Representing Real People, Reflecting Real Lives
I just caught up with Sarah Kelliher, UX designer with Xwerx and our design partner on inCharge, to take a first look at the newly enhanced personal profile in the app.
Those who have followed inCharge from the beginning will know that the journey started by identifying an unmet need. We spent time listening to many different perspectives to understand the problem in depth before beginning to build a solution.
The earliest Figma designs created by Sarah, were visual representations and a download of the inCharge vision I had carried about in my head for a long time and struggled to communicate. These designs sparked conversation and generated traction.
Not only has that process been a translation of my research, lived and learned experiences, Sarah has carefully, thoughtfully and creatively translated people’s insights into intuitive and accessible designs.
“It takes a lot of work to make something feel intuitive and simple” – Sarah Kelliher
For the MVP, we introduced a basic version of the person’s profile – after all it’s all about that important person that we are supporting. From the beginning, we knew this area would need deeper co-design and input from the individual’s perspective. We also knew that before developing it further, the platform itself needed to be stable, secure, and working well for families and support teams.
It is!
Thanks to funding from the Inishowen Development Partnership through the LEADER Programme, we were able to begin that next stage: co-designing the individual’s user access and view of the app.
We held a co-design session with families already using the inCharge app, as well as a session with adults from ARC NI in Enniskillen, alongside one-to-one conversations with individuals. These conversations helped us explore how the profile could better reflect the person behind the plan, capturing what matters to them, their preferences, routines, communication style, and what a good day looks like.
Life! It just so happens to be life with care!
This week I got a sneak preview of the first results, and I can’t wait to share them with families for feedback and further refinement.
This is the exciting part, where the vision really begins to come to life. Where we can play our part in building inclusive technology that not only documents the persons care and support needs but encourages and supports them to express their personality. And it will continue to evolve through co-design, ensuring the person remains at the heart of the platform. Representing real people and reflecting real lives.
