Group project
Ongoing development
Lia
A care system for Lichen Sclerosus, supporting symptom tracking, treatment routines and medical communication.
Brief / Challenges
Designing care support for a chronic intimate condition.
Lia began with the challenges of living with Lichen Sclerosus, a chronic intimate condition often marked by delayed diagnosis, changing symptoms and long-term treatment. After diagnosis, people are frequently left to manage daily care and reconstruct the evolution of their condition on their own.
The challenge was to support symptom memory, home treatment and communication with specialists without making the illness constantly present or turning awareness into obsessive monitoring.
How might we help people with Lichen Sclerosus track how their condition changes and manage care at home, without letting it take over their daily life?
The Process
From lived experience to a connected care ecosystem.
The process combined desk research, interviews, system design and prototyping. We focused on what happens between medical visits, translating lived experiences into connected touchpoints for symptom tracking, treatment support and medical communication.
01 — Research & Interviews
Understanding life between medical visits.
We reviewed patient testimonies and expert materials, mapped the journey from early symptoms to long-term management and interviewed patients, LISCLEA representatives and clinical experts. The research revealed diagnostic delays, uncertainty around treatment and the difficulty of remembering how the condition changes over time.
02 — Key Insights
Supporting memory without encouraging
hyper-control.
Three central needs emerged: building a clearer memory of symptoms and treatments, making intimate care routines feel more supported and helping people prepare for medical visits. At the same time, the system had to avoid excessive tracking that could increase anxiety or make the condition dominate everyday life.
03 — System Definition
Three touchpoints for three moments of care.
Rather than designing a single device, we developed Lia as a multimodal ecosystem. A wearable records symptoms during the day, a bathroom hub guides the treatment routine through voice and light, and an app organises the collected information into timelines and visit-ready summaries.
04 — Prototyping & Integration
Developing each touchpoint through a different
mode of interaction.
Once the system was defined, we developed each component around a different interaction principle: immediate and tactile for the wearable, guided and ambient for the home hub, and reflective and structured for the app.
Wearable
Making symptom logging immediate and private.
We explored different forms and interactions before developing a screenless wearable that could remain accessible throughout the day. Through simple tactile controls, users can record a symptom and its intensity when it occurs, while light and vibration provide a private confirmation without requiring a phone.
The form and interaction were refined to make each entry quick and intentional, reducing the distance between experiencing a symptom and remembering it later.
Home Hub
Translating the treatment routine into a physical
sequence.
We first mapped the routine step by step and then translated it into a working prototype. The hub combines three product positions, light sensors, LED rings, an LED strip, a speaker and an Arduino Uno Q.
The sensors recognise when a product is picked up and returned, allowing the voice and light guidance to follow the user’s actions. This made it possible to test a screen-free routine in which the system indicates the next step, confirms each action and records when the treatment is completed.
Mobile App
Turning fragmented information into a continuous
care history.
The app was designed as the layer that connects and gives meaning to the information collected by the two physical devices. Its structure was developed around three levels: a calm daily overview with light contextual suggestions, a personal diary for reviewing symptoms, treatments and notes, and a visit-ready summary highlighting relevant changes over time.
Rather than creating a data-heavy dashboard, we focused on making the information readable and useful at different moments: during everyday care, when reflecting on recurring patterns and when preparing for a medical appointment.
The Outcome
A connected system for daily care and long-term awareness.
Lia is a multimodal care system that connects in-the-moment symptom tracking, guided home treatment and visit-ready summaries, helping people with Lichen Sclerosus build continuity between daily care and medical visits without replacing clinical support or letting the condition dominate everyday life.
