Allied AU
Healthcare
·
Web & Mobile
UI/UX
Lo-fi & Hi-fi Prototyping
Interaction Design
Overview
Allied Health AU was born out of a real need seen in the Australian healthcare system—for both patients and practitioners.
Many patients aren’t aware of how allied health services can actually improve their day-to-day lives, and on the other side, practitioners are burning out fast, often due to tough working conditions and high turnover.
Rachel, a physiotherapist the founder, saw this firsthand and knew something had to change.
That’s what drove us to create Allied Health AU: to make allied health more accessible, supportive, and sustainable for everyone involved.
My role in this was the lead product designer
The Constraints
This project was an MVP with a tight timeline of 8 weeks. This approach allowed us to quickly bring the product to market with the minimal necessities, ensuring that we could gather real, useful data from early users. By focusing on core functionalities, we were able to launch efficiently and iteratively improve the product based on user feedback and real-world insights.
Who is this for?
Patients
People looking for services like physio, occupational therapy, or speech pathology. They need an easy way to find practitioners who actually get their needs—whether that’s based on a condition, a preference, or something more personal.
Practitioners
Allied health professionals who want to run their practice more smoothly, connect with the right patients, and work under better conditions than what the current system offers.
Key Objectives
Working closely with the client, we nailed down three main goals for the project. These were essential to making sure the MVP would hit the mark for both patients and practitioners—while still being realistic to launch in just 8 weeks.
Patients can discover health professionals that fit their needs
Health professionals can create profiles that show their qualifications and clinical expertise/interest areas
Health professionals can set availability and patients can pay and book
Concept Screens to Low Fidelity
I kicked things off by sketching out some early ideas for the key screens—just to get the ball rolling. We then ran a workshop to see if we were heading in the right direction, and thankfully, it confirmed we were on the right track.
From there, I moved into wireframing, refining things as we went based on feedback not only from the client but also from healthcare professionals. That ongoing input helped make sure the final design stayed grounded in real user needs.
When it came to the landing page, the initial sketch translated smoothly into the wireframe. The concept was clear from the start, so there weren’t any major changes along the way—just a few small tweaks to polish the layout and improve clarity. It was a good sign that the early thinking was on the right track.
For the practitioners page, we knew from the start that it needed to include a lot of detailed info—things like specialties, experience, and availability. But as we moved into wireframing, I decided to take it a step further by adding a booking flow directly within the page. The goal was to make it super easy for users to go from browsing to booking in just a few clicks, helping boost engagement and conversion.
I started by sketching out rough ideas for the key screens, just enough to spark conversation and direction. We followed that up with a workshop to test the waters, and luckily, it showed we were headed the right way.
Next came wireframing. I kept things flexible, iterating based on feedback from both the client and a handful of healthcare professionals. That steady input helped keep the design focused on what really matters, the people using it.
Session booking flow wireframes going through the different payment options for patients
What did we learn?
Patients
They needed to find the best practitioner for their specific use cases.
Gender
Languages spoken
Payment methods (including if the practitioner offers NDIS)
Session type that was most suitable to their condition and situation
Practitioners
What they needed revolved around handling the patients
Manage high patient volumes efficiently.
Increase visibility to potential patients through detailed profiles.
Connect with patients who match their expertise and service offerings, such as NDIS.
Safety concerns
Since the platform offered at-home visits, safety was a top priority, for both patients and practitioners. To help build trust, I introduced a few key protocols: practitioners could view if a patient had a criminal history, we collected basic info about the home environment (like whether pets were around), and we made sure there was transparency on both sides. It all came together to create a safer, more reassuring experience for everyone involved in in-home care.
High Fidelity
Calendar Conundrum
One of the trickier design challenges was figuring out the calendar. We had to represent three types of sessions—tele-health, in-person, and clinic visits, each with two states: accepted or pending. On top of that, sessions came in three different lengths. That added up to 18 different types of calendar cells!
We also needed to show practitioner availability right alongside these sessions. It was a lot to pack into a small space without making it feel overwhelming. In the end, we went with a set of subtle, brand-aligned tones to keep everything clear and easy to scan at a glance.
Patient's view of booking in a session
Practitioner's view of all of their sessions
Practitioner's view of all accepting sessions
Handoff
As we moved into development, I worked hand-in-hand with the engineering and product teams to bring the designs to life. We reviewed key flows together, ironed out interaction details, and addressed potential edge cases early on. Design files were clearly structured, with all necessary specs and annotations to support implementation.
Throughout the process, we maintained regular design reviews and ongoing quality checks to ensure the final build matched the intended experience. This close collaboration helped us stay aligned, move efficiently, and deliver a polished, user-friendly product.
Whats Next?
The platform is now live, with more and more practitioners coming on board and offering their services. It’s exciting to see it gaining traction. There are over 100 practitioners now!
Next up: gathering feedback from both patients and practitioners so we can fine-tune the experience and grow the feature set. The goal is to keep evolving the platform to better support the people at the heart of Australia’s healthcare community.