WHIT
Proof of concept
WHIT (Womens Health Information Tool) provides Canadian women of all ages a customized plan for their health including screenings and vaccinations.
As lead experience designer and co-founder, my responsibilities included: Collaborating on direction and strategy with the other co-founders, Dr. Suzanne Rutherford and Dr. Caitlin Schwartz
Planning and running all research activities including surveys and focus groups
Collaborating with and overseeing a developer to produce a proof of concept of the tool
Producing a responsive website where all women could access basic age/province-specific information for free
Producing a responsive design for the premium portal where women would manage personalized information
Developing an identifiable brand and style guide
Assembling and managing design and scheduling for social media strategy
Hacking Health
WHIT First came to be at a Hacking Health Hackathon in 2018. Over an intense 48-hour period, we focused on refining the problem that doctors were seeing when it came to women’s health, not only for the women themselves but for their own practice.
Why WHIT?
There is no single reference for women to inform themselves about their health. Women are left searching for reliable, trustworthy resources.
Lack of awareness
When women don’t know what tests, immunizations and habits contribute to staying healthy, or they forget to do them, it has a major impact. We know that 5x more women die of breast and cervical cancer if they don’t get regular screening.
No way to track
When women are unaware of what tests they DON’T need, time and money are wasted on duplicating tests and overscreening that can be a detriment to their health. Without a way to track test timing and results, it’s easy for women to forget.
Information overload
Women become overwhelmed searching the internet for health information that is often conflicting or incorrect. There is no reliable, evidence-based, single source of preventative health information that encompasses all aspects of preventative health.
How could this not already exist?
WHIT won 3 awards at the hackathon and was mentioned in several publications following the event. We were invigorated and excited to keep going with it. Why wasn’t there anything like this available to women!?
Hacking Health Choice Award
Dejardins Health Innovation Award
Macadamian Girls Can Hack It Award
How informed are women about their own health?
While we had our own assumptions and beliefs about how informed women were about their health, when it came to screenings and vaccines, but we needed to find out from them. I created a survey that was completed by 386 respondents across Canada.
More than half of respondents were not aware of the correct frequency for pap smears and mammograms in their province
Women relinquish understanding of their health to their doctor
Focus groups were planned in order to have a collaborative discussion about ‘health’ and what it meant to them and how they managed it today. We also gathered feedback on inital brand impressions and pricing expectations for health apps.
Establishing the brand
We wanted the brand to be simple and give a sense of trustworthiness and confidence. The colour palette should feel at least somewhat medical.
Final brand
Starting the conversation
Getting people interested in WHIT, not just as a product but as a reputable voice of evidence-based information provided by physicians was something we felt was important. We wanted to inform women about their health in an engaging, easy-to-consume format without overwhelming them. As they became more informed they would become more invested and involved in their own health.
Everything you need to know about women’s health in one place
The MVP of WHIT would take the form of a responsive website, free to its users, that would allow all Canadian women a simple way to get a snapshot of the health screenings, tests, and vaccines they should expect to get or already have at their age in their province. Users could dive into each intervention to learn more about it.
Looking at the next step
Beyond the free version, WHIT would become a personalized account of your tests, screenings, and vaccines, allowing you to track and manage. The profile setup would give the user the ability to add greater detail to their medical history in order to refine recommendations even further.
Build a profile
See your personalized plan
Get reminders