Canguru
Canguru
Role:
Product Designer
Year:
2018
Platform:
Mobile app (iOS & Android)
Type:
UX study — Tera Bootcamp, in partnership with Canguru
The World Health Organization recommends that no more than 15% of births be C-sections — in Brazil, the rate is around 54%, the highest in Latin America, and only 69% of women in prenatal care receive proper counseling. Canguru, a pregnancy-tracker app backed by a medical team, existed to close that guidance gap, but two problems undermined it: in the Forum — the app's most used area — answers from doctors were indistinguishable from answers by other users, and the long risk form that powered the medical team's personalized guidance was abandoned by most users as exhausting. In a UX study developed in partnership with Canguru during Tera's UX Design Bootcamp, my challenge was to redesign the experience so that trustworthy guidance would actually reach expectant mothers.
We grounded the redesign in primary research (surveying 57 users and 15 non-users or competitor-app users, and interviewing the medical team) which shaped three personas and a redefined brief. From there, I redesigned the core journey: restructuring the home around the baby's weekly development, visually distinguishing medically validated answers in the Forum, adding a private chat with the medical team, and redistributing the risk form across the pregnancy journey. A prototype tested with users validated some of our hypotheses and refuted others before the final proposal.
The World Health Organization recommends that no more than 15% of births be C-sections — in Brazil, the rate is around 54%, the highest in Latin America, and only 69% of women in prenatal care receive proper counseling. Canguru, a pregnancy-tracker app backed by a medical team, existed to close that guidance gap, but two problems undermined it: in the Forum — the app's most used area — answers from doctors were indistinguishable from answers by other users, and the long risk form that powered the medical team's personalized guidance was abandoned by most users as exhausting. In a UX study developed in partnership with Canguru during Tera's UX Design Bootcamp, my challenge was to redesign the experience so that trustworthy guidance would actually reach expectant mothers.
We grounded the redesign in primary research (surveying 57 users and 15 non-users or competitor-app users, and interviewing the medical team) which shaped three personas and a redefined brief. From there, I redesigned the core journey: restructuring the home around the baby's weekly development, visually distinguishing medically validated answers in the Forum, adding a private chat with the medical team, and redistributing the risk form across the pregnancy journey. A prototype tested with users validated some of our hypotheses and refuted others before the final proposal.
54% vs 15%
54%
vs 15%
54% vs 15%
Brazil's C-section rate against the WHO recommendation — the guidance gap Canguru set out to close.
57
54% vs 15%
users
surveyed
users surveyed
users surveyed
15
154% vs 15%
non-users interviewed
non-users interviewed
non-users interviewed
1
1
prototype
user-tested
prototype user-tested
prototype user-tested
20:38
Skip
Welcome! You are beginning
your journey as a new mom.
Over the next few months, we’ll support your pregnancy to ensure the best experience in this special time.
Other moms can support you.
We offer a unique collaborative space
to chat and share questions.
You can also ask questions directly
to our medical team in a private, exclusive chat.
Each week, you can follow your baby’s growth with helpful guidance for a healthy pregnancy.
20:38
Skip
Welcome! You are beginning
your journey as a new mom.Over the next few months, we’ll support your pregnancy to ensure the best experience in this special time.
Other moms can support you.
We offer a unique collaborative space
to chat and share questions.You can also ask questions directly
to our medical team in a private, exclusive chat.Each week, you can follow your baby’s growth with helpful guidance for a healthy pregnancy.
Skip
20:38
Welcome! You are beginning
your journey as a new mom.Over the next few months,
we’ll support your pregnancy
to ensure the best experience
in this special time.Other moms can support you.
We offer a collaborative space to chat and share questions.You can also ask questions directly to our medical team
in a private, exclusive chat.Each week, you can follow
your baby’s growth with
helpful guidance for
a healthy pregnancy.
Five screens, one promise each: new users meet the app's support network — community, medical team, weekly guidance — before being asked for anything in return.
Five screens, one promise each: new users meet the app's support network — community, medical team, weekly guidance — before being asked for anything in return.
Mother's place
Mother's place
Mother's place
Contraction timer
Contraction timer
Contraction timer
6
7
8
WEEK
8
9
9
10
11
MONTH #3
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
I’ve grown a little more, and now I’m the size of
a cherry!
I can imagine your
curiosity to know who
I’ll be: a boy or a girl?
MORE DETAILS
My little arms and legs have started to develop. I’m already moving, though you can’t feel me yet.
CHERRY
0.98 inches
WEIGHT
0.07 oz
LESS DETAILS
Baby
Mother
Forum
Doctors
20:38
Hello, Laura
6
7
8
WEEK
8
9
9
10
11
MONTH #3
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
I’ve grown a little more, and now I’m the size of
a cherry!
I can imagine your
curiosity to know who
I’ll be: a boy or a girl?
MORE DETAILS
My little arms and legs have started to develop. I’m already moving, though you can’t feel me yet.
CHERRY
0.98 inches
WEIGHT
0.07 oz
LESS DETAILS
Baby
Mother
Forum
Doctors
20:38
Hello, Laura
The home screen answers the question mothers searched most in the Forum: how weeks map to months, turning the app's most requested information into ambient context.
Upcoming weeks stay locked on purpose: curiosity about what comes next brings mothers back, week after week.
The home screen answers the question mothers searched most in the Forum: how weeks map to months, turning the app's most requested information into ambient context.
Upcoming weeks stay locked on purpose: curiosity about what comes next brings mothers back, week after week.
Hospital finder
Hospital finder
Hospital finder
Appointment calendar
Appointment calendar
Appointment calendar
Every monitoring tool in one place: from contraction timing to hospital findings, so late-pregnancy tasks don't depend on late-night Google searches.
Medication list
Medication list
Medication list
I can hear you!
My little ears can already
tell voices apart from the outside, and I can hear the songs you sing to me!
Little hands appearing
My tiny hands are starting to take shape. One day, they’ll gently reach out to touch you.
Tiny feet in motion
My little feet are fully formed now, and I’m moving around even more!
I can hear you!
My little ears can already
tell voices apart from the outside, and I can hear the songs you sing to me!
Little hands appearing
My tiny hands are starting to take shape. One day, they’ll gently reach out to touch you.
Tiny feet in motion
My little feet are fully formed now, and I’m moving around even more!
Baby
Mother
Forum
Doctors
6
7
8
WEEK
8
9
9
10
11
MONTH #3
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
I’ve grown a little more, and now I’m the size of
a cherry!
I can imagine your
curiosity to know who
I’ll be: a boy or a girl?
MORE DETAILS
My little arms and legs have started to develop. I’m already moving, though you can’t feel me yet.
CHERRY
0.98 inches
WEIGHT
0.07 oz
LESS DETAILS
20:38
Hello, Laura
Baby
Mother
Forum
Doctors
6
7
8
WEEK
8
9
9
10
11
MONTH #3
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
My little teeth are already
starting to form.
I’ve grown a little more, and now I’m the size of
a cherry!
I can imagine your
curiosity to know who
I’ll be: a boy or a girl?
MORE DETAILS
My little arms and legs have started to develop. I’m already moving, though you can’t feel me yet.
CHERRY
0.98 inches
WEIGHT
0.07 oz
LESS DETAILS
20:38
Hello, Laura
Milestones as celebration: badges mark key moments in the baby's development, giving mothers small rewards for staying engaged with their prenatal care
Milestones as celebration: badges mark key moments in the baby's development, giving mothers small rewards for staying engaged with their prenatal care
Little hands appearing
My tiny hands are starting to take shape. One day, they’ll gently reach out to touch you.
Forum
Forum
Trust needs to be visible: answers from the medical team now carry a clear badge, so mothers can tell professional guidance from peer opinion at a glance.
Trust needs to be visible: answers from the medical team now carry a clear badge, so mothers can tell professional guidance from peer opinion at a glance.
Forum
Forum
Forum
Chat with medical team
Chat with medical team
Chat with medical team
Chat with medical team
Chat with medical team
The most requested feature in our research: a private channel to the medical team, for the questions mothers don't want to ask in public.
The most requested feature in our research: a private channel to the medical team, for the questions mothers don't want to ask in public.
Learnings
Learnings
Usability testing reshaped the proposal more than any internal debate — some hypotheses we were confident about didn't survive contact with real users. If this study moved to production, the metrics I'd instrument first are Risk Form completion rate and weekly return rate, the two behaviors the redesign was built to change.
Usability testing reshaped the proposal more than any internal debate — some hypotheses we were confident about didn't survive contact with real users. If this study moved to production, the metrics I'd instrument first are Risk Form completion rate and weekly return rate, the two behaviors the redesign was built to change.
