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Craig Allen

I’m Craig, an out-going designer born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Previously I have worked within the design industry, producing user-first content across the world.

My eye-for-design and creativity flow throughout all of my interests, including capturing images and globe-trotting. I often push the boundaries of current processes and ideas, unlocking new ways to approach and think.

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Affiniti

Every two seconds, someone in the world will suffer a stroke. For those who are lucky enough to survive the attack, the effects are unpredictable and the road to recovery is long and extremely challenging. Due to demand, lack of qualified professionals and funding, cognition recovery is neglected compared to other stroke related side-effects.

Affiniti is a cognition-focused rehabilitation platform for stroke survivors providing activities and real-time tracking to enhance recovery. It enables individuals to push and track their recovery progress via tailored activities that are recognised by healthcare organisations from their own living comfort.

The Process

Developing Affiniti from the ideation stage to a fully immersive prototype has been challenging and very rewarding. Throughout the entire process, I have utilised all areas of material including in-person and remote analysis, feedback sessions, testing, and of course an endless number of sticky notes.

The main sources of research I conducted throughout the project were market research, in-depth user research, and industry-professional research. These methods provided key insights that were significant to all decision making towards my audience’s needs, whilst also ensuring rehabilitation validation from healthcare standards.

Having conducted and recorded in-depth research, I then created a series of deliverables which included user personas, empathy maps and journey maps. All content within these deliverables was related to the knowledge established throughout my entire research. You can view the entire detailed documentation of my process on Affiniti’s Notion.

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After recording and analysing the research, I then created a series of user flows, sitemaps and wireframes, gaining ideas as to how I can translate user needs into a structured and effective platform. The research conducted established a solid foundation for me to build upon and generated potential layouts and features within Affiniti.

Following on from this I then converted paper-based content and sketches into a digital format through software such as Miro, Figma and Adobe Illustrator. Through intense screen variations, feedback sessions and multiple usability tests, I was able to convert real-world needs into a recognised, healthcare-validated format. This was a cycle that was repeated throughout the creation of Affiniti, constantly gaining user feedback and insights to improve the overall experience.

Alongside the development of Affiniti’s platform, I also created a vast amount of digital assets. From iconography to activity thumbnails, the creation of illustrations was non-stop. The employment of gamification also added to this section of the process, with assets such as ranking badges and achievement awards being created to reward survivors for their effort and recovery milestones.

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The Outcome

Affiniti’s provides a unique yet essential environment for cognition rehabilitation. The platform reassures each survivor and constantly pushes their cognition development whilst also detecting early-stage effects or illnesses through daily activity and monitoring. You can preview the full hands-on experience via the Figma prototype here.

Throughout the entire process of Affiniti, I have developed in both design and user-first areas. This process has given me clear insight and understanding within the health-tech industry, highlighting the need for more developments within and how a product can impact not only an individual but an entire global issue.

Affiniti has the potential to change stroke recovery for the better, with sufficient resources and funding we can transform health on a massive scale. Issuing platforms such as Affiniti can relieve pressure within our healthcare systems, allowing valuable time to maximised and research to be sustained on a daily reoccurrence.

Find out more at affiniti.app.

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