Team
Individual project
My Role
UXUI Designer
Researcher
Timeline
2 Months
Jan - Mar 2023
Problem
Among EB patients, 70–80% experience oral or esophageal involvement, making eating painful and difficult.
Through research and interviews, I found that eating is not only a daily necessity but also a frequent source of anxiety and injury.
Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a rare disease that makes the skin extremely fragile, causing blisters that burst and leave slow-healing wounds. Signs are often visible at birth.
Unlike wound care or mobility aids, there are no existing tools that help patients assess food safety in real time.
This gap, combined with the frequency and sensitivity of eating, made it the most urgent and impactful area to address.
How might we create a tool that helps EB patients reducing risk and increasing autonomy?
Biggest Challenge
Due to the rarity and sensitivity of EB, direct user interviews were difficult to arrange. Instead, I relied on other methods to understand pain points and daily needs.
This limitation pushed me to synthesize insights carefully and design with extra empathy and caution, always validating with secondary sources.
Solution Overview
A two-part system:
An mobile app for real-time feedback, record, and alerts
A handheld device that measures food temperature, hardness and ingredients
Uses infrared, spectroscopy, and ultrasound to detect
Refillable system for multiple tests on the go
Tracks meals and supports caregiver sharing
Shows live reading from the device
Design process
Design Thinking: Shift from small scale -> large scale
Sketches
Physical prototype
Arduino Test
3D Modeling and Printing
✨ Reflection & Next Step
Next Step
Plan to conduct real-user testing, refine sensor accuracy, and explore broader applications for users with eating-related conditions or sensitivities.
Reflection
Empathizing Without Direct Access
User stories, medical literature, and caregiver blogs were essential in place of interviews. These sources provided rich, indirect insights into daily pain points and emotional needs.
From Specific Pain to Scalable System
The design began with the simple act of eating—a small, daily struggle—and expanded into a system that addresses real-time food safety through both hardware and software.
Balancing Accuracy with Simplicity
The challenge was to maintain medical relevance while ensuring the tool remained intuitive, quick, and easy to use in daily life.