Physio
Role
UI/UX Designer
Year
2024
Platform
Mobile App
Tools
Figma
Description
Physio is a mobile application designed to help people with musculoskeletal conditions access physiotherapy services more easily. The app bridges the gap between patients and qualified therapists by offering online consultations, AR-guided physiotherapy sessions, clinic booking, and curated health content, all within a single platform. The goal was to design an experience that feels approachable and trustworthy for users who may be dealing with physical limitations in their daily lives.
Musculoskeletal conditions, such as joint pain, muscle stiffness, and mobility issues, are common yet often undertreated. Many people delay seeking help due to the friction involved: not knowing where to find a qualified therapist, difficulty traveling to a clinic while in pain, or simply not knowing where to start.
The core question driving this project was:
"How might we reduce the barriers between someone experiencing musculoskeletal discomfort and the professional care they need?"
Research & Discovery
To ground the design in real user needs, I developed two user personas that represented the primary audience for the app:
These two personas highlighted a key tension in the design: the app needed to feel simple and reassuring enough for someone like Anna, while also being efficient and frictionless enough for someone like Kenzo. Both users shared a common need: access to qualified physiotherapy care without unnecessary barriers.
Design Process
With the personas established, I mapped out the key user flows the app needed to support. These included onboarding and registration, a personalization quiz to capture the user's specific complaints, online consultation booking, AR physiotherapy sessions, clinic discovery and booking, and a health article feed.
I used Figma throughout the entire design process, from early wireframes through to high-fidelity screens. A personalization quiz was introduced early in the onboarding flow so the app could surface relevant content and services based on each user's condition from the start.
The information architecture was kept intentionally simple. The main navigation covers the core jobs users come to the app to do, without layering in unnecessary complexity. Profile management, FAQs, and About Us were grouped under a single profile section to keep the primary navigation clean.
For the AR physiotherapy feature, the design focused on clarity around what the user needs to do before and during a session, since this was a less familiar interaction pattern for most users.
Solution
The final design delivers a cohesive set of features built around the two core user needs identified in research: guided professional support and accessible self-management.
Onboarding & Personalization — Users register, input basic health information, and complete a short quiz about their condition. This allows the app to tailor its content and recommendations from the first session.
AR Physiotherapy Sessions — Guided physiotherapy exercises are available through an AR-powered format, allowing users to follow along in their own space in real time.
Health Articles — A curated content feed on the home screen keeps users informed and engaged between sessions.
Online Consultation — Users can book a video call with a physiotherapist directly through the app, selecting based on their needs and preferred payment method.
Clinic Booking — For users who prefer or require in-person care, the app surfaces nearby clinics and allows them to book an appointment in just a few taps.
Profile & Support — Users can manage their profile, access an FAQ section, and find clinic contact details and location information under the About Us section.
Reflection
Physio was an exercise in designing for users in a vulnerable state. Pain and physical limitation carry emotional weight, so every decision, from the tone of the copy to the structure of the navigation, was considered with that in mind.
The AR physiotherapy feature was the most conceptually ambitious part of the project. Designing for a technology that many users would be encountering for the first time meant prioritizing clarity and confidence over visual complexity.
If I were to take this further, I would focus on validating the AR session flow with real users and exploring how the personalization data collected at onboarding could better inform the ongoing experience as the user progresses through their treatment plan.
