3M Happy Healing

Happy Healing

Companion App for 3M Nexcare Happy Kids

Context

Nexcare is a bandage brand of 3M Consumer Group. It has been a challenge competing with other major market players, especially in the children’s product line named Happy Kids.

The "Happy Healing" project showcases an AR-based app concept that aims to engage and comfort children during wound care by using AR animations of characters that provide tutorials, support, and emotional encouragement throughout the healing process.

Problem

Challenge to prevent children from taking off their bandages and removing scabs, which can lead to infection and scars due to negative association and annoyance.

Solution

An AR-based app that triggers AR animation characters from the bandages. It aims to personify the bandage and wound to engage children to have an emotional connection to take care of them.

- Reducing repulsion against the bandage by applying story narratives through AR characters and animation.
- Inviting children to be the active agents to take care of the wound.

Team

UX Designer
Carol Auh

3D Asset Designers
Sarah Chen, Shira Stirling

Contribution

Project Management, Design Strategy,
Research, Ideation,
Wireframing, Prototyping

Timeline

4 Weeks
July - Aug 2022
3M Intern Side Project

Tools

Figma, Unity,
Miro Board,
Illustrator

Research Methods

Expert Interview, Technology Research,
Step-Jump-Leap

03. Research

Research on skin, aging, and 3M Science

We started with general research around the keywords of our prompt. We went through 3M white papers, 3M product websites, and research around the skin, aging, and existing applications of mixed reality.

Narrowing Down to Wound Care with Nexcare Brand

Through research, we decided to focus on wound care for skin, as it would be a nice place to explore and propose innovations as our team focus. While beauty & aesthetics were not the strongest focus of 3M business, going into the realm of medical & care had a risk of dealing with too many regulations. As we wanted to make this project a feasible proposal to the 3M business group, we decided on our topic Nexcare brand of 3M Consumer Business Group.

Learning the Science and Business of Nexcare

As we narrowed down our focus, we continued learning about Nexcare products to understand the current state and find opportunity spaces to intervene with MR technology. We researched on the scientific and technological aspects of the product while examining the business aspect, including the packaging, marketing, website of Nexcare, and customer reviews.

04. Ideation

Identifying Needs of Nexcare Brand

Based on the research, we defined three key design opportunities for Nexcare Brand by identifying the key painpoints of the consumers and needs of the brand. This led us to focus on helping the product selection, first-time user journey, and inviting the missing target group that will benefit the most from the pain-free adhesive technology of 3M.

🤦

"Too Many Options!"
‍

While Nexcare has the strength of providing numerous products with different functionalities, it is hard to find the right product for the right purpose.

‍

→ Intervene for information browsing and product selection
‍

🤷‍♀️

"How Do I Use this?
It Doesn't Work!"

As different adhesive technologies were used depending on the functionalities, each product had unique ways to attach and detach. Users had to learn the instructions for each product and occasionally ended up ruining the product with the wrong usage. This caused abundant negative reviews about the product not functioning well.

‍

→ Support the learning experience and communication of instructions.

💁

"Is this Really for Me?"
‍

While one of the major strengths is the pain-free adhesive, we found out most of the marketing was targeted toward general adult users. We can see how the poster also portrays a grown male as a persona. As we thought children and elders with fragile skin would benefit more from the technology, we found this as an opportunity space to target different user groups, which also aligned with the topic of aging.

→ Focus on the missing target group as our target user.
‍

Narrowing Down Target User Groups

Children and Elders with Fragile Skin

From the findings above, we narrowed down the target user groups to children who will benefit the most from 3M adhesive technology but are currently neglected in brand marketing.

Considering the fragile nature of their skin, we selected children and elders as our potential target users.

How can we Maximize the Benefit of Mixed Reality?

For each group, we brainstormed possible implementations of Mixed Reality technology. Both groups had shared pain points regarding the state of physical, cognitive, and psychological vulnerability. However, the emphasis of the implementation would be different for the groups. As a final decision, we narrowed it down to children users and psychologically supporting the wound care process.

Final Problem Statement

How might we design an MR for Children,
to Support the Life Long Wound Care Experience with 3M Nexcare?

Designing for the Child Wound Care Process

When can AI Characters Help Children?

Through journey mapping, we found out the opportunities. We mapped out the wound care experience, actions, and emotions following the process to identify points of intervention.

How can we Help throughout the Wound Care Process?

The following is a diagram of user flow mapped with the stage of wound care and the app features that can come in for each stage.

Sketching Ideas for each Features

As a group, we sketched wireframes and flows together.

05. Solution

Nexcare Healing App,
Making Wound Care Experience more Enjoyable and Engaging

Parents as Users, Children as Audiences

We designed an app that will be run by parents aside from the child. Parents will guide and help out the process while children will be looking at the AR animation and be part of the healing process.

Choose Features that Fit to the Age and Stage of the Child

One of the major goals of the product was to help the children psychologically and emotionally. However, considering that children have different cognitive and psychological stages depending on their age and stage of development, we broke down the features so that the parents can use the product depending on the stage of the child.

😠

"I Don't want to Wear Bandages!
I'm Gonna Take this Off!"

When:
After the curing

Why:
To make children keep and take care of their Nexcare Bandage until it's healed.

How:
Personify the Bandage by connecting them with AR characters. Characters will appear when they scan the bandage, ask them to keep them (ex. to protect them), greet them with different micro animations, and say farewell when it's time to take it off or change it.

→ Related Prototype:
‍Part 2. Micro Animation
‍

😰

"I am so Sad that I got Hurt....."
‍

When:
At the moment of injury
‍
Why:
To comfort children when they are feeling depressed or guilty after the injury

How:
Refresh their attention and emotion by interacting with the AR character and stories that will comfort and cheer the child.

‍

→ Related Prototype:
‍Part 1. AR Tutorial
Part 2. Micro Animation

✊

"I want to Do it!!!"
‍
‍

When:
During the curing process

Why:
For children, a stage of "I want to do it myself" comes. Using the app tutorial at this stage will be effective in letting children learn how to take care of their wounds by themselves.
‍
How:
AR animation tutorial educating children to use bandages and cure the wound.

‍

→ Related Prototype:
‍Part 1. AR Tutorial
Part 2. Micro Animation

Prototyping Mobile Screens

Scanning Nexcare Package to Activate App

By scanning the Nexcare product package, users can easily access the connected AR contents. Each product will have its own characters and storylines created for the AR.

In addition, the Happy Healing App will store the history for an individual profile. The user is using Jamie's profile for this scanning.

Part 1. AR Tutorial for Applying Nexcare Bandage

The following screens show a rough example of how the tutorial will look like.

Choose Character
for the tutorial

Step1. Find the Wound
Step2.Take Photo

Step3. Open the Seal
Step4.Detach the Film

Step5. Place Bandage
Step6.You did it!

Part 1. AR Tutorial for Applying Nexcare Bandage

Micro animation is more geared toward affecting the emotions and psychology of children.

In addition to comforting and entertaining children, we aim to personify the bandages to lead children to be more cautious about the wound area and keep the bandages on. This feature would have a wider range of use, applicable for younger children who are not yet in the stage for the tutorial.

Prototyping with Unity

We tested our ideas by prototyping the AR with Unity.

Link to Video →

Proposing Three Solutions for Implementation

Step-Jump-Leap Strategy from easy to ideal options

During the internship, I learned the step-jump-leap strategy that is widely used in 3M design team. In order to solve a problem, designers would propose three different versions of design solutions. The step plan would be the easiest, cost-effective way, while the leap plan is the most ideal solution that will bring the optimal impact. The jump plan would be in the middle of the two. Through this approach, I could think about the feasibility of the implementation, cost and effect, and scalability of solutions.

While the Happy Healing experience consists of touch points for Scan, Play, and Enjoy, we created step-jump-leap options for the three touch points.

1. Scan: QR Code to Scan

The AR code could be printed as a QR sticker and attached to existing Nexcare packages. Also, we can insert a QR card in the package or design a new Package and bandage faces that are more cohesive with the AR contents.

2. Play: Platform for the AR Content

For the digital interface, we can start with a single website link that can play individual animations or a simple Happy Healing app dedicated to scanning and playing animations, as we shared in our prototype. As a leap, we can design a fully functioning app with multiple scenarios, user groups, and an e-commerce site for direct sales of Nexcare products.

3. Enjoy: Characters & Stories

Lastly for the characters and stories, we have modified the existing Happy kids characters. However, we can also collaborate with external characters for more contents. As a leap, the happy kids characters and stories can become a theme with more varieties of stories and narratives for the tutorials. This can help keep the product to be more sustainable. Also, the characters can be adaptive for other 3M products targeting children.

Value Proposition

How Happy Healing can Bring Value to Nexcare Brand

It is expected to bring values from short-term to long-term. While the AR app and features will immediately impact the child user's emotions, changing the painful wound experience to a fun activity associated with Nexcare, the Nexcare brand can position itself as the companion and supporter of aging children throughout their lives. In the long-term, this service could make customers loyal to the brand, and 3M leads redefining the wound and wound care experience.

06. Reflection

Learnings

Thinking about the Business Impact and ROI Leads to New Ideas

Practicing the Step-Jump-Leap Strategy opened up new ways of thinking. Through this approach, I could think about the feasibility of the implementation, cost and effect, and scalability of solutions. While a solution may come up, it is important to question, "how can it be done easier?" and "Is it the only solution?."

The ideal solution is not always the best solution

In the context of the step-jump-leap strategy, I learned that the Step solution is not a bad solution. While redesigning everything to create a flawless design may seem ideal, sometimes, just printing out a sticker and attaching it could save a lot of time and cost, while still bringing a similar result. I think this is the biggest lesson that I had from working at 3M as a global manufacturing company.

Next Steps

Adapting AR Tutorial Concept for Adults and Senior Users

We expect that the AR tutorial feature could benefit adult and senior users as well. We especially expect the tutorial will be effective for 3M Nexcare products with unique instructions, such as attaching waterproof Nexcare or taking off Tegaderm.

Developing the App to a Total Platform for Nexcare Products

Continuing from the idea of broadening the user groups, the app can expand as a platform for Nexcare products. This way, the app can have other features such as product recommendations, wound scanning, and an e-commerce site for direct sales of the product.

Expanding Character and Stories to other 3M Products

Through interviewing business managers of the Happy Kids line, we learned that, in most cases, the sales for children depend on the child's choice of product, mostly drawn by the characters and design. This solution will open up new opportunities for creating a unique ecosystem of Happy Kids Character World with emerging technology. The characters and story could expand to other brands and products.