Evaluation

 “The idea behind Grumble Tum is to inform individuals diagnosed or self-diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) the key information surrounding this medical condition in a friendly manner (Gattuso, 2020, p.3).”
 
When exploring my project prospectus, throughout I can identify the main ideas that I wanted to achieve in my final artefact. The key themes of providing education, self-acceptance, societal awareness, and a light-hearted tone were prominent in realising the main objectives when designing/developing my final artefact. Having experienced IBS flare-ups since November 2019, this project was a personal journey in uncovering the information I should have known post-diagnosis. Faced with a medical pamphlet and an abundance of websites, I naturally felt overwhelmed at the plethora of information. I believed this contributed to the ill effects of my condition, as this was an especially stressful period. Therefore, creating a middleman between the lack of information at the doctor’s office and the mountains of information online was my main objective.
 
To avoid text-heavy content commonly found on medical websites, I decided it would be beneficial to use illustrations to visually deliver and support important information. I successfully achieved this by adding cute characters and simple animations. Members of my target audience supported these additions, while participating in my user-testing questionnaire. Several users enjoyed the illustrations, colour and use of branding throughout the site when asked.
 

“The logo is really fun, cute and creates a friendly, welcoming and calming feel to anyone worried they may be suffering from these issues.”

 

“I enjoy the simple design as it is easy to see the information and looks aesthetically pleasing. I particularly like the cute characters!”

 

“I love it especially the illustrations and the animations.”

 

“The colours are very complimentary, and it is laid out in a way that is easy for anyone to find their way around.”

 

“It's fun and not clinical.”

 
Due to the positive feedback, I can successfully concur that I have achieved a light-hearted tone with my illustrations, colours, and branding, as these comments were written by my target demographic. Participants are only advised to participate if they are aged 21 – 35 and have either experienced IBS symptoms themselves or know a friend/family member with this diagnosis. 
 
With the amount of information included, I believe I have successfully provided a good level of education to those early in their IBS diagnosis. Three participants who were recently diagnosed felt they had enough information to continue their IBS discovery after visiting Grumble Tum’s website. Although I covered the IBS symptoms and low FODMAP diet especially well, there are some sections that may have required some additional information. The foods to avoid section could have been slightly more in depth, as well as adding new information such as, a stress management section. However, adding too much content may make the site too overwhelming.
 
The addition of a social media support group added to the success of increasing self-acceptance and societal awareness. Using Instagram, I contacted those with IBS asking whether they would be comfortable sharing their story. Once I started to gain more followers, I began to receive messages and comments about how comforting it was to relate to someone else’s story. As my platform continues to grow, the increased exposure will eventually have a wider reach and hopefully people will resonate with the content and spread awareness regardless of whether they have IBS.
 
I believe the concept of my site was a success in realising the overall ambitious nature of my project. Although I would have liked to have fully developed a mobile application, I was only able to build a website and design an app prototype. However, I focused more on my social media page which I believe is more beneficial to the IBS community.
 
My simple layout and navigational style of my website and app design is a strength compared to competitors in the same field. For example, ‘The IBS network’ and ‘IrritableBowelSyndrome.net’ are great resources but provide too much information with generic imagery. I used these websites as benchmarks because they have similar content and outcomes. Although these websites are useful and include a variety of well-written copy, they don’t have the overall light-hearted tone I wanted to achieve with illustrative elements.
 
A strength in terms of functionality is the responsiveness of the website achieved by using a Bootstrap template. Ultimately, this means that the user can view this information from any device without any problematic webpage elements when scaled down. This allows the site to be easily read in various situations such as, at home or work.
 
I reduced the number of colours compared to my original palette as colours began to clash and not compliment webpage elements. I opted for a pastel green and blue, however while testing my designs I thought to check whether these colours were accessible for users with visual impairments. I amended the colours to add more contrast between the background colour and copy, as it is important to take these individuals into consideration. Making the website and app design more accessible, grants more people the opportunity to feel a sense of relief when visiting the site.
 
The main weakness I believe my site has was a lack of user testing. I feel having more individuals at different stages of their IBS journey’s is important in providing varied feedback. It is useful to know the positive and negatives so that I can further improve and ensure that potential users align well with the product.
 
In terms of concept, I believe I have a strong idea that can make an impact in the digital world. The only concern is that all elements would have to be marketed well via paid promotions and SEO for my target audience to find and utilise my artefacts. This part of the project may be costly and having a large budget for this purpose is currently not possible. Therefore, this may result in a smaller audience as this draw-back will make discovering my artefacts slower and more likely through recommendations. As Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are closely linked, it may have been useful to include more information about these medical conditions. IBD can be mis-diagnosed as IBS and is important that users know their difference in symptoms. Although I approached this topic briefly, more information may be beneficial. 

GATTUSO, S. (2020). Degree Project Prospectus, Proposing Grumble Tum, The friendly IBS Informative Solution. Unpublished.