Mobile User Experience & Solve the Outbreak

Office of the Director

Division of News and Electronic Media

Electronic Media Branch (EMB)Division of News and Electronic Media (DNEM)

Office of the Associate Director for Communications (OADC)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

February 27, 2013

CDC Mobile Applications

CDC Main App CDC Framework

http://www.cdc.gov/mobile/mobileapp.html

CHALLENGE:

Develop a NEW app that is engaging and fun to educate users about CDC and its mission.

CDC is the nation's health protection agency, working 24/7 to protect America from health and safety threats, both foreign and domestic. CDC increases the health security of our nation.

CDC’s Disease Detectives

CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers are elite global health sleuths that respond 24/7 to emerging threats and disease outbreaks.

Inspiration: Disease Detective CampExposes students to epidemiology, the field of public health and the diverse career opportunities within the field of public health.

Inspiration: Classroom simulations 30+ page simulations 3-4 hours to complete Group-based / team-based exercises Prerequisite in epidemiology or outbreak training

Goals of Solve the Outbreak• Let users be the disease detective and solve the outbreak.• Present fictional outbreaks (based on real-life events) with

clues in the same way that CDC’s disease detectives would approach an outbreak.

• Integrate key epidemiological concepts along with new terms and definitions.

• Make it fun!

Targeted AudiencesIn initial design discussions, we labeled our audience.

PUBLIC HEALTH NERDS

In the end, we marketed the app to:

Teens, young adults, and public health nerds of all ages.

Key User Experience Decisions

• Plain Language: Content had to be in easy to understand • Tone: Casual, humorous (where appropriate), fun• Design: Cool, science-y, and cutting edge• UX: Interactions had to be clear, yet game-like • Game Psychology: Badges / point system / achievements had

to be rewarding and something users would want to share

11

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

22

23

Plain Language• All content was written by non-scientists, with extensive

review & clearance by subject matter experts. • All content went through a rigorous plain language review (all

content written at 7th grade level or below). • Content for definitions came from the Learner’s Dictionary.

ContentThis is an example of the “before” content. Using scientific and highly technical journal articles, we had to create content that was user-friendly.

ToneFun, humorous, casual

DesignInspiration from Minority Report

UX: InteractionInteractions had to be clear, yet game-like

Example: Pulsating orbs to navigate outbreaks (although a list of outbreaks would have been more intuitive, it wouldn’t have had the same game-like feel)

UX: Early Flows for Content

UX: Interaction Specification

UX: User Testing• Guerilla testing• Informal (although we

had a very detailed moderator’s guide)

• Two rounds• Tested interactions • Tested point systems• Results quickly delivered

and integrated into designs

Lessons Learned: What Worked Well• Desired user experience (cool, hip,

game-like, fun) drove content, design and development decisions

• Flexible team who worked very closely together (daily meetings)

• Support of management/leadership for something new and interesting

Lessons Learned: What Could be Improved• Content clearance process was

much more tedious and drawn-out than was expected.

• Sometimes challenging to write content, create designs and develop the app simultaneously

• Not enough time for formal user testing (now scheduled for late March or early April)

In One Week:

• STO quickly moved up Education category and made it as high as #13.

• More than 10,000 downloads.• 32 ratings, 5-Star Average• 7,320 SM posts reference STO• Potential reach 24 Million

Reviews from iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solve-the-outbreak/id592485067?mt=8

NPR

“iPad app that lets you solve disease puzzles — a kind of CDC CSI .”

“The gamelike app didn't disappoint. It's slick, polished and pleasing edu-tainment.”

“After downloading the app, I immediately solved all three outbreaks. And I craved more.”

“It was fun. And even though I feel like I live and breathe infectious diseases as a global health reporter, I learned something from the puzzles.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/22/172693947/contagion-on-the-couch-cdc-app-poses-fun-disease-puzzles

ABC News

“The game is the CDC’s latest attempt to use pop culture to entice the public to prepare for a major outbreak.”

“This morning over coffee, I worked through the outbreak of a stomach bug among kids on a school trip. It took me back to the days when I was a disease detective for the CDC. This is a great way for people to learn a bit about how diseases are spread and how the CDC goes about solving outbreak mysteries.” – Dr. Richard Besser

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/02/20/cdc-turns-from-zombies-to-outbreak-ipad-app/

Mashable

“Now, a new game from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes the armchair epidemiology to a whole new level.”

http://mashable.com/2013/02/23/cdc-app-disease/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Questions?

Alex CasanovaCDC Innovations Leadbuq3@cdc.gov

Sharon McAleerCDC UX Leadzoo0@cdc.gov

Cari WolfsonUX Contractorcariwolfson@usabilityfocus.com