Pearlii App Design
Project overview
Pearlii is an app that aims to give free dental checkups to everyone in the world, regardless of income, education and location. Using machine learning and AI the app is able to scan photos of your teeth and perform a dental checkup.
Role
As a UX/UI designer I was responsible for the end to end design of the app. I worked closely with the CEO to establish the look and feel and I also worked closely with the lead developer throughout the process.
Brief
I was asked to design the first version of the Pearlii app with the main focus of this version being the highest priority features; allowing users to scan their teeth and allowing users to view the results of their checkup.
Project summary
The Pearlii team had done some discovery work prior to me joining, they conducted interviews with potential end to end users to understand their dental checkup wants and needs.
I used this discovery work to help me shape the journey, the narrative and the look and feel of the app. I then conducted a landscape review before jumping into wireframing the journey and then working on the fianl UI of the app.
Throughout this process I conducted corridor testing to test high level concepts and key journeys.
Landscape Review
I conducted a quick ladscape review to gather inspiration, focusing on the key areas of the MVP: the photo taking process and the presentation of the checkup results.
Wireframing and Testing
With the inspiration from the landscape review and the discovery work, I sketched some design ideas. I then transfered the sketches into wireframes in Figma, rapidly prototyped and conducted corridor testing. The main aim of this testing was to test the general flow and understanding of the journey.
In general users understood the flow of the app. However, there was some confusuion around the results screens. Based on user feedback I made some iterations to the results flow and took my designs to several design critique sessions.
When we showed users the revised results flow they had no issues understanding it and interpreting their results.
Time and money was tight on this project so we wasted no time and jumped quickly into sketching, designing and testing.
Scanning the Teeth
Due to issues with camera focus when using the front facing camera to capture the teeth, the user has to instead take their photos with their rear facing camera; an interesting design challenge as it requires users to change their usual behaviour.
To ensure that users capture images that we are able to use we created videos that guide the user through each step to clearly convey what they should do to get a usable photo.
We found that people are really self conscious when taking pictures of their teeth so we wanted to make the process as easy and seamless as possible. We did this by using large and clear imagery.
Showing the Results
The app is able to detect several dental issues including: Calculus, Decay, Gingivitis and White Spots. Clearly displaying the issues that users have and allowing them to interact with their data in a way that made it understandable to them was extremely important.
From corridor testing we found that if users were to get a results screen showing lots of issues it would be overwhelming for them. Therefore allowing users to show and hide certain issues is aimed to help ease that potential anxiety.
Further iterations of the app will ensure that the user journey does not end here. Users will soon be able to act on the results they are given and book dental appointments for example.
Outcome
Pearlii is currenlty available on the Google Play store and was the top product on Product Hunt on the day that it launched. Now the app is live we are able to get valuable feedback from users and iterate on the current designs. The team is also currently working on the development of the iOS version of the app.
This was a great way to end my time on the project 🎉.
Reflection
If I was to redo this project and time was less of a factor, I would make more time for moderated usability testing. Although I learned a lot from coridoor testing, modertaed usability testing would have allowed me to dig deeper on certain issues and get a deeper insight into user behaviour.