Reducing real-world confusion in a healthcare app by making system intent unmistakable.
This feature allows users to set a reminder for their next visit.
At first glance, the flow seemed straightforward, but in practice, users were misunderstanding its core purpose. Instead of setting reminders, some believed they had booked actual appointments.
In a healthcare setting, that confusion doesn’t stay in the interface, it shows up in real life.
Users were arriving at centers expecting appointments that didn’t exist.
The interface failed to clearly communicate intent. The most critical message, “this is not an appointment,” was easy to miss, which gave room for users to complete the flow with the wrong understanding.
This created friction for both users and center staff, turning a simple feature into a source of operational confusion.
This wasn’t just a UI issue, it was a trust and expectation problem.
Clarity here wasn’t a nice-to-have. It was essential.
The focus here was making intent clear before users could misinterpret the flow, while improving accessibility and aligning with our updated pattern library.
This issue surfaced through feedback. We reviewed the existing flow and identified two failure points: the critical disclaimer was buried below the fold, and the busy indicator relied on color alone.
The disclaimer “This is not an appointment” was placed at the bottom of the screen.
Users could move through the flow without ever seeing it, making the most important information feel secondary.
Busy indicators relied heavily on red, yellow, and green color states alongside an icon.
This created challenges for users with color vision deficiencies and made an already important decision harder to interpret.
Introduced a dismissible banner at the top of the screen to clearly communicate that users are setting a reminder, not booking an appointment.
This ensures the message is seen early, before users commit to the flow.
Replaced the color-only busy indicator with a bar chart.
This allows users to interpret busyness through both height and color, reducing reliance on color perception and improving scannability.
Small design decisions can have real-world consequences.
By making intent explicit and designing for accessibility, this work improved not just the interface, but how users understand and rely on the product.