Yanfei (Elfie) Wang
UX Researcher:
General research & Questionnaire setting
UI Designer:
Account page, Game library & detail page, Setting & preference page, 404 page. (for 1st version)
All pages (for optimized version)
Gabby Chen
UX Researcher:
Survey collection & Face-to-face interview
UI Designer:
Sign-in&sign-up pages, Homepage, Reminder page, Calendar page. (for 1st version)
Overview
When we started the design process, we saw how daily care for people with Alzheimer’s often became a balancing act. Caregivers weren’t just offering emotional support, they were also managing medical records, scheduling appointments, and organizing essential information, all because patients struggled with digital tools that weren’t built for their needs. Both groups needed access to the same app, but in different ways: caregivers needed structure and control, while patients needed simplicity and clarity.
As we explored deeper, another issue surfaced. Many caregivers tried to keep patients mentally engaged through games, but they often couldn’t tell which ones were actually suitable. Not every “cognitive” game was designed with Alzheimer’s users in mind. Combined with the common accessibility barriers, such as tiny text, confusing navigation, and cluttered layouts. These gaps made many existing apps frustrating or unusable. That’s the problem we aimed to address.
To address these challenges, we designed the app with accessibility at its core, ensuring both caregivers and patients could use it with ease. Separate logins create tailored experiences， caregivers can manage records, appointments, and reminders, while patients access simple, engaging activities designed for their comfort.
Brain games are organized into clear categories with short, easy-to-understand descriptions, helping caregivers quickly find options suitable for Alzheimer’s users. Shared tools like calendars and reminders are presented in an intuitive layout that minimizes confusion and supports independent use.
Accessibility guided every design decision. We used clean typography, gentle contrast, and an adjustable text size feature that lets elderly users enlarge fonts for easier reading and navigation. This simple but important option helps make the app more comfortable, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.
To create functional and user-friendly solutions, this design process presented a structured approach to problem-solving.
We conducted research to gather user briefs regarding Alzheimer’s patients and caretakers, collecting different needs of different categories of users through the report from Alzheimer's Associate, questionnaires and interviews. At the same time, we investigated the functions and characteristics of competitive products (websites and apps), and collected a sample of 10+ users, so as to provide reference and suggestions for our app design.
Our target users are composed of two groups of people: Patients & Caregivers. Based on our understanding of the user needs and the analysis of our competitor’s product, we concluded a list of features our app would offer, in order to elevate user experience.
Users don't know what kind of games are suitable to Alzheimer's.
Caregivers are required to help manage medical records or appointment due to forgetfulness of patients.
Two groups of users seek diverse features while interacting with the same app.
Some interfaces are not easily accessible to elder users.
Patient's Concern
Accessibility (+ Functionality)
Caregiver's Concern
Functionality
Wireframes
We structured the app pages by a clear hierarchy and main features, distinguishing among login, reminder, game gallery, account and setting pages. This organization enables us to prioritize content and guide user engagement effectively.
Comps (1st version)
During usability testing through mobile platform, we created high fidelity interactive mobile prototypes using the four task flows. Then to optimize our design, we utilized a representative sample of 10+ users (whose family member has a loss of memory, industrial professionals, and nursing students with experiences of caring elder patients, etc.) that reflects the demographics of user base.
Success Metrics: Ease of Use/Errors/Overall User Experience
Feedback
The colors are harmonious, but there is no contrast. Bright colors can attract the attention of older people and help them remember.
Optimize
Unify the design style, add eye-catching colors to better guide users through the app's functions.
Feedback
The default font is still too small for the elder, and the elder are not good at resetting software.
Optimize
Taking more account of elder's vision problem, adjust the default visual size of the app to large size.
Feedback
Light purple background and white text are too difficult to read, especially for elder users.
Optimize
Increased contrast between background and text.
Separate admin
Patient account & caretaker account (Most of Alzheimer patients need caretakers to help manage the daily life)
Brain training games
Game gallery helps Alzheimer patients train their brain to alleviate the issue of memory loss.
Reminder & calendar
Users can add/modify the reminders through clicking Alarm icon in the navigation bar.
Featured function
For users with limited vision, app provides font-size adjustment and dark mode.
During the design process, one challenge I encountered was not using enough visual contrast in the interface early on. This made the layout less intuitive and reduced the clarity of user guidance during interaction. Although I included accessibility features such as adjustable text and icon sizes, I later realized that if the default settings weren’t already comfortable, elderly users would still need to make manual adjustments that could easily discourage them.
Through later iterations, these problems were addressed. I refined the visual hierarchy, improved color contrast across key elements, and tested the layout to ensure interactions felt more intuitive. The default accessibility settings were also adjusted to better suit elderly users from the start, reducing the need for manual changes.
This process reminded me that accessibility isn’t just a checklist, it’s part of designing a smooth, confident user experience for everyone. Paying attention to details like contrast, guidance, and defaults can make the difference between an interface that simply works and one that truly feels easy to use.