Design Design Design, Let's Begin The Design

So there's Design Block like Writer's block?

I assume there is because I sat down this morning to begin designing and at first I just stared. I know all about design. How to format a screenshot, when to incorporate aesthetics, what my tools are to accomplish these task; but I never did this from scratch. The past couple of weeks my job has been to critique the work of others. I have thought many many times "good job, just change this," but I have never began with a blank slate. That is never, until today! 

I just couldn't think of anything at first!

So I Decided To Be Systematic 

Whenever I am stuck: I stop, I plan, I outline and then I start again. After 40 minutes of holding my pen to a white sheet of paper (this paper remained white and pristine for the entirety of the 40 minutes), this method finally gave me progress. I looked over the final report card that we want the app to produce and broke down the information it contains into different categories. Once I had distinct categories, I was able to sketch out a potential Home-Screen. With a home screen done, I could make another screen, and another, etc, etc, etc, There are still some challenges in front of me. What are the right questions to ask (I don't want to be asking too many)? How can I make it obvious which information we want a patient to fill out without forcing them through to rigid a process? How can we design a platform that gets the information we require, while allowing a patient to add their own symptoms and concerns?

As I begin today drafting a second version of designs, I am sure these questions will find a way to work themselves out! I will be scanning in the different versions of designs to keep track of progress and the evolution of ideas and I am sure the progression that takes shape will be very interesting.

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