Mobile App

Senior Designer (2019–2020)

The Beam app provides easy access to benefits information including insurance cards, plan details, and claim payments. It also syncs with the Beam Brush to display brushing history and allows users to adjust toothbrush settings.

My Role

As a Senior Product Designer, I provided product design and user research for this initiative. In collaboration with other designers, I conducted a UX/UI audit, created a mobile app style guide, provided UX and UI design, and assisted in extensive accessibility testing. Within research-driven activities, I assisted in the preparation and facilitation of user interviews and usability testing. The team for this initiative included 4 Product Designers, 1 UX Researcher, Engineers, and Head of UX.

The Challenge

The original Beam app was created in 2016, years before the company hired their first product designer. The app was created solely by engineers and marketers so that members could sync their Beam Brush to the app and unlock wellness incentives. While the mobile app served an important purpose, its hasty development brought a challenge in 2019 — the app would no longer be compatible with the launch of iOS 13. From a design perspective, the existing app was also limited in its inclusivity, user experience, and accessibility.

Designing the app

The mobile app was completely redesigned by the UX team. Product management was not part of this initiative, so UX fully owned the strategy and execution of this work. While the original app had poor reviews and a 2.7 app rating, it did have regular users that depended on it, so it was essential that we launched the new app before it was rendered unusable by iOS 13. With a rushed timeframe and complete experiential ownership, this was an exceptional opportunity for UX to create a customer-centric experience through rapid learning, collaboration, and iteration.

User Research + Product Design

After understanding the original app’s content, we conducted user interviews to understand how members were using the app and which features were most valuable. We then redesigned all critical app experiences and features through rapid exploration, usability testing, and refinement. At its core, the redesign focused on providing clarity and guidance to the user throughout app experiences and features. From a UI perspective, the redesign focused on meeting WCAG AA accessibility standards and improving the app’s overall usability.

Adding Value

During user interviews, we learned that there was potential to expand the app and provide more value to members. Areas of opportunity included the addition of dental and vision plan information as well as estimate and claim statuses. Another minor yet critical improvement was to include network information on the insurance card so our members could more easily determine whether their provider was in-network. These new additions helped members better understand their benefits and associated costs of care, which allowed them to more effectively use their benefits.

Results

We successfully redesigned and launched the new Beam app within our target timeframe. The success of this initiative can be measured in a few key ways:

• By addressing user needs and employing rigorous usability testing throughout the design process, app ratings increased from 2.4 to 4.7

• After the MVP launch, we continued to enhance the app and grew its monthly active user base from 1K to 22K

• Our ability to effectively own this initiative and directly contribute to Beam’s goals boosted the company’s understanding and integration of UX