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Product Designer · Thrive Education · 2024

Helping older adults say how confident they really feel.

Older adults couldn’t tell their diabetes app how confident they felt. I gave them one simple slider.

Role
Solo designer: research, product design, testing
Timeline
2 months · Spring 2024
Platform
iOS / Android
Tools
Figma, FigJam
+25%task completion across testingHow it was measuredTask completion across usability testing of the redesigned lessons and confidence slider, with 10 participants. Directional, small sample.
10usability test participantsHow it was measuredUsability test participants, including older adults managing Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Problem

The app tracked numbers but couldn’t tell how confident patients felt, so lessons couldn’t adapt.

Insight

For older adults, the input had to be effortless and the result explicit: a number and a message, not just a feeling.

What I did

As the solo designer, tested four input models, from a pop-up survey to a slider with a number and a message.

Result

25% higher task completion in usability testing with 10 participants.

01 / The problem

Education can’t adapt to confidence it can’t see.

Competitors tracked numbers. None asked how confident patients felt, so lessons couldn’t adapt.

20+ yrsHow long our lead interviewee had managed it
0Competitors measuring patient confidence
4Interaction models tested

02 / Target audience

Designed for the people most likely to need it.

Built for older adults, where diabetes is most common. Simple enough for anyone.

1 / 3Nearly one in three people ages 65 and older live with diabetes.

03 / Research

Clarity mattered more than novelty.

Long-time patients, not tech-savvy, who wanted clearer progress, not more features.

Make confidence easy to expressAn emotional state needed an input simple enough for someone who isn’t comfortable with technology.
Make the signal explicit, not decorativePatients had to trust what the result meant, so it needed a clear number and a clear message.

04 / Iteration

Four models, one clear winner.

01 · Pop-up surveySimple, but too basic.
02 · Smiley-face scaleWarmer, but the visual language made a health tool feel less credible.
03 · SliderMore accurate, but without a number the result was hard to interpret.
04 · Slider with number and messageThe direction that made the signal legible to both patient and doctor.

Paper first

Sketch of the pop-up surveySketch of the slider
Storyboard of the confidence flow
Every model started as a sketch: the pop-up, the slider, then the full flow, before any pixels.
Interactive demo

Try every iteration yourself

Pick an iteration · simplified recreations of each prototype

What is your confidence level about your own diabetes education?

Slide the bar on where your confidence level is

Drag the bar, then let go

The direction that made the signal legible.

Drag and release: every confidence level leads to its own message and illustration, so patients feel understood and doctors get a read they can trust.

Shipped direction

05 / Design

Why the slider won.

Final design

A confidence slider built for older adults

Fine-grained input with a visible number, plain-language labels from “Not Confident” to “Very Confident”, and an illustration that changes with the answer.

Matched the product’s visual language, gave patients and doctors a clearer read, and reduced mis-clicks compared with small tap targets.

06 / Reflection

What I’d push further.

Label the scaleWords like “Not Confident” and “Very Confident” read faster than numbers alone.
Voice feedbackReading labels aloud while sliding would help visually impaired patients.
Stronger contrastHighlighting the slider track would make it easier to see.