Travel Health Mobile App

George

Team

BlueDot

Year

Learn More

bluedot.global/george

My Role and Activities

  • Interaction Design
  • Information Architecture
  • Visual Design
  • Prototyping
  • Usability Testing
  • Motion Graphics
  • Branding

As part of the BlueDot team, I translated a social mission into the end-to-end design of BlueDot's first consumer-facing mobile app. George is BlueDot’s first step at infectious disease prevention at the individual level. As our world becomes more interconnected, the risk of emerging disease increases.

The name George comes from the Greek words Geo and Ergos translating to Earth Worker. We all have a social responsibility to keep ourselves and those around us safe from potentially life-threatening illnesses, but finding relevant and actionable information can be cumbersome. George is a mobile app that provides personalized and timely infectious disease information for frequent travellers and health-conscious individuals.

A compilation of George mockups

A compilation of various George iterations exploring navigation approaches, content framing, visual treatments, and functionality.

Process

I worked with the Clinical Medicine, Data Engineering, and Design team leads to develop the app concept. Infectious disease is not inherently a compartmentalized subject of concern for most individuals. Our biggest hurdle was identifying meaningful ways to deliver information about infectious diseases.

Taking key concepts, I prototyped various user-flows to communicate the design and gather feedback. We user tested three iterations at local coffee shops. These sessions revealed important insights about perceptions of infectious disease and app usability issues, some key themes included:

"This is not a health app."

Health conscious individuals don't necessarily view infectious disease prevention alongside fitness, diet, and general well-being. How can we fit proactive infectious disease prevention into a user's healthy lifestyle? Peripheral health data such as weather, tap water safety, and air quality made infectious disease prevention more relatable.

"Learning about illnesses makes me stressed, I rather be relaxed."

Presenting the symptoms and risks of infectious diseases makes individuals avoid the subject altogether. The key is presenting information that's succinct and easily actionable, making an individual feel in control about an emerging outbreak rather than overwhelmed by the media attention.

"If I'm going somewhere I've never been to... or if I'm sick."

On their own, infectious diseases don't require continuous attention. For George to be successful, the app must meet the user at a time concern — globally while planning a trip, locally at start of a flu season — or offer additional value to encourage day to day usage.

Incorporating this feedback, I explored methods of fitting infectious disease prevention into a user’s lifestyle and framing the content in way that’s relatable and easily actionable. I iterated through various content approaches, navigation flows, and visual treatments to come to the solution that would be released to the public.

A prototype I created using Framer.js to user test a summary screen offering a list of actionable disease prevention measures.

Initial Release

The direction chosen for the initial public release balanced user insights with current data feasibility. Here are a few select screens and interactions:

The onboarding screens are vital in communicating George's social mission.

Animations transition the conversation from the scariness of infectious diseases to sound precaution methods.

Whether a user is at home or travelling abroad — there is relevant information.

Combining environmental data with disease information contextualises the app. Colour and iconography communicate the relative risk and actions required.

Personalisation is essential when educating individuals about infectious diseases.

Prompts engage users to take action throughout the app. Messaging is tailored to a user's health conditions and vaccination records.

Outcome

George was released in early 2017 for iOS and Android. Read more in an article by CBC.

George on Android