Fam Tracker App
The Project
The concept for the Fam Tracker App was inspired by a close friend's experience with a family member who was diagnosed with dementia. Due to the progression of the illness, the family member frequently wandered away from home. Due to safety concerns, but still wanting to allow for independence, their family wanted a way to monitor and track their family member.
My Role
Research andUX/UI Design
Client
Self-initiated project
Duration
1 week research + 3 weeks design
The Challenge
Find a safe and unobtrusive way to track a family’s loved one in a consistent way with or without access to a cell phone.
Project Background
An estimated 6.9 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's in 2024. Of those diagnosed with this illness, six out of ten people with dementia wander at least once; many do it repeatedly.
Two of the most common reasons why dementia patients wander at night include:
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Sundowners Syndrome is a state of confusion occurring in the late afternoon and lasting into the night.
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Loss of natural circadian rhythm reduces the body’s oxygen levels and causes numerous sleep interruptions through the night.
Alzheimer’s disease causes people to lose their ability to recognize familiar places and faces. It’s common for a person living with dementia to wander or become lost or confused about their location, and it can happen at any stage of the disease.
According to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada, during early or mid-stage dementia, your loved one may begin to forget information they could easily retrieve. In addition to not remembering names, directions or where they are, they may put items in illogical places – like placing keys in the fridge or food in the laundry basket – and forget where they left these objects. This is an imperative impact that needs to be considered when exploring options for safe tracking of a loved one.
Competitor analysis
There are quite a few apps focused on Dementia/Alzheimer's currently on the market. 12 apps on the market focus on the same concept as Fam Tracker App. Some of these apps focus on tracking symptoms, while others focus on tracking the user. Some competitors that focus on safety and tracking utilize the tracking capabilities via the cell phone or using devices such as the Apple watch.
As is the case with cognitive illnesses such as Dementia and Alzheimers, losing important items can occur. Therefore, it can make it difficult for someone with the illness to maintain access to a cell phone or watch. Losing items that require active use is one of the main concerns with alternative apps on the market. Since caregivers are the main user, it's important that they can manage tracking through their phone, but not be tethered to another phone in order to track their loved one. This is why the use of a device such as an AirTag can be beneficial as it doesn't necessarily have to be removed from the user for an extended period of time.
Pain points include:
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Concerned about her loved one’s safety, but still wants them to be able to be independent
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She is fearful of her loved one’s wandering and not being able to find her way home
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Concerns of getting lost and possibly getting hurt
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Concerned with the loss of phone or device
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Need for any specific device used to be inconspicuous.
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Time is restricted as she combines work with being a caregiver.
Goals
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Preserve family members independence despite their illness.
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Ensure that the tracking device that is used is not noticeable or easily lost by the wearer.
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Be able to track daily and locate in emergency situations.
Meet our User
Camila is a 45 year old Latina single mother that lives in the Midwest with her two teen children and her mother. Camilla's mother was diagnosed with dementia (stage 3 out of 6) 3 years ago. Camilla is a working mother in the advertising industry who is also the care giver of her mother. Over the last year her mother has begun wandering without notice. They have been lucky to find her close by and it seems she follows a pattern of visiting places she used to when she was younger. Yet, the experience of her mother getting lost has scared Camilla. She is looking for a better way to possibly track her mother for her safety and so it is not so difficult to find her if she was ever to wander again.
Age: 45
Status: Single with 2 kids
Work: Creative Director at an advertising agency
Location: Midwest, USA
Salary: $125,000 USD
She is looking for an app that she can sync to her and her mother who was diagnosed with Dementia, allowing her to track her mother with or without her mother having access to a phone.
The Solution
Fam Tracker app. An app that can be synced with an Apple air tag that would allow for easy monitoring, tracking and emergency contact if needed.
The efforts caregivers put in to support and keep their loved ones who have been diagnosed with Dementia safe is herculean. Offering support to a caregiver in managing the safety of a loved one is paramount in the efforts of an app concept such as Fam Tracker.
Lo-fi Wireframes
The first version of lo-fi wireframes allowed me to explore the initial layout consideration as well as map out what made most sense for the user flow. I could easily concept and then work through revisions before jumping into high fidelity prototyping, which in turn decreased the number of iterations needed. This helped ensure a straightforward process in creating the hi-fi interface.
User Flow
The Key focus of the initial use is to launch the app and set up an account. This use flow assumes that the user is accessing the app for the first time. The user will be taken through the onboarding process and then have the opportunity to connect a new device and explore the location options.
Visual calmness
Color exploration
All colors used throughout the app focused on calm. Green is the primary color used in conjunction with neutral beige and a balancing blue. Soft red was used as an accent color to call out important visual cues like location or SOS alerts. The goal was for the color story to feel soothing, inviting harmony and diffuse anxiety.
High Fidelity Prototypes
Key Takeaways
Working on the fam tracker app was a fantastic opportunity to develop and showcase my UX/UI skills. Since this was a self-initiated project I was able to explore potential obstacles and problem solve to create an app concept that could contend with the competition currently on the market. The research phase was enlightening. The efforts caregivers put in to support and keep their loved ones safe is herculean. Offering support to a caregiver in managing the safety of a loved one is paramount in the efforts of an app concept such as Fam Tracker. The initial thought is to always pair a blue tooth watch or use a cell phone's tracking options, but the unfortunate reality is that items such as these can be easily lost. Yet, the idea of pairing an AirTag that can be continuously kept on a loved one to help minimize loss is another potential idea to explore.
This project also allowed me to experiment more and become skilled within the Figma app, utilizing my graphic design skills to build out icon, button and ui components and tap into my research skills that I often used during my corporate marketing days and still today when prepping for freelance design projects.