Aleksandra Soltan
Product designer making complex things simple.
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User Research & Design

Simplifying Asthma Care

Three smartphone screens showing an asthma control app that asks about asthma symptoms in the past 7 days, including relief medication use, daytime and night symptoms, and activity limitations, with explanations for symptom selection.

9000

Patients

+

1200

Providers

+

At the Swedish health startup Medituner, I was one of two designers building a suite of asthma self-management tools. I wore many hats, designing the patient app, physician web portal, and brand system, as well as running user research. This case study runs through one project, the redesign of the core Symptom Tracking feature in the app.

Company
Medituner
Role
Lead Designer, Researcher
Design Team
Product Manager, Supporting Designer
Timeline
1 Month
Result

The redesigned symptom-tracking feature in the AsthmaTuner app improved clarity and consistency, enabling users to accurately document their asthma experiences and strengthening confidence in self-management within a chronic care context.

Couple sitting on a gray couch looking at a smartphone and small medical devices.
A couple using the AsthmaTuner app and spirometers.

The Problem

Recording Asthma Symptoms Is Clunky and Time-Consuming

Medituner is a digital health startup helping people with asthma live symptom-free. The app and companion bluetooth spirometer replace traditional diary-tracking and static treatment plans with tailored care based on regular self-testing.

While working at Medituner, I was tasked with improving the experience and design consistency of the old symptom tracking form. As users track their symptoms every day, some multiple times a day, it was critical for their experience with it to be straightforward and seamless.

Smartphone screen displaying an asthma control test result with a bar chart, showing personal best at 100% and 3.85 liters, latest test at 84% and 3.23 liters, and options to try again or save.

1) Test lung function

Mobile screen showing asthma symptom questionnaire with Yes or No options for quick relief medication use, daytime symptoms, nighttime symptoms, and physical activity limitations, plus a Save button.

2) Record symptoms from past week

Mobile app screen showing asthma treatment check with caution for uncontrolled asthma, daily medication instructions, lung function at 84%, and symptom count at 3.

3)Tailored treatment recommendation

Smartphone screen showing asthma control test results with a progress bar, bar graph, personal best of 100% and 3.85 liters, latest test 84% and 3.23 liters, and buttons labeled Try again and Save.

1. Lung Test

Mobile screen showing a questionnaire about asthma symptoms in the past week with questions on medication use, daytime and nighttime symptoms, and physical activity limitations, each with Yes and No options, and a Save button below.

2. Record Symptoms

Smartphone screen showing asthma treatment check with caution for uncontrolled asthma, medication instructions, lung function at 84%, and 3 symptoms detected.

3. Treatment Results

AsthmaTuner treatment steps.
1. Lung Test
Take the deepest breath you can and breathe into the companion spirometer quickly and explosively.
2‍. Record Symptoms

Enter the symptoms you've experienced in the past week.
3‍. Treatment Results

Get your daily dosage recommendation based on your lung test and symptoms.

Requirements

The New Design Had To Improve Clarity and Comprehension

Close-up of a health survey interface showing questions with Yes and No toggle buttons and weather, hydration, and exercise icons.

UI Face Lift

Update UI and other visual elements to get them on the same level/style as the rest of the app.

Checklist with completed tasks on interaction design including user story mapping, user flows, hi-fi UI design, wireframing, and rapid prototyping shown on a teal background with icons.

Improved Interaction Design & Error Prevention

Interaction must allow for fast answer selection with clear feedback, with flexibility to change answers

Mobile app screen showing a question asking if user has taken quick relief medication 2 or more times in the last week due to asthma symptoms, with Yes and No buttons.

Emphasize 7 Day Timeline

Make clearer to the user that the timeline for the questions is the latest 7 days.

Text with two quick reading questions asking to explain symptoms and what patients do during night time.

Simpler Questions for Young Users

Phrase questions so they are simpler for children to understand - without being annoying to adult users.

Screenshot of a medical app warning about asthma treatment overdose with warnings, dosage instructions, and an illustration of inhaler and tablets.

Improved Education on Symptoms

Better inform the user about the effect symptoms have on the asthma control level.

Ideation & Sketching

The First Version: Larger Buttons and A Clearer Timeline Element

Two-pane interface showing an asthma symptom tracking concept with a 7-day timeline, selectable symptom buttons with icons, and an inactive save button; alongside a dark-themed info popup explaining symptom details with icons and descriptions.

I iterated on several concept sketches and met with the team for feedback every few days. Out of the concepts explored, the final design included larger buttons for each individual symptom, a calendar aid for the timeline the user should think back on when documenting symptoms, and a simplified progress bar.

Mobile screen showing an asthma symptom questionnaire with Yes and No options for four questions and a Save button; a Google Meet call with three participants is visible on the right.
AsthmaTuner user test.

Risk Analysis Round 1

Testing Revealed Poorer Usability Compared to Old Design

As part of medical regulatory requirements, any design changes to treatment tools need to be evaluated for potential risks. Before the design got the green light, I had to prove that users understand and feel confident that they’ve correctly documented symptoms that align with their condition in the new design just as well as they do in the old design.

I expected the new design to perform better, but the results told a different story. The redesign was rated lower for pragmatic quality, which suggested poorer usability compared to the old design. I used this as a lens for analyzing the interview data, which shed light on confusing aspects of the design.

10 Participants
5 AsthmaTuner users, 5 non-users with asthma
1 Comparative Study
using hi-fi prototyping, UEQ-S questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews
Quantitative Results (Round 1)
White plus symbol inside a transparent rounded square with blue glowing outline.
Table titled Short UEQ Scales showing Pragmatic Quality with score 2.150, Hedonic Quality with score 1.200, and Overall with score 1.675, all with upward arrows.

Original Design

More usable, less visually appealing.

Table showing Short UEQ Scales with scores: Pragmatic Quality 1.475, Hedonic Quality 1.750, Overall 1.613, each accompanied by an upward green arrow.

Redesign

Less usable, more visually appealing.

Qualitative Results (Round 1)
Black plus sign symbol with rounded edges on a transparent background.
Four squares depicting asthma symptoms and treatment: day time asthma symptoms 2+ times with sun icon, night time asthma symptoms 2+ times with moon icon, took quick relief medication 2 times with inhaler icon, limited physical activity due to asthma with shoe icon.

Selecting Symptoms

Selecting symptoms is more confusing and less intuitive in redesign, but the design is more aesthetically pleasing.

Symptom tracker with days of the week from Tuesday to Monday highlighted, prompting to mark symptoms from the last 7 days.

Calendar

Day-based visual calendar suggests daily symptom tracking, instead of weekly.

Three informational panels detailing symptoms: daytime symptoms 2+ times with sun icon, nighttime symptoms 2+ times with moon icon, and quick relief medication 2+ times with inhaler icon.

Education

The redesign takes longer to ‘learn.’

Back To The Drawing Board

Refreshing The Old Design Based On Testing Feedback

There were no two ways about it: the new design wasn’t going to cut it. There were too many issues with elements of the new design for it to feel worthwhile to keep working with that concept. So, I went back to the drawing board.

I decided to take a second look at the original design and iterate on that instead, since it was still acceptable for users despite the weak points brought up in the original problem brief. Working with the feedback from testing, I integrated elements of the previous concept but kept the original visual structure.

Two mobile screens showing an asthma symptom tracking concept and an info popup with symptom descriptions; the left screen has a list of asthma symptoms with Yes/No buttons and a save button that activates after all answers, the right screen explains symptom meanings with icons and a Got it! button.
Digital whiteboard with UI design sketches, brainstorming notes, onboarding concepts, and testing notes for a mobile app redesign project.
Post-testing concepting.

Risk Analysis Round 2

Second Design Iteration Performed Significantly Better in Testing

I ran the same comparative study to analyze the risk of releasing the new design. This time, the results significantly favored the new design, both on usability and visual appeal. Participants understood that they should document their symptoms from the past 7 days, and found the selection intuitive and quick.

10 Participants
5 AsthmaTuner users, 5 non-users with asthma
1 Comparative Study
using hi-fi prototyping, UEQ-S questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews
Quantitative Results (Round 2)
Table showing Short UEQ Scales with Pragmatic Quality of 2.075, Hedonic Quality of 1.425, and Overall score of 1.750, each accompanied by green upward arrows.

Original Design

Less usable, less visually appealing

Table titled 'Short UEQ Scales' showing values with upward green arrows: Pragmatic Quality 2.500, Hedonic Quality 2.150, Overall 2.325.

Redesign

More usable, more visually appealing.

Qualitative Results (Round 2)
Asthma symptom checklist with options to select Yes or No for reliever use, daytime symptoms, night waking, and activity limitation, plus a Save button.

Selecting Symptoms

Selecting symptoms is more confusing and less intuitive in redesign, but the design is more aesthetically pleasing.

Asthma control questionnaire showing questions about symptoms in the past 7 days with Yes and No buttons for each.

7-Day Prompt

Day-based visual calendar suggests daily symptom tracking, instead of weekly.

Explanation of asthma symptoms with icons: inhaler for medication use, sun for daytime coughing/wheezing, moon for nighttime symptoms, person walking for reduced activity, and calendar for symptom tracking over time.

Education

The redesign takes longer to ‘learn.’

Release & Outcome

A Clean and Consistent New Treatment Flow

After several design and testing iterations, we could confidently release a new design for symptom tracking in the AsthmaTuner app that helps our users accurately and capably document their asthma.

Additionally, our PM and CTO recognized that the risk analysis had been some of the most thorough they'd ever done for a new design, and AsthmaTuner has repeated the testing process for more releases since.

Open in App Store
Takeaways
White plus sign icon on a transparent background.

When Designing For Chronic Care, Read The Room

Illustrations of a tree, sun partially covered by clouds, crescent moon with stars, Earth, inhaler, pair of lungs, person shrugging, and a white handheld medical device.

Icons I designed for the AsthmaTuner app

One of the more interesting insights coming out of this redesign was how different people with asthma prioritized functionality versus aesthetics in their care tools. Some research participants felt strongly that recording their symptoms was a chore that they wanted to get over with as soon as possible, so too many visuals became obstacles to their efficiency. Others enjoyed icons that brightened the experience, on top of improving comprehension for the symptom questions.

The results were in line with user behavior patterns I noticed while working at Medituner. While it would be a stretch to draw this conclusion from these studies alone, users did typically fall into one of two camps: they either hated to be reminded that they were sick, or had accepted their diagnosis and enjoyed experiences that made care more playful. Even later feature releases like a tree planting tracker for medication adherence received some criticism for making light of asthma management, despite being well-loved by many users. For people with chronic conditions who distance themselves from their illness, it may be challenging to engage with light-hearted experiences within their care. 

As healthtech designers, it is critical that we understand the nuanced emotional experiences of all users. In UX it can be easy to default to ‘delightful’ solutions or make assumptions about lived experiences; however, everyone's relationship to their illness or condition is unique, and may change over time. It is ironic designing a product that people would prefer to not have to use, but truly catering to users means holding space for negative associations as well as positive ones.

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