oonjung Jang
UX RESEARCH · UX DESIGN · WORKING PROTOTYPE · PRODUCT DESIGN
Companion for Fertility Treatment
My Role
Led product design
Co-led research planning
Team & Duration
3 designers
2 engineers
11 months (2025)
The Problem
Self-injection disrupted patients’ daily routines and made treatment difficult to keep private.
The Question
How might we help fertility patients self-inject comfortably, without disrupting their daily routine or drawing unwanted attention?
Our Answer
We designed Blloom, a portable self-injection system combining one-handed injection support and discreet storage to help treatment fit into daily life.
PROCESS
PROBLEM
Behind the Desire for a Child, a Daily Cycle of Injections
Many people deeply long for a child and endure the physically and emotionally demanding process of infertility treatment. According to the WHO, one in six couples worldwide experiences infertility, and this number continues to rise each year.
Patients may need to self-inject up to three times a day for weeks at a time. Strict schedules, medication storage, and the need for privacy mean that treatment doesn't stay at the clinic. It follows patients into work, travel, and everyday life.
SOLUTION
Blloom: helping people undergoing fertility treatment self-inject safely and easily in everyday life
A palm-sized injector designed for one-handed use, with a discreet form for self-injection on the go.
Compact and portable
·
Easy operation
·
Discreet and private use
·
Reliable medication cooling
…bringing medication storage, preparation, and injection into one portable experience.
Blloom keeps essential injection supplies together and simplifies the self-injection routine, making treatment easier to manage wherever it needs to happen.
| HOW IT WORKS
Disinfect
Clean the injection site with an alcohol swab.
Step 1
Prepare
Take the medication cartridge from the storage compartment and attach the needle to the cartridge.
Step 2
Load
Insert the cartridge into the cartridge holder.
Step 3
Inject
Place Blloom on the injection site to naturally stabilize the skin, then press the button to inject.
Step 4
RESEARCH | Journey map & Stakeholder map
Treatment extended far beyond the clinic
Fragmented care and patient experience gaps
Our user journey mapping revealed cycles of repeated injections, complex cooling logistics, and mounting emotional strain. The stakeholder map exposed fragmented support across clinics, pharmacies, workplaces, and personal networks—showing that no single touchpoint addresses the patient's complete experience.
Current infertility treatment workflows are designed around clinical environments, not the lived contexts where patients actually manage their care. This fundamental mismatch forces patients to choose between treatment adherence and normal life, leading to social withdrawal, routine disruption, and heightened psychological distress.
USER RESEARCH
Hear directly from patients
Patients were adapting their lives around treatment
In-depth interviews with 9 women who have experienced infertility treatment revealed that patients often injected themselves in uncomfortable restroom stalls and felt ashamed carrying large, hospital-branded cooler bags that exposed their treatment. These physical and emotional burdens led many to avoid going out, resulting in isolation and growing depression.
| Interviewees
9
Patients
31-44
Age Range
5-11
Treatment Cycles
| Key users’ voice
PHYSICAL
“
I really don’t want to administer injection myself in public restrooms. It just feels unhygienic and stressful.
P7. Female, 31
PRACTICAL
“
The cooler bag is so bulky. I hate carrying it around. It makes everything feel more uncomfortable.
P3. Female, 35
EMOTIONAL
“
I stopped meeting up with friends. I just stay home all the time because of the treatment.
P1. Female, 44
RESEARCH | In-depth User interview
Experience the context ourselves
Interviews weren't enough, so we reenacted the experience
We reenacted injection scenarios in public spaces (restroom sinks, bus stops, benches), carrying the same bulky cold pack real patients do. It revealed what interviews couldn't: the struggle of two-handed operation, anxiety over being seen, time pressure, and hygiene concerns. One-handed operation wasn't a nice-to-have; it was non-negotiable.
Scenario |
On a restroom sink
Scenario |
Inside a bus
Scenario |
At a bus stop
Scenario |
In a restroom stall
Scenario |
On a public bench
DEFINITION
How might we help fertility patients self-inject comfortably, without disrupting their daily routine or drawing unwanted attention?
Using affinity diagramming, we synthesized findings from various researches. Through three iterative clustering sessions, eight core pain points emerged: repeated injection anxiety, hospital visit fatigue, disposal confusion, persistent uncertainty, social stigma and isolation, daily routine disruption, procedural complexity, and unhygienic environments. This revealed that patient struggles form an interconnected system of barriers—pointing toward an integrated solution rather than piecemeal improvements.
Core requirements
ONE-HANDED
Inject without relying on a clean flat surface
Carry treatment without exposing it to others
Keep medication and injection essentials together
RESEARCH | Iterative Design
We kept bringing the design back to people
We continued testing ideas throughout development—co-creating early forms with multidisciplinary stakeholders, refining the product through prototyping, and returning to patients and clinicians for validation.
CO-CREATE
8 participants
Nurses, engineers, students & faculty
Clay form exploration
SYNTHESIZE
Ideas combined
Exploring forms based on requirements
Early form
Test & Iterate
REFINE
Iterative prototypes
Form
Features
Tactility
→ Product decisions
VALIDATE
Returning patients
Original participants
+ 3 new patients
+ 5 clinicians
→ Final validation
Test & Iterate
Making the injector more comfortable and portable
Comfort against the body
We replaced point contact with a broader surface, considering how the device would feel when held against the abdomen.
Less to carry
The separate cooler occupied 3,027 cm³. We explored how to bring medication cooling into a one-handed device; Blloom and its case together occupy 446 cm³.
DESIGN DECISIONS
CROSS-CUTTING REQUIREMENT
Compact enough to fit into patients' daily lives
PAIN POINTS
Public self-injection
discomfort
Burden of bulky cold-storage bag
Social isolation during infertility treatment
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
- Compact & portable
- Discreet use
- Keep medication refrigerated
- Easy to operate
OUR SOLUTION
Discreet self-injection
Integrated cold storage
One-handedoperation
Compact, all-in-one form
RESULTS
Blloom
We continued testing ideas throughout development—co-creating early forms with multidisciplinary stakeholders, refining the product through prototyping, and returning to patients and clinicians for validation.
VALIDATION
We kept bringing the design back to people
We continued testing ideas throughout development—co-creating early forms with multidisciplinary stakeholders, refining the product through prototyping, and returning to patients and clinicians for validation.
LESSON I LEARNED
Learning to design beyond the injection
Each conversation revealed something we had missed
Blloom involved more direct engagement with users than any of my previous projects. Their unexpected feedback challenged our assumptions and helped us refine details we would otherwise have overlooked. I learned to keep revisiting design decisions as our understanding of users deepened.
Collaboration started with understanding each other’s priorities
Working with engineers for nearly a year taught me to understand the reasoning behind their priorities and communicate my own. Finding common ground meant considering technical constraints alongside the experiences we wanted to create.
Designing for treatment meant understanding life around it.
The experience extended beyond the injection itself. Privacy, discomfort in public, and the emotional burden of treatment shaped how people used the product. I learned to consider how design could help people manage treatment on their own terms.