Visualization: Designing a digital pregnancy experience

Challenge & Selection

As a business strategist, my role is to work with internal stakeholders – business and market  leadership – to define the future direction we should take as an organization. I work at a health  technology company, with a portfolio geared towards both consumers and professional health  providers, and a shared end goal to enable better healthcare for every individual. Needless to say,  the problems our customers face in healthcare are extremely complex and often interrelated  between patient, provider, etc. I often find myself struggling to balance keeping myself “in the  problem” at hand, while also envisioning the impacts the problem in one stakeholder’s perspective  may have on others. Most recently, I have been tackling the question on how we can empower  expecting women to take care of their physical and holistic health during pregnancy through a  digital experience.

Throughout the strategic prioritization and solution definition process, I applied the design thinking  tool of visualization to test the potential links between mom and other stakeholders in her  pregnancy, and to communicate the proposed solution to my clients. Why visualization? In Week 1,  Angela Myer explained how visualization can be a powerful tool in extrapolation – especially in  instances where we haven’t seen what we are solving for in real life yet. We knew that mom, her  provider and perhaps a few other stakeholders (partner, insurance provider, etc.) were a part of her  journey, but we had never seen how a digital experience could link and support them all.

Application

We used the tool dynamically and iteratively in our conversations with internal experts during the  solution definition process. Often we would start with the moment mom finds out she is pregnant  (e.g., an icon of a positive pregnancy test), and would use further imagery, arrows and diagram  schemes to show mom’s touchpoints with her healthcare providers from there. We would pause  and think about what her specific questions may be in different parts of the pregnancy, and how our  digital experience could support her through those, to improve her overall health. I found  visualization to be a very effective tool for productive co-creation. Often times in my field, we get  caught up in using a set of words to describe our ideas and, while they sound perfect in theory, they  can mean totally different things to different people. Instead of just talk, visualization helped us all  see the same “truth” in what we were defining; leaving us in the end with a comprehensive picture –  not just idea – of what mom’s journey would look like.

From there, I applied visualization further by using the tool in communications with our internal  clients – the business and market leadership. I think when it comes to stakeholder management,  visualization and storytelling go hand in hand. If a “picture is worth a thousand words”, a picture  with a story behind it is even more telling. Using the mom journey maps we had finalized as a team,  we further sketched out what actual screens on mom and her provider’s mobile phone may look like  during different interactions or situations along her pregnancy. This was effective for our objective  of clearly communicating what our solution would be (and, what it would not be) to the business  and market leaders who would be signing off on its execution.

Insight & Approach

Applying visualization in my work opened my eyes to how dynamic design thinking can be in use and  re-use in several parts of a process. I found the tool to be an effective medium for co-creation and  group thinking earlier on in the project, when many of the details were still up in the air. In the latter  parts of the project where some things were solidified, the same tool served as a means for  alignment among our clients in seeing the broader picture of what we were driving towards.

My recent work has, due to the current circumstances, largely been done remotely. However, I look  forward to applying visualization tools in person next time, and think it would be interesting and  more effective to have multiple team members holding a pen while using the tool in order to make  the process more collaborative. Interestingly, visualization on digital means also had its benefits; it  was great to be able to move things around easily so we could add more detail between two  connection points. Another addition I would like to further explore in the future is using visualization  and storytelling in conjunction to produce compelling presentations fit for my audience. Overall, I  enjoyed learning about and applying design thinking tools over the past week – and feel this is just  the start in how what I’ve learned may continue to inform my work.


Visualization : Designing a digital pregnancy experience Challenge & Selection As a business strategist , my role is to work with internal stakeholders – business and market leadership – to define the future direction we should take as an organization . I work at a health technology company , with a portfolio geared towards both consumers and professional health providers , and a shared end goal to enable better healthcare for every individual . Needless to say , the problems our customers face in healthcare are extremely complex and often interrelated between patient , provider , etc . I often find myself struggling to balance keeping myself “ in the problem ” at hand , while also envisioning the impacts the problem in one stakeholder ’s perspective may have on others . Most recently , I have been tackling the question on how we can empower expecting women to take care of their physical and holistic health during pregnancy through a digital experience . Throughout the strategic prioritization and solution definition process , I applied the design thinking tool of visualization to test the potential links between mom and other stakeholders in her pregnancy , and to communicate the proposed solution to my clients . Why visualization ? In Week 1 , Angela Myer explained how visualization can be a powerful tool in extrapolation – especially in instances where we have n’t seen what we are solving for in real life yet . We knew that mom , her provider and perhaps a few other stakeholders ( partner , insurance provider , etc . ) were a part of her journey , but we had never seen how a digital experience could link and support them all . Application We used the tool dynamically and iteratively in our conversations with internal experts during the solution definition process . Often we would start with the moment mom finds out she is pregnant ( e.g. , an icon of a positive pregnancy test ) , and would use further imagery , arrows and diagram schemes to show mom ’s touchpoints with her healthcare providers from there . We would pause and think about what her specific questions may be in different parts of the pregnancy , and how our digital experience could support her through those , to improve her overall health . I found visualization to be a very effective tool for productive co - creation . Often times in my field , we get caught up in using a set of words to describe our ideas and , while they sound perfect in theory , they can mean totally different things to different people . Instead of just talk , visualization helped us all see the same “ truth ” in what we were defining ; leaving us in the end with a comprehensive picture – not just idea – of what mom ’s journey would look like . From there , I applied visualization further by using the tool in communications with our internal clients – the business and market leadership . I think when it comes to stakeholder management , visualization and storytelling go hand in hand . If a “ picture is worth a thousand words ” , a picture with a story behind it is even more telling . Using the mom journey maps we had finalized as a team , we further sketched out what actual screens on mom and her provider ’s mobile phone may look like during different interactions or situations along her pregnancy . This was effective for our objective of clearly communicating what our solution would be ( and , what it would not be ) to the business and market leaders who would be signing off on its execution . Insight & Approach Applying visualization in my work opened my eyes to how dynamic design thinking can be in use and re - use in several parts of a process . I found the tool to be an effective medium for co - creation and group thinking earlier on in the project , when many of the details were still up in the air . In the latter parts of the project where some things were solidified , the same tool served as a means for alignment among our clients in seeing the broader picture of what we were driving towards . My recent work has , due to the current circumstances , largely been done remotely . However , I look forward to applying visualization tools in person next time , and think it would be interesting and more effective to have multiple team members holding a pen while using the tool in order to make the process more collaborative . Interestingly , visualization on digital means also had its benefits ; it was great to be able to move things around easily so we could add more detail between two connection points . Another addition I would like to further explore in the future is using visualization and storytelling in conjunction to produce compelling presentations fit for my audience . Overall , I enjoyed learning about and applying design thinking tools over the past week – and feel this is just the start in how what I ’ve learned may continue to inform my work .