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  • User Interviews

  • Journey Map

  • Insights

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I led the visual and service design in partnership with Northwestern Medicine to address accommodation kit challenges for individuals with communication disabilities in outpatient clinics.

Northwestern Medicine

  • Brief

  • Secondary Research

  • HMW Statement

  • Prototyping

  • Final Solution

  • FInal Presentation

  • Reflection

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NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE

I led the visual and service design in partnership with Northwestern Medicine to address accommodation kit challenges for individuals with communication disabilities in outpatient clinics.

  • Brief

  • Secondary Research

​

  • User Interviews

  • Journey Map

  • Insights​

  • HMW Statements

  • Prototyping

  • Final Solution

  • Final Presentation

  • Reflection

Northwestern Medicine partnered with our Northwestern Design team to address the challenges related to accommodation kits for individuals with communication disabilities in an Out-Patient Clinic space.

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NORTHWESTERN DESIGN TEAM

Our team conducted virtual interviews with healthcare professionals to understand accommodation kits and explore opportunities to redesign services for better accessibility, where I identified three key findings.

LIMITED RESOURCES                                    Communication impairments are overlooked due to infrequent encounters by outpatient staff​

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COMFORT AND VISIBILITY                                       Patients value spaces that prioritize comfort and visibility, improving accessibility

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DISPLAYED ITEMS                                                      Prominently displayed items help raise staff awareness of accessibility needs.

VIRTUAL INTERVIEWS

VIRTUAL INTERVIEWS

After the interviews, the insights guided me in designing a stakeholder and observation journey map that detailed the experience of patients with communication impairments during clinic appointments and care.

STAKEHOLDER AND OBSERVATION JOURNEY MAP

STAKEHOLDER AND OBSERVATION JOURNEY MAP

From our journey map, we identified 4 insights that capture the underlying challenges faced by patients with communication impairments within the clinic space.

COMMUNICATION OF NEEDS

Patients and medical staff require effective communication channels to relay and integrate patients’ personal accommodation needs seamlessly into medical visits

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PROCEDURES TO INFORM

Insufficient information about accommodation kits arises from the lack of standard operating procedures for effectively addressing the needs of communication-impaired patients

 

LEVERAGING RESOURCES

Existing infrastructure and resources are underutilized in addressing and accommodating communication impairments effectively

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VISIBILITY OF IMPAIRMENTS

The inability to recognize "invisible" impairments often hinders the provision of appropriate accommodations

After identifying key insights, our team developed 3 'How Might We' (HMW) statements to address our initial challenge and align with our research findings.

HMW. . . properly leverage existing resources to better inform and accommodate individuals with communication impairments?

HMW. . . facilitate more personalized and consistent patient-staff communication to better integrate accommodation needs?
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HMW. . . lower the barriers to recognizing and accommodating communication impairments?

From our insights, we brainstormed various solutions during prototype sessions and ultimately selected an intervention prototype.

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PROTOTYPING BRAINSTORMING

INTERVENTION SELECTION

After selecting our prototype, I designed our final solution—an accommodation flyer that reflects our research findings and addresses communication challenges faced by patients with impairments.

The accommodation flyer is a visual aid designed to provide the following benefits for both patients and front desk staff:

  • allows patients to identify available accommodations visually.

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  • provides clear visual representations of materials for better understanding

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  • enables front desk staff to assist patients in requesting accommodations

ACCOMMODATION FLYER

ACCOMMODATION FLYER

After finalizing our solution, we presented it to our partners at Northwestern Medicine, sharing our research, findings, and the solution that led to our final resolution.

NORTHWESTERN DESIGN TEAM + NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE TEAM
ACCOMMODATION FLYER

NORTHWESTERN DESIGN TEAM + NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE TEAM

  • SERVICE DESIGN EXPLORATION:                                                                                                        Gained hands-on experience in service design by identifying patient needs, mapping out  service touchpoints, and creating user-centered solutions to enhance healthcare delivery.

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  • INSIGHTFUL PARTNERSHIP WITH NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE:                                              Partnered with Northwestern Medicine, gaining valuable insights into healthcare needs and designing solutions that enhance patient care.

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  • BUILDING EMPATHY IN DESIGN:                                                                                                   Collaborating with healthcare professionals deepened my understanding of designing              with empathy to create practical, patient-centered solutions.

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