Yano

Yano is a remote patient monitoring and telemedicine app. It connects to a multi-parameter device that measures seven vital signs, from blood pressure to ECG, and shares the results with the patient's doctor and family. I redesigned it from the ground up at MiDoctor24h as part of a multidisciplinary team.

The first version of Yano was a generic app supplied by the device manufacturer. It let people use the device and little else. The owner wanted a complete change, both in how the app looked and in what it could do, with two separate experiences: one for patients and one for doctors.

That meant designing for two very different groups. On the patient side, the target audience was older adults with chronic conditions and little experience with technology, including those who live alone because their families emigrated from Venezuela. For them, it was key that their relatives could follow their health from a distance. The doctors are general practitioners, internists, cardiologists and geriatricians who monitor their patients remotely. Since the device is small, they also use it in their office, in emergencies and in rural areas.

Yano is a medical app, so it had to follow the country's health regulations and protect sensitive data. On top of that, I had to decide which information really mattered to a patient and which to a doctor, make the device easy enough for someone who rarely uses a smartphone, and design a video consultation where the device could be used during the call.

I started with an extensive competitive analysis and studied the rules for protecting health data. I interviewed doctors who had used the first version to understand their pain points, and talked with potential patients about what they needed.

Once I had a working prototype, I sat down with users to watch how they moved through the app, where they got stuck and what they liked. The main lesson was that people with little experience with technology needed the app to be as explicit as possible, so I added a help button to every measurement screen. It opens a step-by-step tutorial that shows how to get ready and use the device.

Yano has its own visual identity, so I built a component library just for it. Handoff happened throughout the project, with regular meetings to check with the developers what was feasible. When the first version was ready, I annotated the whole prototype and recorded a video walking through every interaction. As each build came out, I tested it with the device myself and kept a document of visual and functional fixes.

Patients and doctors download the same app. When they sign up, each person chooses their account type, and from then on the app opens the right version. Patients land on their latest measurements and a shortcut to measure. Doctors land on the list of patients they monitor.

Pairing happens at the end of sign-up. The app asks if the user has a Yano device, tells them to turn it on and connects on its own. From then on, measuring only takes turning on the device and choosing what to measure. Each measurement is a short guide with illustrations and one step per screen, so nobody has to guess what comes next.

Every result shows the value, a plain-language label and a color scale that marks where it falls. When a value is out of range, the screen suggests contacting a doctor and offers a shortcut to a 24/7 video consultation. When it's normal, it simply confirms it. Patients and doctors can also see how each vital sign changes by day, week, month or year.

Patients decide who follows their health. A relative can link to a patient's account to get push notifications whenever a vital sign goes outside international reference ranges. The patient has to accept each request and chooses exactly what that person can see: health alerts, medical history or measurements. Doctors go through the same step, and patients can also allow them to set reminders.

From the patient list, the doctor opens a profile with everything in one place: latest measurements, medical history, health alerts and reminders. Each doctor sets their own alert thresholds for every vital sign, or turns alerts off, and creates reminders for medications, measurements or appointments with whatever repetition the treatment needs.

Patients can start a 24/7 video consultation with an available MiDoctor24h doctor, who isn't the same doctor who monitors them. The consulting doctor joins from a desktop interface with the patient's full medical history. During the call, either the patient or the doctor can start a measurement with the device, which helps older patients who struggle with the app. Every measurement is saved to the patient's history, and both can exchange messages and documents in a chat.

The redesign was handed off and built in development versions, which I tested with the device. The company's owner decided to hold the launch, so the version currently in the stores is still the original app.

I'd push accessibility further, with a mode for people with low vision and a senior mode with larger buttons and a simpler interface. I'd also add a way to call emergency services right away when a vital sign reaches a dangerous range. One feature was left out on purpose: issuing prescriptions and lab orders. It made sense, but it was too much for a first version.