SyncFam
With the growing number of people diagnosed with dementia and the increasing responsibility placed on family caregivers, the need for efficient communication and coordination has never been greater.
Bridging the Communication Gap for Dementia Caregivers
Role
Product Designer & Branding Designer
Timeline
2024 (Feb-Aug)
Skills
Branding, User Research, UI Design, Design Systems, Usability Testing
Tools
Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, Notion, Trello
According to the WHO, 10 million new dementia cases are diagnosed annually, with projections reaching 139 million by 2050.
As caregiving responsibilities grow, miscommunication and inefficiencies can create significant challenges for families.
Problem Statement
​Family caregivers of dementia patients often struggle to keep track of important caregiving details due to scattered and inconsistent communication. This leads to missed appointments, duplicated efforts, and unnecessary stress, making an already challenging role even harder.
Without a centralized way to track responsibilities, caregivers of dementia patients experience miscommunication, missed tasks, and increased stress, negatively impacting both their loved ones and their own well-being.
The Cost of Innaction
​Missed doctor’s appointments, forgotten medications, and unclear task delegation create unnecessary stress for families and can lead to medical complications for dementia patients.
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A disorganized caregiving system doesn’t just make things inconvenient...
It puts lives at risk!
Making an Impact
What if caregivers had a single place to consult medical information, track essential tasks, see who’s available to help, and get timely reminders?
Understanding the Caregiver
I started by talking to the people who live this reality every day, caregivers.
Through user interviews and ethnographic research, it was aimed to understand:
What is the demographic?
Women aged 45-55 years old (Gen X).
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Although caregiving is a transgenerational responsibility that also includes Baby Boomers, Milennials and Gen Z.
What are their biggest struggles?
Lack of coordination, confusion over responsibilities, multigenerational families unequal workload, shift in family roles, guilt for seeking help, burnout and stress.
What are their daily tasks?
From medication schedules and doctor’s visits to medical instructions (medications and therapy), sharing updates, requesting caregiving information, and coordinating caregiver schedules.
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How do they currently communicate?
In person communication, personal text messages (written, voice note, multimedia), chat group messages (written, voice note, multimedia), physical white boards, and phone calls.
Competitive Analysis
At the same time, existing solutions were analyzed.
Some apps, such as Care Partner (supported by the Alzheimer Association) and UR Caregiver, primarily focused on providing emotional support.
Others, like the Singapore-based Homage, offered task tracking but were region-specific.
Ianacare also provided task tracking and was designed with sandwich caregivers in mind, but it wasn't specifically tailored for dementia caregiving.
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What was missing, however, was a digital solution designed specifically for dementia patients that could centralize essential information for caregivers to easily access.​
Defining the
Core Experience
✦ Second Brain
Information dump of the most common shared information between non-primary caregivers.
✦ Collaboration Enhancer
A way to check availability, prioritize tasks, and prevent confusion within caregiving teams.
✦ Flexible
Customizable features support caregivers and care recipients.
To deliver on these principles, we chose a mobile-first approach, ensuring that caregivers could update and access information anytime, anywhere.
Defining the Features
Based on user needs and project constraints, the solution was structured around essential flows, creating a centralized information hub to facilitate seamless information exchange among caregivers and minimize the loss of vital details.
​​Onboarding
Seamlessly input the care recipient’s medical information and set up a shared space for all caregivers.
​​​Daily & Category-Based Hub
A centralized space to view daily availability, prioritize tasks, and prevent miscommunication within caregiving teams.
​​​​Task & Appointment Management
A collaborative system for assigning, tracking, and adjusting caregiving responsibilities.​​​​​
To-Do Lists
Log in and assignation of shared chores and to-do lists related to the care recipient.
Therapy Exercises
Upload or link media for guided therapy sessions.​
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Medical Appointments
Store essential details like specialists information, location, and key medical notes.
Medicine tracking
Log details of medication such as shape, color, size, dosage, and type.
Creating the Design System
Due to the app's complexity, a design system was developed following a design audit of the wireframes.
Key components were identified and built using the Atomic Design methodology.
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Most icons used were from the Material Symbols and Icons library to ensure consistency throughout the design,
Usability Testing
To address the challenge of reaching caregivers of people with dementia in Canada, Guerrilla Testing was conducted with non-matching users, and the results were compared with Thinking Aloud tests from persona-aligned participants.
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While some caregivers were interviewed, this approach provided broader insights while ensuring key findings remained relevant to the target audience.
Insights from the Testings
Quick action to see tasks assigned to themselves
List & category Add flows were confusing
Too many steps to get to do a task
Summary screen at the end was expected
Assigning people felt “robotic”
Useful to take over tasks or drop tasks
Latest Prototype
Next Steps
While the final prototype addresses core user needs, further exploration could enhance the experience and expand the platform’s impact.
Voice Interface for Faster Task Creation
Introduce a voice interface to allow users to create tasks hands-free, catering to Gen X women users who prefer voice memos. This feature would transcribe spoken input into structured task cards for easier access.
Centralized Healthcare Communication
Develop a platform where caregivers, doctors, and pharmacies can securely exchange health updates, prescriptions, and care instructions, reducing miscommunication and data loss.
Business Opportunuity: Prescription Management
Partner with pharmacies to enable seamless prescription renewals and medication refills, easing the workload on caregivers and ensuring timely access to medications.
Retrospective
This project began as a personal tribute to my grandpa, who has dementia, and to my family who cares for him. It was rewarding to see how excited specialists and other caregivers were about its potential.
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One challenge I faced was reaching caregivers in Canada, as I had recently moved and lacked connections. Despite this, I found it insightful to learn how different families were coping. I also spoke with geriatricians and gerontologists, who were particularly enthusiastic about the project's impact, especially in Mexico where such apps are rare.
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User feedback was invaluable, not just from persona-matching participants, but also from others who provided unexpected perspectives on information centralization. I was also surprised by how comfortable some Gen X women were using technology, like Siri, to assist with daily tasks.
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This project reinforced my belief that family is the foundation of a healthy society. By creating tools that empower caregivers, we can help foster a more confident and connected community.