Designing an AI health app that older patients can trust

01The challenge

How do you make AI health advice easy to understand and easy to trust, for patients who may never have used a chat app?

When I joined, Orva was a basic chatbot on the hospital tablet. The text was small, the AI replies were plain purple bubbles, and there was no brand. It worked. But for an older patient who had never used a chat app, nothing on the screen said this is safe, and it’s for you.

Three rules for every screen

1. 01ClearOne main action at a time. Big text, and nothing on the screen that the patient doesn’t need yet.
2. 02FamiliarUse things patients already know, like a simple conversation and the tablet’s own buttons.
3. 03Warm, not childishFriendly enough to calm people down, and serious enough to trust with medical information.

Making things bigger was not enough.The real work was giving patients fewer things to decide.

The limits I worked with

1. Older usersMany patients are over 65 and have never used a chat app.
2. One hospital tabletThere is only one device: an 8.7″ tablet, 1340 × 800. People use it in portrait and landscape.
3. Medical informationIt gives real medical information, so it has to feel correct and safe.
4. Room to growThe first version is for heart failure. Later it may cover diabetes, cancer and more, so the brand can’t be only about the heart.
5. Real deadlinesThe designs had to be ready for a consumer panel and a hospital demo. The developer was building at the same time.

02Key decisions

Clear · Familiar

Remove a control, don’t add one

• ProblemThe client’s first build had two volume controls: one in the audio player and one in settings. That meant two places for an older patient to make the same choice.
• DecisionRemove both sliders and point to the tablet’s own volume buttons. Put a speaker button on each message, instead of one player for the whole chat.
• WhyThe easiest control is often the one people already know. And people scroll back through the chat, so a speaker on each message always shows which one is playing.

Before

After

Before

After

Clear

Designing for one tablet

My first chat design had a sidebar with chat history and settings. In a call, the client showed me the real device: an 8.7″ tablet, often used in portrait. The sidebar took up too much space.

But the real problem was not screen size. It was attention. A sidebar asked first-time chat users to learn navigation they didn’t need yet. So I replaced it with a small top bar and one long conversation, and designed both portrait and landscape. I also took references and voice playback out of the first version to keep it simple, and added an emergency “Call 000” button.

Before

After

Dark mode

Clear

Show the app instead of explaining it

The first welcome page explained Orva in three text cards. But people who have never heard of Orva won’t read three cards. Before I redesigned it, I asked one question: one big image, or a step-by-step tutorial? They chose one image. So the page became one illustration of a patient using Orva, with Login in the corner.

After the client saw it, I made the character look younger. People in their late 50s and older still want to feel young.

Before

After

Warm, not childish

A logo about people, not medicine

A medical cross says “hospital”. But Orva will grow beyond one illness, and it should feel like care, not like a clinic. I tried three ideas, and the clinical lead chose two people hugging inside an “O”. It means care, it works as the “O” in Orva, and it isn’t about one illness.

1 · A medical cross

2 · Two people hugging ✓

3 · A chat bubble with a cross

Iterations

Final

Warm, not childish

A mascot that makes AI feel safe

Patients need to know who is talking to them. The small robot started as decoration, and became “the face of Orva”: it is next to every AI reply. I added a medical cross so it looks like a care helper, not a toy, but it is still friendly.

Before

After: a cross on the band

03How the project worked

1. 1Send a roundI sent a Figma link and a short email: what I changed, and how it answers each comment.
2. 2Client reviewThe founder and the clinical lead reviewed it. Sometimes they also showed it to a consumer panel or hospital staff.
3. 3Ask firstBefore each round I asked questions. For example: should the welcome page have one big image, or a step-by-step tutorial? They chose one image, and that decided the layout.
4. 4Change and recordI kept every round in Figma on a dated timeline, so anyone can see what changed and why.

04Four turning points

1. 01The brand became about peoplemedical → humanThe clinical lead chose two people hugging over a medical cross.
2. 02The real tablet changed the navigationsidebar → top barA sidebar was too wide on an 8.7″ tablet in portrait.
3. 03Older users changed the formsmany choices → one actionNotify Me became one optional line, with no extra consent tick.
4. 04The real build changed text-to-speechone player → a speaker on each messageAnd the extra volume sliders were removed.

05Outcome

The designs went straight into the real product. After the first demo, every round was built from the Figma handoff and design system. A year after the first round, the founder contacted me again: Orva is “progressing well” and moving to a clinical trial.