Blood Donation Organisation

Creating a platform to connect donors and recipients, and secure approximately $20,000 of seed funding.

Client:	Project Duration:	Role & Team:	Year:
Blood Donation Organisation	2.5 weeks	Team lead Stakeholder management UX Research UI Design	2024

The nature of this work is confidential. As such, the following project has been generalised and anonymised. The Blood Donation Organisation will be referred to as “BloodSmart”.

CHALLENGE

Connecting donors and recipients

While the physical act of donating blood is crucial, the human connection between donors and recipients is often overlooked. Without a way to connect, recipients are left feeling isolated and disconnected from the community they are a part of.

BloodSmart conducted a pilot trial encouraging donors to record a video message that recipients could access by scanning a QR code on their blood bag. The pilot confirmed donor videos could make a positive impact on a patient’s experience, and proved they could improve the wellbeing of recipients through human connection.

After a successful trial, BloodSmart approached our team to find a path forward for the app by providing donors with a platform to send messages to recipients. This project aimed to increase brand awareness and strengthen the bond between donors and recipients, showcasing BloodSmart’s commitment to fostering a supportive and connected community by providing a source of human connection for recipients in a time of need.

“I didn’t expect to hear directly from a donor. It’s touching that someone took the time to send me a message – and their blood!”
— Pilot Patient

APPROACH

Strategic workflow to deliver optimal user experience within 2.5 weeks

50% Project Management

Collaborated with clients and stakeholders, managed team goals, and ensured the team was on track to meet project deadlines.

25% Research

Drafted and executed various research methodologies, ensuring all aspects of the brief were met.

25% Design

By having team members be the task owners, I provide support wherever needed most.

I divided our team of 10 designers into working groups based on strengths, focusing on research, ideation, and design. Weekly goals and close collaboration with the client (through regular updates) ensured the project remained on track. To understand blood donor motivations and preferences, we conducted 7 initial one-on-one interviews, 4 internal stakeholder interviews, 2 contextual inquiries into the donation process, and sets of desktop research.

The research findings revealed 3 key objectives:

Fostering community between donors and recipients
Creating connection that is meaningful
Increasing brand awareness of BloodSmart’s role

It was evident that the platform needed to enable donors to effortlessly create meaningful messages, thereby enhancing the recipient’s treatment experience, and also boosting BloodSmart’s brand awareness. These insights informed our ‘How Might We’ questions and design decisions which helped us ideate low/mid-fidelity prototypes for testing

Usability Testing

User research data was synthesised immediately after each usability test. This rapid iteration process allowed us to finalise the design and develop high-fidelity prototypes for an optimal user experience.

To improve usability, key changes to the ‘Create a Message’ page include increasing text size, using darker red for headings, reducing text, and adding specific CTAs like ‘Start Recording’ for better usability.

Key changes to the message suggestions feature, made to prevent user overwhelm and improve guidance, include simplifying prompts by removing ambiguous categories and narrowing it down to six clear questions.

Key changes to the opt-in feature, made to enhance user understanding and trust, include simplifying the language to a straightforward ‘May we share your message?’ with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses, and adding a link to the privacy policy for transparency.

Key changes to the personalisation features include redesigning the interface with guided walkthroughs for stickers, text, and filters and adding pop-up instructions during video review, all aimed at enhancing usability and encouraging more engaging and creative user interactions.

OUTCOME

Over the span of 2-and-a-half weeks, we successfully redesigned the BloodSmart app, creating an engaging platform that allows donors of all ages and tech abilities to effortlessly craft meaningful messages, thereby enriching recipients' treatment experiences and significantly enhancing BloodSmart’s brand awareness.

Overall, the comprehensive redesign delivered:

Intuitive interface that accommodates various communication methods, ensuring that donors from all age groups and with different tech skills can easily navigate and record impactful video messages.
Vibrant community platform where donors can share their stories and feel connected to a larger movement dedicated to saving lives, fostering a strong sense of belonging and support.
Enhanced messaging by incorporating fun personalisation features and a simplified opt-in process, effectively bridging the gap between donors and recipients and amplifying BloodSmart’s brand presence.

“Hannie and her team exceeded our expectations in not only executing the brief but capturing the essence of this project, providing invaluable insights and value as to how we can progress this work, and the presentation of work and level of detail delivered was of a high professional standard.”

— Team at Blood Donation Organisation

Reflection

Working on the BloodSmart project has been an incredibly fulfilling journey from the start. I feel truly fortunate to have collaborated with such a dedicated and talented team on a project that holds such profound significance. This opportunity has not only deepened my research, development, and presentation skills but also allowed me to grow both professionally and personally. I’m grateful for the chance to enhance my leadership abilities and for the passionate collaboration with my team. Reflecting on this experience, I’m filled with optimism and readiness for future challenges, knowing that this project has profoundly shaped my skills and prepared me for new opportunities ahead.