Introducing Compass
In my final year of IXD, I completed my major project over nine months. The final outcome was a digital product for children to help combat their fears and worries when attending hospital appointments and enhance their understanding about what happens.
Compass is a narrative-led app designed to support children aged 7–10 and their parents during hospital visits. Through reassuring language, interactive features and engaging characters, the app helps children understand what to expect, reducing fear and anxiety while making the experience feel more manageable.
Unlike existing healthcare apps that focus mainly on preparation before appointments, Compass provides real-time support throughout the hospital journey — from getting ready at home to waiting for treatment. By offering clear, accessible information at each stage.
The Problem
Hospitals can be highly anxiety-inducing for children due to unfamiliar environments, people, equipment, and procedures. Research shows that 50–75% of children experience significant anxiety in healthcare settings, often leading to fear and a loss of control.
Families are currently expected to prepare and support children through hospital visits, but their own anxieties or limited medical understanding can make this difficult. As a result, many children arrive underprepared and require additional emotional support.
There is a clear need for accessible, real-time guidance that helps children and families understand what to expect, enabling them to feel more prepared, confident, and in control of their healthcare experience.
Research
After defining the problem I want so solve and conducting some initial research. I dived deeper into research looking at the subject area, the people affected and the problems that children healthcare anxiety causes.
Some of the research methods I used included desk research, user research using surveys and market research of current healthcare resources and support tools.
Using these insights, I conducted competitor analysis on existing healthcare and wellbeing apps to identify gaps in support for children during hospital visits.
This process revealed that many existing solutions focus primarily on preparation before appointments however children and families wanted real time support and help during the hospital experience.
These insights helped shape Compass as a tool focused on offering real-time reassurance and emotional support throughout the entire journey.
Product Development
From there, I moved into product development, creating user flows and low-fidelity wireframes that explored how children and parents would navigate the app together. These concepts were refined through testing and iteration to ensure the experience felt simple, reassuring and engaging for young users.
Final Design
My finalised design for Compass was a narrative-led journey app which used fun illustrations to make the experience more fun and engaging.
This project has allowed me to take the meaningful issue of children’s medical fears and anxieties and develop an impactful solution that supports children and their families when attending hospital appointments.
Throughout this project I have been able to push myself out of my comfort zone. I challenged myself to develop skills in areas I previously found difficult particularly illustration and UI design which has resulted in me growing both creatively and technically.
Compass also represents my personal and professional growth as a designer,
highlighting the skills I have learned and progression I have made throughout my time on this course and my placement year.
Want To Read More?
You can visit my Notion blog to explore more about Compass and its development process.
