Lean Launchpad Program

In the early days of Aidewise, the team took part in the lean launchpad program. Here we interviewed 28 stakeholders and explored the ways to make our startup viable. We walked away from this program with a deeper understanding of the market and decided to differentiate ourselves by developing a seamless migraine tracking tool that simplified migraine tracking.

Patients find current tools to be difficult to use because of the amount of data fields to fill in. Most patients often avoid uding these tools when the migraine attacks get very painful.

- Neurologist, NNI

1. Considering hypersensitivity

As a result of migraine-induced cognitive disturbances and hypersensitivities, migraineurs report that conventional methods of tracking migraines such as migraine diaries and app-exclusive tracking tools can be difficult to use during attacks. We made sure to design our product with these in mind.

 

Dark schemes

One of the pain points of the current interventions is the lack of extensive data trend finding. This necessitates an app to be part of our intervention. Phones are a source of light, it is imperative that the right colours are chosen to minimise the impact on light hypersensitivity.  As a result, a dark default colour scheme has been adopted.

2. Providing insights on the condition

According to neurologists, the best way to minimize the number of migraine attacks is to identify its triggers and avoid them. It is also important to identify which medications work best for the migraineur. This can be difficult to do because current methods depend on the neurologist to manually analyze the data.

3. User-centric design

Everybody experiences migraines differently. It is important that we consider these differences in our analysis. Furthermore, we want the Affogato to be something users want to carry with them at work or at play.

Colour range

Users will be able to pick the Affogato from a range of colours to best suit their taste. We want users to view the Affogato as something fashionable and not merely just medical. According to neurologists, this will help with tracking compliance.

App Walkthrough

On the right is the app walkthrough. This video demonstrates the experience users will have when they initialise and track their migraines on the Aidewise App.

Feel free to follow Vijay on TikTok.

Branding

As a start-up, it is important that we design the way we brand ourselves. Early on, we have decided that we want stakeholders to associate professionalism, energetic and freshness with our brand. We have chosen a graphic design style in line with the international typographic style which places an emphasis on functionality. In the media slider above, you can observe our branding journey as we moved from Curest (first two) to Orite (three and four) and finally to Aidewise (last two). The name Aidewise is a pun on the words "aid" and "edelweiss", the logo is composed of a first-cross and a flower, symbolising the usefulness of our product and peace derived from using them.

Prototyping

The Aidewise Team

Acknowledgements

We will like to thank Prof Cyrille, Prof Hui Ying and Grace for your weekly feedback and your unfaltering support. Pooja, for helping us start a business. Sri, for being the coolest TA ever. Lastly, thank you to the capstone office and VIE for making this possible!

Solution

Through the power of sensor technologies and data visualization, Aidewise seeks to automate and ease migraine tracking through two mechanisms: A streamlined, intuitive, and personalizable app interface and a portable support device (Affogato) that enhances tracking without triggering hypersensitivities.

The Aidewise App

The Aidewise App helps users identify patterns of potential triggers and the efficiency of prescribed drugs. To create this app, interviews were conducted with migraineurs, neurologists, pharmacists as well as policymakers. The resulting dark color scheme mitigates the effects of photosensitivity.

The Aidewise Affogato

Affogato allows migraineurs to record migraine attacks without depending on vision. This is big considering most migraineurs suffer from light hypersensitivity. It is able to encode and transmit this information to the app or save it in an onboard flash memory if the user's phone is not nearby.

Tactile functionality

Four symbols help migraineurs find the slider that corresponds to four data types: Migraine occurrence, pain level, productivity level, and the amount of medication taken at the onset of a migraine. Relying on touch would mean migraineurs might accidentally submit data when fumbling with the device. To prevent this, the submit button is protected by a sliding shield that can be retracted when the user intends to log a migraine attack. 

Colour scheme testing

The media slider on the left contains images that were used to test colour and contrast preferences amongst 32 migraine sufferers. in the end, the colour schemes in our products go across those found in the first three images.

Key indicators are represented at a glance as numbers and easy-to-consume visuals like pie charts and bar charts. Key indicators include number of attacks, severity of attacks and triggers. Users can adjust the period of data they would like to observe, allowing them to observe trends that may develop over time.

Adjustable acupressure clip

To motivate users to carry the Affogato around, an acupressure clip is included as part of its design. This acupressure clip targets acupressure point LI-4 which reduces the intensity of pain experienced in the body. It is adjustable and will be able to fit a wide range of hand sizes.

 
Individualized tracking process

In order to better understand how migraines affect an individual, the user will go through a one-time initialization process to help Affogato optimize what potential triggers to look out for and what medications to track.

 

Connectivity

Data moves on the Aidewise system across three platforms: Affogato, the App, and the database (Firebase). Affogato allows for tactile logging of data, the App helps with data processing and visualization, and the database stores all the data points. To communicate with the App, Affogato is equipped with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). This mode of communication allows it to last at least 6 months before a battery change. The App and the database are connected by WiFi.