Website Design: Landing Page

To promote the app, we created a landing page for OE Acronyms. This established a web presence for the app, and linked to the Apple Store and Google Play, where the app is available for free download. The landing page was also optimized for mobile responsiveness, so that potential users could easily browse on smartphones and tablets.

The purpose of the landing page was to easily convey the app’s functionalities and uses to potential users, as well as easily download the app and even share it with their peers.

We also created social proof by including the names, credentials, and photos of the opthahlmic professionals that contributed their knowledge to the app, letting the end-user know that the information was reliable and easily accredited to the source.

‍

Website Design: Admin Portal

OE Acronyms is an ever-evolving project, meaning that new contributions will be added monthly and existing contributions will be updated as new information and studies become available. As a result, we required an admin portal that would let the OE Team easily add, delete, and amend the app’s content.

Kairos focused again on a friendly user-experience, but this time the UX design was implemented for our client. We eliminated all unneccessary features and funtions, and focused entirely on content and user management. As a result, our client is able to make immediate updates to the content within the app.

‍

App Design

Prior to developing the app, we created extensive mock-ups and a wireframe for the client’s review. This ensured that the client saw every detail and feature of the app prior to implementation, eliminating any possibility of misalignment with our customer.

Throughout the development process, we collaborated with over 30 ophthalmic professionals to start collecting and organizing the data. Based on our client’s medical expertise, we created a system to catalog the acronyms that these medical professionals submitted, which included 11 fields of study (such as Pediatrics, Glaucoma, and Oncology), and 5 differentiating tags (like ‘Disease,’ ‘Surgery,’ and ‘Examination’).

The app was designed to ensure that navigation between pages would be intuitive. This include an ever-present menu bar at the bottom of the screen that allows users to navigate between the five pages: the home page, the search page, the saved terms page, the category page, and the ‘More’ menu.

In addition to the search page, the home page includes a search bar at the top of the screen. Our client’s vision for this project, as well as our target users’ professions, meant that the app’s ‘Search’ function needed to be easily accessible. The search bar at the top of the home page allows users to open the app and immediately type their query in the search bar. For added speed, results begin to appear immediately in the order of closest match.

On the home page, the ‘Word of the Day’ feature serves two purposes: 1) the daily notification reminds users of the app, and 2) it expands users’ knowledge base by presenting an unsolicited acronym. The ‘Recent’ and ‘Favorite’ features helps users easily find terms they have previously search for and/or saved, and the ‘Discover’ column allows users to browse random acronyms.

The Category page provides an eagle-eye view of the 11 ophthalmic specialties that OE Acronyms collects terminology for, and encourages users to browse acronyms within their medical subspecialty. Since the app caters to ophthalmology professionals, the design is reminiscent of an optometrist’s phoropter, which is the tool professionals use to measure patients’ sight.

Any acronyms that users want to save can be added to the ‘Saved’ page, which is useful to both practicing professionals and students alike. The ‘Saved Terminology’ function displays all the information on favorited acronyms in one glance, including the acronym, the corresponding terminology, as well as the category with all relevant tags.

For more studious professionals, ‘Flash Card’ mode allows users to quiz themselves on saved acronyms. The flash cards can be sorted A-Z or randomly, giving users flexibility in how they study. With this feature, users can practive memorization and earn a competitive advantage over their peers.

‍

App Features and Functionalities

The speed of the search was imperative to the purpose of the app, and this particular functionality was very important to our client’s fast-paced industry.

The Kairos Design team implemented a search feature that starts suggesting results instantly while the user is still typing into the search bar. We also organized the medical terminology so that users could browse by ophthalmic subspecialties, like ‘Glaucoma’ and ‘Cataract.’

During the strategy session with our client, Dr. Fisher pointed our that many end-users will reference the app during medical lectures, which are often crowded and in dark rooms to allow for slideshows. As a result, we implemented a ‘Dark Mode’ feature so that our users can search the ophthalmic database without drawing unwanted attention with a bright screen.

‍

Crafting the Strategy

To fully understand the project and our client’s vision, we conducted a strategy session at the start of the project. This was necessary to understand the client’s intentions and expectations for the app, as well as those of the end-user.

‍

Understanding the End-Users

First and foremost, OE Acronyms is intended to help ophthalmic professionals by providing accurate information from a reputable and verifiable source. The end-user is likely working with or studying patient charts, and it’s absolutely imperative that they have the information they need to succeed — whether that’s by deciphering the acronyms on a patient’s medical chart, or understanding an obscure acronyms used in a lecture or case study.

To fully understand the needs of the end-user, we worked with the OE Team to create user profiles. We asked questions about their demographic, their psychographic, and the challenges they would most likely encounter in their profession day-to-day.

Once we understood the end-user with more clarity, we were able to create a landing page with a sleek, modern look. This would appeal to the professionalism of users in the medical industry, and emphasize the functionality of the app in everyday settings.

Our understanding of the end-user became the foundation of the design of the app. Because the search functionality was paramount to the success of the project, the app was design to open directly to the “search” feature. Additionally, users are always only one touch away from accessing the search function.

‍

Shaping the Brand

Because Opthahlmic Edge has trusted Kairos Design with multiple projects, we started the OE Acronyms project with a clear understanding of the brand identity and positioning. OE Acronyms, being an extension of the parent non-profit, was always meant to cater to ophthalmic professionals and students. Our creative team designed a stylescape that covered the overarching visual direction of the extended brand identity from Ophthalmic Edge, and successfully maintained consistency throughout the brand.

‍

OE Acronyms’ users are able to save time and face in their high-speed, highly competitive environment. Users can attend medical lectures on case studies and clinical trials, and understand the topic even if the speakers refrence acronyms they weren’t initially familiar with, and medical interns and residents can impress their more competitive peers during morning rounds. Our end-users are able to easily interpret their patients’ medical charts even when they transfer from other hospitals.

The app was well-received, and the medical professionals who lent their proven knowledge within their respective specialties to the project were also happy to lend their recommendations. Since the launch, the app has grown to include over 1,500 different ophthalmic acronyms from more that 30 experts and medical professionals from across the globe, and receives additional suggestions weekly.