Project 05, Caremap
Home Care Booking App
Empowering collaboration between families and care providers, transforming a low-converting website into a seamless mobile platform where seniors, families, and home care professionals can find each other and stay connected.
01, Overview
Connecting Those Who Care With Those Who Need It
CareMap is a mobile application facilitating homecare services for multiple target audiences. The app allows care providers and care seekers to find each other and stay connected, families can search by location, specific needs, and language, while providers manage their availability and service offerings through their own profile.
I owned UX research and interaction design on the product design team: I wrote the interview guides, interviewed families and registered nurses, ran observations in the field, and turned what I learned into personas, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes.
02, The Problem
Millions of Caregivers, No Efficient Way to Connect
As life expectancy rises, the demand for quality home care is growing rapidly. The existing Caremap website gave families and providers a marketplace to meet, but the conversion rate was too low and the experience too fragmented to serve the scale of the real-world problem.
5.4M
Canadians providing care to a senior family member or friend, a number that continues to grow
19h
average hours per month families spend coordinating care, time that better tools could reclaim
48%
of Ontario family caregivers are caring for a parent or in-law, often from a different city
Low Conversion Rate
The existing Caremap website connected families and home care providers, but the conversion rate was critically low, users visited but didn't commit, pointing to fundamental UX and trust gaps.
Caregiver Time Burden
Families spend an average of 19 hours a month managing care for a senior loved one. The lack of efficient tools made coordination a full-time burden on top of already busy lives.
Fragmented Discovery & Communication
Families had no reliable way to find vetted providers based on location, language, or specific needs, and providers lacked a structured way to manage their availability and connect with clients.
03, The Solution
A Mobile Platform Built Around Real Needs
I designed a mobile app that extends the website's core marketplace with scheduling, in-app messaging, and health monitoring. Every feature traced back to research: interviews with families and registered nurses, field observations within Canadian healthcare privacy regulations, and persona-driven brainstorming with field experts from George Brown College.
Decisions I Made
One app with a branched onboarding, not two apps
Why
A care marketplace only has value when both sides show up. One entry point asks who you are, then routes families and providers into distinct but complementary flows.
What I rejected
Two separate apps, one per user group, which is where the project began. It would have split the network and doubled the build.
Accessibility over aesthetics in the visual design
Why
Seniors and busy families are core users, so I prioritised a large, legible type scale, high contrast, and generously sized touch targets that stay usable for older eyes and hands.
A brand identity of its own, distinct from uCarenet
Why
The app had to stand on its own in a competitive market and build the trust the website had failed to establish.
Multi-Group Research
Conducted interviews and observations across two user groups, families of seniors and care providers, in collaboration with field experts at George Brown College.
User Personas & Journey Mapping
Built detailed personas for all three user groups to guide brainstorming, prioritise features, and ensure every design decision traced back to a real human need.
Mobile-First App
Designed a mobile app that carried the core website features plus new capabilities, scheduling, messaging, health monitoring, allowing seamless collaboration between all parties.
Fresh Brand Identity
Developed a new visual identity tailored for the app, legible modern typography and a considered colour scheme suited to the target users, to stand out in an evolving market.
04, Final Design & Outcome
Care, Simplified for Everyone Involved
The final Caremap app delivers quick session scheduling, direct in-app messaging and calls with care providers, senior health condition monitoring, and a browsable work list for providers. A fresh brand identity was crafted alongside the product , setting it apart in a growing market and building the trust the website had failed to establish.
2
User groups fully served in v1.0: home care providers and families of seniors
3
User groups identified, providers, families, and seniors (v2.0 roadmap)
v2.0
Senior health monitoring features scoped and planned for the next product iteration
5.4M
Canadians providing care to a senior family member or friend (Stats Canada, 2012)
3M+
Ontarians who are family caregivers, 48% caring for a parent or in-law
19h
Average hours per month families spend coordinating care for a senior loved one
The first three figures are the delivered scope: two user groups served at v1.0, one unified app replacing the website, and senior monitoring scoped for v2.0. The last three are the market context (Statistics Canada, 2012) that justified the investment. v1.0 was validated with target users before handoff; live conversion impact is owned by uCarenet post-launch.
“Design doesn't rely on aesthetics alone, it primarily focuses on user interaction and usability. Understand the user, understand their problems, then design the solution.”