Problem

Migraine patients often find it challenging to effectively monitor and comprehend their headache patterns. Traditional methods like journaling prove cumbersome and may not provide healthcare providers with comprehensive insights for treatment planning. Existing migraine apps lack versatility, especially in offering user-friendly interfaces for symptom and trigger documentation without extensive typing. This gap in the market hampers migraine management efforts, potentially leading to suboptimal health outcomes.

Solution

Solace is a comprehensive mobile application designed to revolutionize migraine tracking and management for patients. By offering an intuitive and user-friendly interface, Solace eliminates the need for extensive typing and cumbersome manual entries commonly associated with existing methods. Leveraging visual cues and minimal input, Solace empowers users to effortlessly track their migraine attacks, including triggers, intensity, medication, and after-effects. Through aggregated insights and detailed reports, Solace facilitates deeper understanding and communication between patients and healthcare providers, ultimately leading to more effective migraine management and improved quality of life.

My Role

Tools

Ideation

The brainstorming process threw me into a fit of ideas but nothing that would stick because whatever I came up with was already sitting in the marketplace with a plethora of users. After spending a good amount of time going through self-help and habit-tracking apps, I decided to read their reviews to see what was missing.

During this time of research, I came across a dearth of apps specializing in headaches, more specifically migraines. After researching a handful of available migraine apps, I hypothesized that being able to track their migraine attacks was of utmost importance to the patients, and not a lot of apps provided that service. So, I delved deeper into the issue and gathered a lot more information.

Research

Research Goals

  1. Understand the current methods and challenges associated with tracking migraine attacks among patients.
  2. Identify common triggers, intensity levels, medication usage, and after-effects experienced by migraine patients.
  3. Explore the preferences and needs of migraine patients regarding migraine tracking applications, including desired features, usability preferences, and barriers to adoption.
  4. Investigate the effectiveness of existing migraine tracking apps and their limitations from the perspective of users.
  5. Examine the role of visual cues and minimal typing in enhancing user experience and engagement in migraine tracking apps.
  6. Assess the communication dynamics between migraine patients and healthcare providers regarding migraine tracking data and treatment plans.