MADDIE PHILHOWER
  • WORK

UX/UI: App for Chronic Conditions
UX/UI: CMU Housing Website

Read My Mind: Interactive Exhibition
Character: Exhibition Branding 
PackNWood: Digital Content Design
Design Hero: Print & Motion
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©2025 



APP DESIGN: 
SYMPTOM & MEDICATION TRACKER

2025
Role: UX Research, UX Design, UI Design
Tools: Figma, Figjam, Illustrator
 A mobile app that improves the quality of life for people living with chronic conditions.


OVERVIEW:
The app provides personalized medication information, helps users track symptoms and side effects, facilitates data-driven conversations between patients and providers, and shows progress in treatment over time.
ROLE: 
Solo project focused on a "wicked" challenge. My design process:

  • Secondary research to better understand the problem space for patients with chronic conditions

  • Conducted user interviews with doctors, patients & care givers

  • Sketched out critical interactions in the app

  • Prototyped early flows in Figma and got feedback on how users were interpreting my choices, with special focus on what actions felt too effortful and which felt sustainable for tracking over time

  • Designed the Ul and did usability testing with patients to refine content requirements and interaction patterns.

THE CHALLENGE:
People with chronic conditions can struggle to understand the relationship between multiple medications, resulting side effects and symptoms of their condition.

This lack of clarity impacts their ability to identify root causes and take informed action. They can become discouraged, misinterpret side effects and symptoms and even stop taking medications, worsening health outcomes.

These intertwined emotional and physical issues underline the need for a tool that enables patients to regain a sense of control over their health and well-being.



 RESEARCH:

Map of physical, mental, emotional and economic impacts of chronic health conditions.

I developed this map based on interviews with patients, care givers and healthcare providers, then layered on insights gained from secondary research, leveraging academic papers about treatment adherance, the “Nocebo” effect, and the book “Empire Of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe.

One interview participant described her confusion about symptoms and side effects she experienced. Unclear conversations with her doctor left her exhausted and disempowered.

Insights like these shaped my design goal: I wanted to empower patients to understand their health and advocate more effectively with their providers.





PAIN POINTS FOR USERS: 


DESIGN OBJECTIVES:




DESIGN FEATURES:


Learn about medications through a personalized medication page.
  • The “Medication” page is tailored to each patient’s individual dosages 

  • Helps users understand complex treatment plans and potential side effects, reducing worry and surprise when side effects do arise
Log emotions for symptom tracking and analysis.
  • The “How are you feeling?” page helps users log their experience with custom inputs

  • The app connects user inputs with known medication side effects, suggests potential causes and practical coping strategies, helping users connect the dots and take action to feel better
Increase motivation and visualize progress. 
  • The “Progress” Page lets users track how medications are influencing their condition, with regular progress checks to help patients identify issues to discuss with their doctor

  • Users can set personal health goals (e.g., mobility targets) to foster accountability and motivation
Identify patterns through historical view.
  • The “Monthly Overview” page helps users look back at their emotion log over time to identify patterns 

  • Increases understanding of how medications and treatments have impacted them

  • Empowers users to have data-driven, specific conversations with their medical providers

USER FEEDBACK:
I tested an early draft design with people who have chronic conditions and got feedback from my professor and design peers. I identified a few key ways to improve my solution: 

  • Leverage push notifications at critical moments to remind users to stay on track with routines, engage with content, and log entries about how they feel 

  • The ability to look back over time was high value to users – provide even more ways of reviewing patterns. This will also increase user motivation to log data about themselves

  • Include non-medication treatment suggestions (e.g. meditation, hot bath) for more holistic care of pain and symptoms, “medicine is not the only way to manage my condition”

This amazing feedback drove many changes to the information architecture, content strategy, and interaction patterns I designed.






I expanded the types of notifications after research participants described reminders that would be valuable to them.



LOOKING BACK (AND AHEAD):

I loved the process of researching and designing this app. This project taught me the value of iteration in UX design, as new problems often surfaced during refinement and development. While still in progress, I see opportunities to expand the app, such as through integrating nutrition as part of care and tracking.

Moving forward, I plan to conduct additional research with patients and doctors to uncover unmet needs and preferences. I’d also want also run usability tests on future prototypes to ensure the design is intuitive, effective, and aligned with HIPAA-compliant standards.