product's core objectives and target audience.
- Crafted a seamless, user-friendly app interface.
- Developed a robust design system for consistency and rapid updates.
- Achieved over 10,000 active users within the first year of launch.
Medcases is reshaping medical education, providing an innovative platform for aspiring physicians. This e-learning tool allows medical students and doctors to hone their skills by engaging with a virtual patient, no matter where they are.
Transforming Medical Training into a Mobile Experience
When product creators seek my expertise, they often desire a more visually appealing design. However, visual enhancements alone seldom address the core challenges of a product. The real challenge lies in identifying and solving the fundamental issues.
Mariusz, the founder of Medcases, reached out with an early version of his app, hoping to improve its aesthetic appeal.
Virtual Patient Simulator - A New Frontier in Medical Education
After thoroughly testing the alpha version, I uncovered several usability and continuity issues that hindered the user experience. Mariusz and I agreed that while the product concept and technology were sound, the user experience needed significant improvement to truly benefit the users.
We explored Mariusz’s goals for Medcases, focusing on the problems it aimed to solve and the impact it should have. We identified that the platform was especially valuable for senior medical students, interns, and young doctors, and developed detailed personas to guide our design decisions. We also redefined Medcases' mission:
Medcases isn’t just about acquiring medical knowledge; it’s a virtual patient simulator that enables users to apply their knowledge, develop efficient workflows, and build confidence in their clinical skills.
Designing with the User in Mind: Enhancing Medical Professionals' Experience
During the discovery phase, I immersed myself in the world of medical practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of their needs. I created a comprehensive information architecture and flow diagram that mapped out all app functionalities and how they interconnect, mimicking the real-world interaction between doctors and patients.
Once we established the app's structure, I devised workflows for specific features, starting with rough sketches and refining them through collaboration with the client. These sketches were transformed into interactive wireframes for user testing. The insights gathered were analyzed and shared with Mariusz, helping us determine which feedback to act on. For instance, while testers requested an "Examine All" button, we chose to exclude it, encouraging users to follow the proper steps in examining a patient, a crucial skill in real-life medical practice.
From Concept to Completion: Finalizing the Design
Given the serious nature of Medcases, we chose a clean, minimalist design accented with light blue, a color that conveys scientific reliability. After finalizing the app's basic structure, I developed an atomic design system to ensure a consistent look and feel. With this foundation, I designed the final screens and integrated them into user flows. Collaborating closely with the development team, I provided all necessary visual assets and support. After thorough testing and refinement, Medcases was ready for its public debut!
The Launch and Beyond
The public launch brought in thousands of new users eager to explore Medcases. I analyzed the user feedback and Hotjar recordings, which were mostly positive and full of valuable suggestions. Mariusz was excited by the response, and we quickly began planning the next phase of improvements for Medcases, continuing our work together.
Today, Medcases has grown to serve over 36,000 users.
Medcases - marketing case study
Timeline: may 2018 - may 2021
Services: Marketing strategy, Marketing campaigns
Industry: Education, Medical/Health, Mobile app
Deliverables: Strategy workshop, Campaign execution, Analytics & insights, Landing page & newsletter, PDF booklet, Ad graphics and animations, Print materials
- Strategy workshop to define goals
- Designed consistent graphics, animations and pdf booklet
- Executed and implemented online marketing campaigns
- Over 2k new users in first month
Services: Marketing strategy, Marketing campaigns
Industry: Education, Medical/Health, Mobile app
Deliverables: Strategy workshop, Campaign execution, Analytics & insights, Landing page & newsletter, PDF booklet, Ad graphics and animations, Print materials
- Strategy workshop to define goals
- Designed consistent graphics, animations and pdf booklet
- Executed and implemented online marketing campaigns
- Over 2k new users in first month
Marketing Strategy and Exceution
In the times of apps, machine learning and AI, medicine is still afield dominated by lots of books and theoretical learning making the transition from university to medical practice is hard for lots of medical students.
Medcases changes that.
Medcases is the new way for future physicians to learn. It is anexcellent e-learning tool for medical students and doctors whowant to grow through practice on a virtual patient, no matterwhere they are.
Launch campaign: driving rapid user adoption
Nearing final stages of implementing designs into code, Mariusz (the founder and creator of Medcases)thought about official launch and wanted to figure out the best way to do it. I offered my help andwe sat down to brainstorm ideas, define what we want to achieve and if using marketing is actuallyworthwile.
Growing user base effectively
We did a strategy workshop and found core problem - slow start and market adaption are a big threatto any startup, as fixed costs are a big problem with small amount of users and it diminshes less andless with each new customer.We agreed that ideal scenario would be to have a group of users from day one, and then grow fast tobe recognized as a go-to app for young people in medical field. Possible, of course, but quitecostly, and as a startup, budget was limited with little room to flex.
landing page offering free pdf for mailing subscription
Achieving high user engagement
With our goal defined, we workshopped possible solutions and other ideas for growing Medcases thatwould help in the future or were not directly aiming at the problem at hand. We also discussed thebudget and expected costs for each action, searching for most efficient spending levels.Having good understanding of expectations and limitations, I created detailed plan divided into threeparts determined by university schedules.
Launch was deliberately set two months before final exams period in college calendar.Campaign started one month before launch, in form of newsletter signup for a really useful freebie -a branded 12 page digital booklet containg essentials for every medical practicioner - tables witnominal health indicators, triage algorithm, ECG basics etc.Ad messaging primarly promoted the booklet and directed to a simple, converting-focused landing pagementioning key features with link to learn more.Second part of the plan, two months between launch and exam period. This time the message was allabout testing your knowlege and boost confidence - desire of every student before exams. Landing pagewas updated with download links, as well as mailing that followed submitting for the booklet.Third part was more organic and long-term with a strong community building in mind. Organic posts andnewsletters with best players scores, user personal stats, contests with premium account and printbooklet as prize, reaching out to industry influencers, occasional sales, and many more.
pdf freebie including basic information and medical standards
Results
Part 1 stats
- on launch day
- best ad - 278k views, 50k unique users
- best fb post - 210k views, 42k unique users
- ~4k clicks overall
- on launch day
- best ad - 278k views, 50k unique users
- best fb post - 210k views, 42k unique users
- ~4k clicks overall
Part 2 stats
- two months after launch
- 76% of Medcases homepage traffic from landing page with 3m 21s avg session time
- 98% increase in fb profile likes
- over 200% growth in userbase from paid promotion
- two months after launch
- 76% of Medcases homepage traffic from landing page with 3m 21s avg session time
- 98% increase in fb profile likes
- over 200% growth in userbase from paid promotion
Insights- In process, messaging was tested, analyzed and refined to maximize effectiveness- Many versions of messaging resulted in wide reach within target group- Engaging content - essentials booklet was well recieved and useful to our community