Designing an Intuitive App Creator for Academics at UCLA

A user-friendly visual interface makes it possible to create a wide range of automated text messaging (SMS), interactive voice (IVR) and web applications in just a few minutes.

Challenges

Academics at The University of California (UCLA) came up with an idea for a universal tool that enables patients, doctors, researchers, and community leaders to personalise health interventions through mobile apps.

They needed a team to help them develop the concept.

• Help patients remember and stick to doctors’ recommendations.
• Let non-technical people build mobile apps.
• Incorporate an interface that engages everyone (children as well as the elderly).

Our main goal was to design an interface that will enable non-tech people to create their own data-driven apps.
We wanted to create a powerful platform based on automation and mutual communication between patients, researchers, and community leaders.
We know that it is a great challenge for a non-programmer to build an app, so we wanted to make it as simple as building with wooden blocks.

We realize that Chorus apps are multi-layered and leverage large amounts of data – that’s why we guide users step by step with the most intuitive object-oriented design possible.
We could have turned the process of building an app in Chorus into filling one huge form, but we didn’t want to go that way.
Our main focus was to make this process fun and easy. Eventually, we were able to come up with an app-building process, which was compared to growing a tree by one of our clients.

We wanted to create a powerful platform based on automation and mutual communication between patients, researchers, and community leaders. We know that it is a great challenge for a non-programmer to build an app, so we wanted to make it as simple as building with wooden blocks.

Process

• Assembling a full-stack team with great design, frontend and backend skills and using a “design first” process.
• Designing an intuitive app creator for non-coders and breaking down the app building process into easy steps.
• Engaging app users through smart notifications.

Netguru came up with a user-friendly solution for creating a wide range of automated text messaging and interactive voice applications. Doctors will be able to build an app in just a few minutes thanks to this tool.

We broke down the process of app building into steps with primary tasks that need to be completed before moving forward. Apps created in Chorus are data driven and can operate in 3 different channels. We also designed native iOS app for handling notifications.

Each app’s logic can be split into two elements: storage and flows.

Storage is handled by variables. Users can create variables that can be grouped by two criteria scope and count.

There are two possible scope types: client and app. Client scope means that each client has its own instance of the variable, app scope means that there is only one instance per app.

Each variable has fields. In order to make changing & checking values easy, we also introduced Excel-like variable values editor.

Result

A revolutionary academic idea brought to life. Chorus' potential use cases include reminders about medication, health status reporting, educational materials, outbreak surveillance, local resource listings and health-related games.

• Non-tech people can design apps, while nonprofits can rapidly and cost-effectively develop them.
• Apps with automated, interactive communication between patients and doctors.
• Wide range of potential uses for local communities, healthcare and research.