Mobile Application Design to Engage Blood Donors in Norway

Abstract

This master thesis presents a study of mobile application design created to support and engage current- and new blood donors. The application has been designed to help motivate existing blood donors to keep donating blood, but also to support newdonors in the process. A User-Centered design method was utilized to ensure close collaboration between users during the development; this laid the foundation for the requirement specification and design choices. The goal of the thesis has been to see how different methods and disciplines can provide an opportunity to engage blood donors as the most valuable user group. A high-fidelity prototype has been implemented with five main modules: digital donor card, Appointments, Your blood, Impact, Blood journey. The development process consisted of four design iterations, where usability goals, design principles, usability testing, system usability scale, and Nielsen’s Heuristics were applied to ensure a user-friendly solution that covers the needs of young blood donors in Norway. The Design Science framework allowed several prototypes from low- to high fidelity to take form. Users evaluated and gave feedback during the different iterations. The result of the research indicates that the application has appeal and the potential to engage donors by relying on minimalist design, gamified content, good user experience, and usability. The final System Usability Score (SUS) of 86 and evaluators’ feedback suggest there is a potential to develop a product that could be valuable to donors and society at large.