CABIN FEVER
Redesigned the Cabin Fever mobile application user interface resulting in a 190% increase in adoption.
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Big Investment, Little Return
Cabin Fever (CF) is an annual medical conference hosted by the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) in Kananaskis, Alberta. This event unites top medical professionals to exchange research, ideas, and innovations.
The CSM invests in a dedicated mobile app and landing page to streamline the conference experience, allowing people to register, curate schedules, network, and more.
Business Problem:
The 2022 Cabin Fever Conference Report revealed that the mobile app had a usage rate of less than 25% among conference attendees.
To justify its investment in the CF mobile app, the Cumming School of Medicine needed to see a significant boost in app usage and adoption rates.
User Problem:
User feedback revealed that the CF app's low adoption rate was caused by inconsistent branding, design, and representation of the Cabin Fever brand across digital platforms.
Our heuristic evaluations suggest that user overwhelm may have also contributed to low app usage. The screens were cluttered with too much text and lacked sufficient white space, likely leading to cognitive overload for users.
Displayed above: Excerpt from the Cabin Fever 2023 post conference survey report. We collected user feedback from 73 attendees.
Fixing A Disjointed and Overwhelming User Experience
I'll set the stage by introducing you to the established Cabin Fever brand. The colours and imagery are a nod to the larger UCalgary brand and the Kananaskis landscape. A bold UCalgary orange offset and balanced by neutral hues.
Below, I've shared a few sample screens of the 2022 CF mobile app to give you some insight into my starting point for the user interface of this project.
Displayed above: Cabin Fever branding guidelines including font, colour palette, imagery, and logo.
Displayed above: Cabin Fever 2023 application screens.
Screens 2 & 3 ( Schedule and Session Details screens) show a cluster of information causing user overwhelm
A New Yet Expected Look
The new Cabin Fever mobile app follows the established brand guidelines and design system. I created a minimalist and clean layout, carefully placing text and buttons with enough spacing. By using different font sizes and weights, I ensured the screens remained uncluttered, allowing users to access important information without feeling overwhelmed.
I also explored different ways of displaying information using speaker avatars, location maps, and appropriate iconography to pique user engagement and avoid cluttered screens.
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Displayed above: Cabin Fever 2024 application mock-up screens.
Screen 1 - Log in screen.
Screen 2 - Cabin Fever app home screen.
Displayed above: Cabin Fever 2024 application mock-up screens.
Screen 1 - “My Events” - an individualized conference schedule curated by end user.
Screen 2 - “Speaker Hub” - displaying conference speakers.
Increased Brand Recognition and Increased Users
Cabin Fever’s revamped user interface and consistent branding across digital platforms resulted in a 190% increase in app adoption.
View the primary user flow for the Cabin Fever application below, or try out the prototype here.
Takeaways
Redesigning the Cabin Fever app and witnessing its impact was a rewarding experience. This project deepened my understanding of the design hand-off process and improved my collaboration with front-end developers. It also reinforced the importance of design details, consistency, and brand recognition in delivering a seamless user experience across all platforms.