2020-2021
research, wireframes, user flows, prototypes, documentation, reviews & tests, copy, ux, ui & interaction, branding, workshops
tested.me started out as a relatively simple digital health verification app as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. And just like governments or health organizations around the world, it's made many attemtps to react to the developing situation throughout the course of its existence. It's one of very few apps that to this day are allowed to coexist alongside the official government-issued contact-tracing apps. While it is not strictly a contract-tracing app, it does feature a unique way of processing information about it users' COVID infections, tests, as well as vaccines.
tested.me uses its own proprietary method of data verification. Early on it required users to verify their identity through Jumio in order to share their data. Nowadays the verification process isn't as stringent and only requires the user to provide a valid email address. Test or vaccine data can then be uploaded with image or video as proof. Such data becomes part of a user's profile or passport they can then share with otherusers or companies by displayin a QR code in their app.
Companies are provided access to dashboards that allow them access user data that the users agree to share upon checking in. Mobile devices can be used as the simplest and most accessible way of scanning QR codes. Designated QR scanners can be used as well. In addition to that, tested.me works with automatic face scanner / thermometer devices that would link the recognized face with a user's account and check them in automatically.
Of course there is the problem of trusting the data provided by users. It's especially important in such a serious matter as testing for COVID. Technically anybody can upload anything and whether that data should be trusted or not can be decided by the admin of the dashboard, but in case of large scale events the amount of data could prove to be too big to handle.
One of the attempts at addressing the challenge of dealing with unverified COVID-19 test and vaccine data was the introduction of the medical professional functionality. Medical professional was tested.me’s slang for 'users with elevated privileges who could mark user data as verified’, who would of course have to get vetted by tested.me admins.
Individual users would be able to apply to become 'medical professionals' on the platform by providing data identifying them as actual medical professionals. Other than that companies could also designate their own 'medical professionals' by applying appropriate priviliges through the dashboard. Data verified my medical professionals would then display as verified for anyone else viewing it.
This way we provided the functionality for companies and individual users to put certain requirements on the validity of the data received from their customers as well as individual users to provide proof that their data is authentic. In case of any errors the data could of course also be rejected. We’ve tested multiple case scenarios for what should happen with rejected data. Below you’ll find a screen cap from one of my medical professional workshop presentations.
Another way of verifying data was the cooperation with testing labs. Users would be able to come in, get tested, and if they were tested.me users, they'd receive the test results as soon as they became available in their app. This data would of course carry the verified status. Not only that, but labs would also automatically issue certificates. For that purpose alone a separate lab dashboard has been created with its own database that would feed data into database.
The lab dashboard was designed in strict cooperation with testing labs to digitize an already established process. Its main purpose was to improve the quality of data in tested.me's database, but it also aided the labs in processing tests. The screenshot below shows a single slide show of a stakeholder presentation.
There were many access points to the tested.me ecosystem. As mentioned before, tested.me allowed companies to monitor their employees' and visitors' health data. Such information would allow them to quickly react or even prevent infection spread. The sharing of data would of course ensue on a completely voluntary basis. Visitors would have to manually check themselves in, whereas employees would first need to accept the in-app invitation to join a company.
I was well aware of how reluctant some people are to sharing more data than necessary, especially when it comes to data concerning their health. That's why we've made sure to collect only as much as necessary, keep it for as long as necessary, and always keep the users update on what's going on with their data.
The amount of data coming from visitors' account would be much smaller, shared in the form of a snapshot, and only kept for 14 days. Employee data would update as soon as the employee uploaded it to their account, whereas visitors would only reupdate their temporary profile kept by a company upon revisiting it.
We’ve made sure to make it possible for users to check into work on-site as well as remotely. Companies would be able to set up their working hours to automatically check out employees who have forgotten to check out on their own.
For those users who were not to keen on installing the app on their personal phone we’ve created a web-based solution providing most functionalities of the app. It provided a smooth, consistent web-based alternative for those wanting to manage their tested.me account's through the web on any device. Most importantly though, users would be able to provide all data required by their employer without having to install anything on their personal phone.
There were many features designed, and tested using lo-fi prototypes that never went live for numerous reasons I can't get into. One such feature was the survey module that was supposed to enable companies to send out survey to its employees or automatically greet visitors with surveys they'd need to complete in order to enter a venue.
This dashboard was created in cooperation with event running companies and in essence it was pretty similar to the already described employee & visitor dashboards. It allowed companies to create temporary events that users could join using their apps by scanning event codes or looking up the event through the app event search functionality.
Each event could have its very specific entry requirements as well as start and end dates. This way users would be able to easily verify themselves as healthy and companies would be able to quickly process even thousands of people coming to their events.
As mentioned before, the lab dashboard was created in strict cooperation with covid testing labs to digitize some already existing processes as well as improve the quality of data being fed into tested.me's database.
Later on the ability to test at home was added. The results would come into the lab database and needed to be verified by the staff. On the other side of things, individual users could submit the tests either through the app or through a simple step-by-step web interface if they didn't want to install the app and register an account. Depending on whether a user was found in the tested.me database or not, the verification feedback from the lab would either arrive as an email or a push notification in the tested.me app.
The entire project was constantly changing and evolving and its main functionality one year after the development begun differed from what had been envisioned in the beginning. This was not due to failed discovery or insufficient testing, but rather due to the ever-changing pandemic situation around the world that we were constantly trying to adapt to as best as we could given our resources.
We were able to receive a lot of valuable feedback from live users after the app was used by some events of considerable size as well as airlines. Despite that there was rarely enough time to focus on quality of life improvements. I was lucky enough to be part of a really experienced team, so even though I was the only designer, I was able to discuss my ideas with PMs and developers who knew their stuff and were able to provide feedback where it was needed.
This was an extremely fun and challenging project. The challenge came not only from the fact that we were handling a pretty extensive and constantly expanding ecosystem, but mostly from the pressure of knowing that tested.me could very directly impact the lives of people, much more so than in case of most other products I've ever worked on.
The challenge also stemmed from the fact that I took this project over from another designer who was leaving the company. I've learned that when trying to wrangle an old, decrepit design system, it's best to either update it or recreate everything from scratch if you deem it broken beyond repair. This will save a lot of time and delaying this step, trying to use what's left by the old designer is akin to delaying the setting up any kind of design system for a new project you're doing thinking that "this project isn't going to need one".