Scenario Modelling Web App for Cost Efficient Malnutrition Treatment Planning

Product Design

User Research

Design System

12 months (2024 - 2025) • I worked on this project as Product Design Lead at Ideate Innovation.

My Role and Responsibilities

Product Designer and User Researcher

Literature review and UX research.
Designed sacrificial concepts, wireframes and prototypes.
Conducted user interviews and usability testing.
Workshop design and facilitation for stakeholder engagement, co-creation and testing.
End-to-end product design and design system.
Design support for development and beta-testing.

Literature review and UX research.
Designed sacrificial concepts, wireframes and prototypes.
Conducted user interviews and usability testing.
Workshop design and facilitation for stakeholder engagement, co-creation and testing.
End-to-end product design and design system.
Design support for development and beta-testing.

My Role and Responsibilities

Product Designer and User Researcher

Literature review and UX research.
Designed sacrificial concepts, wireframes and prototypes.
Conducted user interviews and usability testing.
Workshop design and facilitation for stakeholder engagement, co-creation and testing.
End-to-end product design and design system.
Design support for development and beta-testing.

The Challenge

How might we make malnutrition scenario modeling user friendly, to make data informed decision making more accessible for maltnutrition treatment planning?

Malnutrition treatment planning is complex and dynamic. Factors change constantly, and unexpected disasters can disrupt plans entirely. Stakeholders must estimate malnutrition levels and create treatment plans, but often lack tools to model multiple scenarios or visualise alternatives. This gap can often result in commodity losses and wasted resources.

Sources:

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

World Food Programme (WFP)

Sources:

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

World Food Programme (WFP)

Sources:

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

World Food Programme (WFP)

Usability

The process is tedious and complex and can benefit from improved usability and progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load.

Comparison

Allowing users to quickly adjust factors and compare different models can aid faster data informed decision making.

Flexibility

Balancing a consistent design with a flexible process would allow users to adapt the tool to accommodate their local circumstances.

The Outcome

SCALE - A User Friendly Web App for Malnutrition Scenario Modelling.

The Scenario Costing and Analysis for Large-scale Efficiency in Nutrition (SCALE) tool is helping governments, NGOs and healthcare-providers make data-informed decisions for malnutrition treatment programs.

It projects what different treatment protocols cost, how many children they can reach, and helps maximise impact within tight budgets by transforming complex cost modelling into an intuitive, open-access tool.

Access the live tool here

Navigation and Data Input

The process is broken down into sections and further into steps to help users focus by providing a clear navigable structure.

At any point, users can get a progress summary or go to a different section via the side navigation menu.

The inputs are streamlined but users can work at different levels of detail based on their role in treatment planning or delivery.

The process is broken down into sections and further into steps to help users focus by providing a clear navigable structure.

At any point, users can get a progress summary or go to a different section via the side navigation menu.

The inputs are streamlined but users can work at different levels of detail based on their role in treatment planning or delivery.

The process is broken down into sections and further into steps to help users focus by providing a clear navigable structure.

At any point, users can get a progress summary or go to a different section via the side navigation menu.

The inputs are streamlined but users can work at different levels of detail based on their role in treatment planning or delivery.

Scenario Results and Program Comparison

The results provide a summary of the most significant metrics and a graph projecting the implications of scaling the program.

Users can click points on the graph to "stick" different scales and add a cost limit to facilitate discussions.

More programs can be added to the projection to consider alternative scenarios or treatment programs.

The results provide a summary of the most significant metrics and a graph projecting the implications of scaling the program.

Users can click points on the graph to "stick" different scales and add a cost limit to facilitate discussions.

More programs can be added to the projection to consider alternative scenarios or treatment programs.

The results provide a summary of the most significant metrics and a graph projecting the implications of scaling the program.

Users can click points on the graph to "stick" different scales and add a cost limit to facilitate discussions.

More programs can be added to the projection to consider alternative scenarios or treatment programs.

Consistent and Scalable Design

Process Overview

01.

Project Inception

Literature Review and Documentation Study

02.

Discovery Research

Expert Interviews and Studying Precedents

03.

Ideation and Wireframing

Exploring Sacrificial Concepts and a Rudimentary User Interface

04.

Prototypes and User Testing

Interactive Prototype Testing and Iteration

05.

Final Design and Handoff

Design Documentation and Handoff Presentations

06.

Development and Beta Testing

Design Support and Development Reviews

Research and Testing

I rapidly onboarded into the malnutrition treatment domain by reviewing existing documentation and speaking with global experts in treatment, budgeting, and resource management, as well as local experts in Pakistan and Nigeria. This helped me understand the project context and how user goals and constraints differ across operational levels and local contexts.

Mental Models — Sacrificial Concepts

Creating sacrificial concepts proved incredibly efficient for communicating high level ideas about the process structure.

These simple diagrams helped users quickly grasp the overall process and compare them with proposed alternatives.

They allowed us discern the feasibility of structurally significant alternatives in our early discussions with experts and users.

Creating sacrificial concepts proved incredibly efficient for communicating high level ideas about the process structure.

These simple diagrams helped users quickly grasp the overall process and compare them with proposed alternatives.

They allowed us discern the feasibility of structurally significant alternatives in our early discussions with experts and users.

Creating sacrificial concepts proved incredibly efficient for communicating high level ideas about the process structure.

These simple diagrams helped users quickly grasp the overall process and compare them with proposed alternatives.

They allowed us discern the feasibility of structurally significant alternatives in our early discussions with experts and users.

Wireframes and Prototypes

Establishing a clear process hierarchy that reduced cognitive load without becoming restrictive or tedious was a core challenge. The flow had to be easy to navigate, offering guidance while preserving user flexibility. Consistency and segmentation were balanced to avoid monotony, and progressive disclosure was applied carefully to simplify the experience while keeping it easy to move between and reference steps.

Design Feedback Workshops

Before piloting, I focused on testing the product against real user needs across levels and contexts, beyond usability and visual design. I facilitated workshops with ministries of health, healthcare providers, community health workers, and international NGOs in Pakistan and Nigeria, where participants role-played collaborative budgeting scenarios using the prototype. This process validated our designs ahead of pilot release.

Home

Scroll to Top

Next Project

Drop me a message ✉️

ahmedbydesign@gmail.com

This website is custom built in Framer.