Overview
ClearSignal is a mobile-first care-coordination prototype for Parkinson’s families: daily check-ins, sudden-change alerts, a hospital card, and a short care timeline. The walkthrough below is the post-research product.
ClearSignal
I explored a broad set of Parkinson’s care challenges, narrowed them to an actionable unmet need, then tested and reshaped a care-coordination concept with caregivers.
1. Social listening
I started with qualitative social listening on Reddit—an AI-assisted summary of community discourse plus hand-selected posts from people living with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. This is community-sourced insight, not clinical research.
r/Parkinsons
Patient perspective: sudden decline, loneliness, exercise, voice changes.
r/ParkinsonsCaregivers
Burnout, end-stage decisions, rapid decline, swallowing safety.
Related threads
Hospital guides, medication side effects, young-onset PD, app usage.
“No sudden changes with Parkinson’s. The most common is infection (UTI) or Stroke. This is one time to get him to an Emergency room.” — r/Parkinsons
“Everyone with Parkinson’s should get the FREE Hospital Safety Guide from the Parkinson’s Foundation.” — r/Parkinsons
Themes that surfaced
Sudden decline & infections
UTIs and infections mimic progression; families often act too late.
Hospital & ER safety
Med errors, levodopa holds, and missing neurologist context in crises.
Caregiver burnout
Constant monitoring and crisis decisions without a shared log.
Tracking gap
Tremor/mood tools exist; acute infection and sudden-change workflows do not.
Exercise & isolation
Exercise helps but PD is lonely; hard to sustain without structure.
Voice & swallow (early)
Voice changes precede mobility issues; SLP referral often comes late.
2. Concept exploration
Six themes became three product directions. I compared them against unmet need, engineering complexity, overlap with existing tools, regulatory risk, and what I could realistically prototype as a solo designer.
SteadyPath
Exercise & social hub—boxing, gait work, buddy matching, on-period scheduling.
ClearSignal (selected)
Infection & sudden-change alert system—check-in, caregiver alerts, hospital card, timeline.
VoiceFirst PD
Early speech & swallow coach—drills, checklists, SLP referral prompts.
Comparison matrix
Excerpt from the concept evaluation—criteria that decided which direction to prototype.
| Criterion | SteadyPath | ClearSignal | VoiceFirst PD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo designer feasibility | Medium (content + community) | High (flows & IA) | Medium (audio/feedback tech) |
| Engineering complexity | Medium (video, scheduling) | Low (forms, alerts, PDF) | High (voice analysis) |
| Unmet need signal | Exercise + loneliness | UTI / sudden decline | Early voice/swallow |
| Overlap with StrivePD | Moderate (activity tracking) | Low | Low |
| Regulatory risk | Low | Low (not a medical device) | Medium (health claims) |
Why ClearSignal
ClearSignal offered the strongest wedge: a high-need problem with a low-complexity MVP and relatively low overlap with existing tracking tools. As a team of one with a product design background, it was a design-heavy, engineering-light MVP I could realistically ship and test—addressing sudden changes often caused by infection, not progression.
- Daily 60-second check-in — confusion, hallucinations, falls, urine/fever changes
- One-tap sudden-change alert — notify the care circle with symptom context
- Hospital / ER card — meds, neurologist, “do not hold levodopa” notes
- 7-day timeline — shareable log for doctor visits
Platform choice: mobile-first web—ships faster than native, works via link without App Store friction, and supports PDF export for the hospital card.
3. Initial prototype
Before caregiver sessions, I built a first interactive version to make the concept tangible— role setup, daily check-in, sudden-change alert, and alert-sent confirmation. This is the product caregivers reacted to—not the polished final.
4. Caregiver research
Five moderated sessions with caregivers of people with Parkinson’s challenged or refined my assumptions. The research changed who I was designing for and how the product needed to handle alerts, check-ins, and hospital information.
| What caregivers revealed | Design response |
|---|---|
| Caregiver / care staff is often the primary user—patients may not be smartphone-capable. | Shifted positioning and flows toward caregiver-first use. |
| “Notify care team” was ambiguous—who gets it, when, wait vs call 911, expected response. | Clarified recipient, timing, and expected response in the alert path. |
| Multiple people may share care responsibilities. | Introduced a care-circle / decision-maker model. |
| Some symptoms can’t reliably be observed in the moment. | Added “Didn't see this” to check-ins so forced yes/no doesn’t create bad data. |
| Hospital card information wasn’t sufficiently discoverable in a crisis. | Improved card hierarchy/content and surfaced critical information. |
| Privacy / clinical credibility affect whether people would trust the product. | Recommendation for next iteration — stronger HIPAA/privacy messaging and clinical credibility cues; not fully redesigned in this pass. |
5. Redesign
Findings from the sessions drove a redesign pass: caregiver-first framing, clearer alert routing, care-circle structure, “Didn't see this” on check-ins, and a more scannable hospital card. Below is the arc—before research → after redesign.
Before research → after redesign
Post-research flows
6. Final prototype
Explore the interactive prototype: faybebe.github.io/ClearSignal
Not a medical device. For logging and care coordination only—does not diagnose, treat, or replace clinical judgment.
7. Reflection
- The person with the condition isn’t necessarily the primary product user. Caregiver research changed the product’s center of gravity.
- Alerts need an action model, not just information. “Notify the care team” wasn’t specific enough without defining who receives it and what happens next.