2024-2025
Reia
A mixed-reality rehabilitation system for patients to perform therapeutic exercises at home, and for clinicians to author and manage therapeutic exercises remotely.
AI
UIUX
VRAR
Intro
Where Engineers Saw Code, I Saw Care. Designing a dual experience: a clinician web portal for personalized rehab management, and a patient-facing MR system for home-based stroke recovery.
"This project is deeply personal to me. My grandfather suffered a severe stroke and lived with disability for seven years before he passed away. I witnessed firsthand how difficult and isolating recovery can be — not only for patients, but for their families too."
My role in the project : Bringing the App from the ground up
As the only designer on the team, my mission was bringing the Reia Web-portal and VR App to life from the ground up. My responsibilities included conducting user research with Stanford and UCSF clinicians and their stroke patients, crafting user flows, developing wireframes, prototypes, and collaborating with engineering team to align the design. I also helped with A/B testing and continuously refined the interface based on user feedback to ensure an intuitive and engaging user experience.
What is a stroke?
Stroke remains one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability worldwide, affecting 12.2 millions of individuals each year. However, rehabilitation cost a lot and is not always available.
Rehabilitation is a major part of stroke patient care, aiding recovery and improving overall outcomes for patients’ physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. In particular, home-based stroke rehabilitation (HBSR), which Siemonsma et al. describe as a model where a therapist is physically present during therapy sessions at the patient's home, is argued to enhance treatment effects by leveraging the familiar environment, providing greater meaning to tasks, and improving the generalization of learned skills to patients' everyday settings (petra2014).
However, a home visit from a physical therapist for stroke rehabilitation is usually more expensive than in-clinic therapy because of the therapist's travel time and expenses. In rural and remote areas, therapist home visits are rarely offered.
Initial State
Everything started with code—and a vision.
When I first joined Reia, the team was made up entirely of engineers. The project’s goal was ambitious: to build a home-based physical rehabilitation system for stroke patients using Mixed Reality, along with a clinical dashboard for therapists. But at that stage, there was no clear direction for what both platforms should include.
The only existing feature was a Unity-based Fugl-Meyer Assessment tool. Patients could wear a VR headset, perform upper-body motor tests via body tracking, and view their test scores. But the process stopped there. Results had to be manually uploaded and sent to clinicians. There was no integration, no personalization, and no real system for patient-clinician interaction. That’s when I came in—to help shape the experience from both sides.
Research
The first stage of the design process was researching the problem.
Our team conducted user interviews with 50+ post-stroke patients as well as UCSF and Stanford stroke clinicians.
User Objectives & Insights
User objectives and pain points insights
Next, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of user pain points. I learned about the problem space and identified how the VR app could best support patients in their post stroke rehabilitation period. As well as how the Web-portal could enabling clinicians to expand their impact. Through targeted surveys and in-depth interviews, I distilled the core objectives that would drive a more engaging and supportive user experience.
Patients
"It’s difficult to stay motivated when exercises feel repetitive and progress is hard to see."
"It’s difficult to know if I’m doing a movement correctly without someone watching me."
"It’s difficult to see how these exercises help me get back to doing things I care about, like cooking or getting dressed."
"It’s difficult to get regular appointments—my therapy’s and doctor’s schedule are full and I sometimes wait months."
"It’s difficult to understand what my Fugl-Meyer score means or whether I’m improving."
Battle with keeping up motivation levels
Lack of real-time movement guidance
Disconnection between rehab exercises and daily life goals
Limited access to continuous care
Lack of understanding of clinical progress
An app that offers goal-oriented feedback, achievement tracking, and encouraging messages to keep users motivated.
An app that uses tracks user’s motion to provide immediate, corrective feedback during exercises.
An app that aligns exercises with patients’ personal ADL goals, making every movement meaningful and goal-driven.
An app that provides between-visit support with therapist-authored exercise programs.
An app that visualizes clinical assessments like the Fugl-Meyer in simple, motivating ways to help patients track and celebrate progress.
Clinicans
"It’s difficult to foster engagement and motivation when patients feel isolated and disconnected."
"It’s difficult to have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings."
"It’s difficult to personalize exercises for each patient when I’m managing a high caseload."
"It’s difficult to track patient progress between sessions, especially when they don’t record what they’ve done."
"It’s difficult to assess patients accurately when I’m rely primarily on manual tools and visual observation."
Lack of social connection and peer learning
Limited visibility into at-home performance
Time constraints for individualized care
Incomplete or inconsistent patient logs
Manual Fugl-Meyer assessments are time-consuming and error-prone
An app that enables therapist-led group meetings where patients can share experiences, support each other, and participate in social ADL-based rehab sessions.
An app that provides therapists with visualization of patients’ home environments, enabling more accurate remote assessment.
An app that supports therapist-authored ADL programs, based on each patient’s environment, goals, and impairments.
An app that automatically logs patient performance, summarizes key metrics, and visualizes trends, giving therapists objective data to guide treatment.
An automated motion tracking assistant for scoring. Reducing repeated trials, increasing consistency, and minimizing the burden of tool juggling in low-resource settings.
Persona
User persona
Based on key insights into clinicians’ and patients’ behaviors and needs, I created two personas to better empathize with users with different motivations and to guide our design decisions.
Competitive Analysis
Identify strengths and gaps in the market
To differentiate Reia in the Tele-rehabilitation app market, I conducted a competitive audit of current existing platforms, analyzing key features, user experiences, and engagement strategies. I identified strengths and gaps in the market, gaining insights that informed Reia unique value propositions and guided design decisions throughout development.
How Might We?
Thus, I asked…
💡
How might we build a system to enhance accessibility and affordability for patients, while enabling clinicians to expand their impact.?
Design Goals
Design Goals
💻
Intuitive Interface Design: Develop a clear and guided flow for both patients and therapists, simplifying setup and navigation. Leverage spatial and MR-based design cues to help users intuitively understand exercise instructions and interact with their physical environments.
♿️
Ensure Accessibility: Design an inclusive experience that accommodates a wide range of mobility, cognitive ability, and tech literacy—ensuring equitable access for all stroke patients and therapists.
👩🏻
Personalized ADL Integration: Empower therapists to co-create rehabilitation exercises based on each patient’s unique goals, home environment, and functional deficits—ensuring rehab activities are meaningful and rooted in real daily living.
🎮
Gamify the Experience: Incorporate motivational elements like progress visualization, ADL goal completion badges, and milestone unlocks to enhance engagement and promote consistent participation in rehab routines.
🤝
Foster Group Motivation: Integrate therapist-led group sessions to build social connection, promote peer support, and encourage shared progress among patients.
📈
Visualize Progress: Provide intuitive dashboards that help both patients and therapists monitor recovery trends, celebrate small wins, and adjust plans based on data-driven insights.
🧠
Automate Clinical Insight: Streamline assessments such as the Fugl-Meyer by integrating automated motion tracking and scoring, reducing therapist workload and improving consistency—especially in low-resource clinical settings.
Design System
System design
This system design enables real-time, synchronized interaction between clinicians and patients by connecting a web-based portal with a mixed reality rehabilitation experience on Meta Quest 3, leveraging WebGL, WebRTC, and Unity for seamless communication and spatial visualization.
User Flow
User flow
I focused on visualizing the sequence of actions a user would take to achieve their goals when using the application. This user flow informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
Design System
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
I created over 78+ high-quality wireframes to conduct usability testing before moving on to visual design. This step allowed me to refine the user experience early on, identify potential challenges, and ensure that every screen and interaction met user expectations.
Patient facing MR Interface Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Design System
System Design
Typography and theme colors
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 02 : Progress & History
Patients can view their daily progress, XP earned, and collectible achievement stickers to stay motivated. An estimated recovery timeline helps set clear goals. 💪 The center features an interactive body map showing progress by body part. On the right, a panel displays completed exercises. Selecting one highlights the related body areas.
Function 03 : Therapy Session
When Patients have a scheduled meeting with therapy, they should click on therapy session. This will automatically send a notification to the backend and let our therapy know their patient has join the meeting. While waiting, there will be a short animation page, which is what showing here.
Function 04 : Daily Exercise
After a scheduled meeting with therapy, the therapy will assign daily exercise to their patients. Which is usually 1-5 exercise.
When patients click on Daily exercise. They will be able to do these assigned practices.
Progress
We are currently in the third round of testing for clinician-facing Web-portal design, and second round of testing for patient-facing MR system.
Impact
Feedback from our client — Stanford University Clinician
Julie Muccini
Clinical Research Manager at the Human Performance Lab at Stanford University
🌏 Stanford, California, United States
"In stroke rehabilitation, it's essential to go beyond traditional metrics and understand the nuances of each patient's journey. At the Human Performance Lab, we're focused on integrating technology to bridge the gap between clinical precision and at-home practicality. We want to ensure that therapists have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings. It's about creating a seamless system that supports patients wherever they are, making rehabilitation both effective and accessible."
Learnings
Vision into Action
When I joined Reia, it was just a concept—an idea waiting to be developed into a fully functional Web Portal and VR experience that the Clinicians and patients would actually use. One of the most fascinating aspects for me was running A/B tests on different user interfaces. It was incredible to see how even small changes like how progress is visualized or how rewards are framed could affect user engagement and outcomes.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Working closely with different team members—product managers, researcher, and engineers—taught me the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Each team had its own priorities, insights, and goals, which often led to spirited discussions where we had to align our visions and find a common path forward. The challenge was not just in sharing ideas, but in listening, compromising, and finding solutions that balanced creativity and technical feasibility. It reinforced for me that great products are born not from individual effort, but from a collective passion and dedication to a shared vision. This informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
More Works
(GQ® — 02)
©2024
FAQ
01
What tools and technologies used in the project?
02
What is your inpiration?
03
How does the product stand out from the market? What is the result from compatible research?
04
What do you want to improve in the future?
2024-2025
Reia
Hi, I am Rosa® I’m a passionate and innovative 3D designer with over a decade of experience in the field. My journey began with a fascination.
AI
UIUX
VRAR
Intro
Where Engineers Saw Code, I Saw Care. Designing a dual experience: a clinician web portal for personalized rehab management, and a patient-facing MR system for home-based stroke recovery.
"This project is deeply personal to me. My grandfather suffered a severe stroke and lived with disability for seven years before he passed away. I witnessed firsthand how difficult and isolating recovery can be — not only for patients, but for their families too."
My role in the project : Bringing the App from the ground up
As the only designer on the team, my mission was bringing the Reia Web-portal and VR App to life from the ground up. My responsibilities included conducting user research with Stanford and UCSF clinicians and their stroke patients, crafting user flows, developing wireframes, prototypes, and collaborating with engineering team to align the design. I also helped with A/B testing and continuously refined the interface based on user feedback to ensure an intuitive and engaging user experience.
What is a stroke?
Stroke remains one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability worldwide, affecting 12.2 millions of individuals each year. However, rehabilitation cost a lot and is not always available.
Rehabilitation is a major part of stroke patient care, aiding recovery and improving overall outcomes for patients’ physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. In particular, home-based stroke rehabilitation (HBSR), which Siemonsma et al. describe as a model where a therapist is physically present during therapy sessions at the patient's home, is argued to enhance treatment effects by leveraging the familiar environment, providing greater meaning to tasks, and improving the generalization of learned skills to patients' everyday settings (petra2014).
However, a home visit from a physical therapist for stroke rehabilitation is usually more expensive than in-clinic therapy because of the therapist's travel time and expenses. In rural and remote areas, therapist home visits are rarely offered.
Initial State
Everything started with code—and a vision.
When I first joined Reia, the team was made up entirely of engineers. The project’s goal was ambitious: to build a home-based physical rehabilitation system for stroke patients using Mixed Reality, along with a clinical dashboard for therapists. But at that stage, there was no clear direction for what both platforms should include.
The only existing feature was a Unity-based Fugl-Meyer Assessment tool. Patients could wear a VR headset, perform upper-body motor tests via body tracking, and view their test scores. But the process stopped there. Results had to be manually uploaded and sent to clinicians. There was no integration, no personalization, and no real system for patient-clinician interaction. That’s when I came in—to help shape the experience from both sides.
Research
The first stage of the design process was researching the problem.
Our team conducted user interviews with 50+ post-stroke patients as well as UCSF and Stanford stroke clinicians.
User Objectives & Insights
User objectives and pain points insights
Next, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of user pain points. I learned about the problem space and identified how the VR app could best support patients in their post stroke rehabilitation period. As well as how the Web-portal could enabling clinicians to expand their impact. Through targeted surveys and in-depth interviews, I distilled the core objectives that would drive a more engaging and supportive user experience.
Patients
"It’s difficult to stay motivated when exercises feel repetitive and progress is hard to see."
"It’s difficult to know if I’m doing a movement correctly without someone watching me."
"It’s difficult to see how these exercises help me get back to doing things I care about, like cooking or getting dressed."
"It’s difficult to get regular appointments—my therapy’s and doctor’s schedule are full and I sometimes wait months."
"It’s difficult to understand what my Fugl-Meyer score means or whether I’m improving."
Battle with keeping up motivation levels
Lack of real-time movement guidance
Disconnection between rehab exercises and daily life goals
Limited access to continuous care
Lack of understanding of clinical progress
An app that offers goal-oriented feedback, achievement tracking, and encouraging messages to keep users motivated.
An app that uses tracks user’s motion to provide immediate, corrective feedback during exercises.
An app that aligns exercises with patients’ personal ADL goals, making every movement meaningful and goal-driven.
An app that provides between-visit support with therapist-authored exercise programs.
An app that visualizes clinical assessments like the Fugl-Meyer in simple, motivating ways to help patients track and celebrate progress.
Clinicans
"It’s difficult to foster engagement and motivation when patients feel isolated and disconnected."
"It’s difficult to have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings."
"It’s difficult to personalize exercises for each patient when I’m managing a high caseload."
"It’s difficult to track patient progress between sessions, especially when they don’t record what they’ve done."
"It’s difficult to assess patients accurately when I’m rely primarily on manual tools and visual observation."
Lack of social connection and peer learning
Limited visibility into at-home performance
Time constraints for individualized care
Incomplete or inconsistent patient logs
Manual Fugl-Meyer assessments are time-consuming and error-prone
An app that enables therapist-led group meetings where patients can share experiences, support each other, and participate in social ADL-based rehab sessions.
An app that provides therapists with visualization of patients’ home environments, enabling more accurate remote assessment.
An app that supports therapist-authored ADL programs, based on each patient’s environment, goals, and impairments.
An app that automatically logs patient performance, summarizes key metrics, and visualizes trends, giving therapists objective data to guide treatment.
An automated motion tracking assistant for scoring. Reducing repeated trials, increasing consistency, and minimizing the burden of tool juggling in low-resource settings.
Persona
User persona
Based on key insights into clinicians’ and patients’ behaviors and needs, I created two personas to better empathize with users with different motivations and to guide our design decisions.
Competitive Analysis
Identify strengths and gaps in the market
To differentiate Reia in the Tele-rehabilitation app market, I conducted a competitive audit of current existing platforms, analyzing key features, user experiences, and engagement strategies. I identified strengths and gaps in the market, gaining insights that informed Reia unique value propositions and guided design decisions throughout development.
How Might We?
Thus, I asked…
💡
How might we build a system to enhance accessibility and affordability for patients, while enabling clinicians to expand their impact.?
Design Goals
Design Goals
💻
Intuitive Interface Design: Develop a clear and guided flow for both patients and therapists, simplifying setup and navigation. Leverage spatial and MR-based design cues to help users intuitively understand exercise instructions and interact with their physical environments.
♿️
Ensure Accessibility: Design an inclusive experience that accommodates a wide range of mobility, cognitive ability, and tech literacy—ensuring equitable access for all stroke patients and therapists.
👩🏻
Personalized ADL Integration: Empower therapists to co-create rehabilitation exercises based on each patient’s unique goals, home environment, and functional deficits—ensuring rehab activities are meaningful and rooted in real daily living.
🎮
Gamify the Experience: Incorporate motivational elements like progress visualization, ADL goal completion badges, and milestone unlocks to enhance engagement and promote consistent participation in rehab routines.
🤝
Foster Group Motivation: Integrate therapist-led group sessions to build social connection, promote peer support, and encourage shared progress among patients.
📈
Visualize Progress: Provide intuitive dashboards that help both patients and therapists monitor recovery trends, celebrate small wins, and adjust plans based on data-driven insights.
🧠
Automate Clinical Insight: Streamline assessments such as the Fugl-Meyer by integrating automated motion tracking and scoring, reducing therapist workload and improving consistency—especially in low-resource clinical settings.
Design System
System design
This system design enables real-time, synchronized interaction between clinicians and patients by connecting a web-based portal with a mixed reality rehabilitation experience on Meta Quest 3, leveraging WebGL, WebRTC, and Unity for seamless communication and spatial visualization.
User Flow
User flow
I focused on visualizing the sequence of actions a user would take to achieve their goals when using the application. This user flow informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
Design System
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
I created over 78+ high-quality wireframes to conduct usability testing before moving on to visual design. This step allowed me to refine the user experience early on, identify potential challenges, and ensure that every screen and interaction met user expectations.
Patient facing MR Interface Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Design System
System Design
Typography and theme colors
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 02 : Progress & History
Patients can view their daily progress, XP earned, and collectible achievement stickers to stay motivated. An estimated recovery timeline helps set clear goals. 💪 The center features an interactive body map showing progress by body part. On the right, a panel displays completed exercises. Selecting one highlights the related body areas.
Function 03 : Therapy Session
When Patients have a scheduled meeting with therapy, they should click on therapy session. This will automatically send a notification to the backend and let our therapy know their patient has join the meeting. While waiting, there will be a short animation page, which is what showing here.
Function 04 : Daily Exercise
After a scheduled meeting with therapy, the therapy will assign daily exercise to their patients. Which is usually 1-5 exercise.
When patients click on Daily exercise. They will be able to do these assigned practices.
Progress
We are currently in the third round of testing for clinician-facing Web-portal design, and second round of testing for patient-facing MR system.
Impact
Feedback from our client — Stanford University Clinician
Julie Muccini
Clinical Research Manager at the Human Performance Lab at Stanford University
🌏 Stanford, California, United States
"In stroke rehabilitation, it's essential to go beyond traditional metrics and understand the nuances of each patient's journey. At the Human Performance Lab, we're focused on integrating technology to bridge the gap between clinical precision and at-home practicality. We want to ensure that therapists have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings. It's about creating a seamless system that supports patients wherever they are, making rehabilitation both effective and accessible."
Learnings
Vision into Action
When I joined Reia, it was just a concept—an idea waiting to be developed into a fully functional Web Portal and VR experience that the Clinicians and patients would actually use. One of the most fascinating aspects for me was running A/B tests on different user interfaces. It was incredible to see how even small changes like how progress is visualized or how rewards are framed could affect user engagement and outcomes.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Working closely with different team members—product managers, researcher, and engineers—taught me the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Each team had its own priorities, insights, and goals, which often led to spirited discussions where we had to align our visions and find a common path forward. The challenge was not just in sharing ideas, but in listening, compromising, and finding solutions that balanced creativity and technical feasibility. It reinforced for me that great products are born not from individual effort, but from a collective passion and dedication to a shared vision. This informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
More Works
©2024
FAQ
What tools and technologies used in the project?
What is your inpiration?
How does the product stand out from the market? What is the result from compatible research?
What do you want to improve in the future?
2024-2025
Reia
Hi, I am Quinn® I’m a passionate and innovative 3D designer with over a decade of experience in the field. My journey began with a fascination.
AI
UIUX
VRAR
Intro
Where Engineers Saw Code, I Saw Care. Designing a dual experience: a clinician web portal for personalized rehab management, and a patient-facing MR system for home-based stroke recovery.
"This project is deeply personal to me. My grandfather suffered a severe stroke and lived with disability for seven years before he passed away. I witnessed firsthand how difficult and isolating recovery can be — not only for patients, but for their families too."
My role in the project : Bringing the App from the ground up
As the only designer on the team, my mission was bringing the Reia Web-portal and VR App to life from the ground up. My responsibilities included conducting user research with Stanford and UCSF clinicians and their stroke patients, crafting user flows, developing wireframes, prototypes, and collaborating with engineering team to align the design. I also helped with A/B testing and continuously refined the interface based on user feedback to ensure an intuitive and engaging user experience.
What is a stroke?
Stroke remains one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability worldwide, affecting 12.2 millions of individuals each year. However, rehabilitation cost a lot and is not always available.
Rehabilitation is a major part of stroke patient care, aiding recovery and improving overall outcomes for patients’ physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. In particular, home-based stroke rehabilitation (HBSR), which Siemonsma et al. describe as a model where a therapist is physically present during therapy sessions at the patient's home, is argued to enhance treatment effects by leveraging the familiar environment, providing greater meaning to tasks, and improving the generalization of learned skills to patients' everyday settings (petra2014).
However, a home visit from a physical therapist for stroke rehabilitation is usually more expensive than in-clinic therapy because of the therapist's travel time and expenses. In rural and remote areas, therapist home visits are rarely offered.
Initial State
Everything started with code—and a vision.
When I first joined Reia, the team was made up entirely of engineers. The project’s goal was ambitious: to build a home-based physical rehabilitation system for stroke patients using Mixed Reality, along with a clinical dashboard for therapists. But at that stage, there was no clear direction for what both platforms should include.
The only existing feature was a Unity-based Fugl-Meyer Assessment tool. Patients could wear a VR headset, perform upper-body motor tests via body tracking, and view their test scores. But the process stopped there. Results had to be manually uploaded and sent to clinicians. There was no integration, no personalization, and no real system for patient-clinician interaction. That’s when I came in—to help shape the experience from both sides.
Research
The first stage of the design process was researching the problem.
Our team conducted user interviews with 50+ post-stroke patients as well as UCSF and Stanford stroke clinicians.
User Objectives & Insights
User objectives and pain points insights
Next, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of user pain points. I learned about the problem space and identified how the VR app could best support patients in their post stroke rehabilitation period. As well as how the Web-portal could enabling clinicians to expand their impact. Through targeted surveys and in-depth interviews, I distilled the core objectives that would drive a more engaging and supportive user experience.
Patients
"It’s difficult to stay motivated when exercises feel repetitive and progress is hard to see."
"It’s difficult to know if I’m doing a movement correctly without someone watching me."
"It’s difficult to see how these exercises help me get back to doing things I care about, like cooking or getting dressed."
"It’s difficult to get regular appointments—my therapy’s and doctor’s schedule are full and I sometimes wait months."
"It’s difficult to understand what my Fugl-Meyer score means or whether I’m improving."
Battle with keeping up motivation levels
Lack of real-time movement guidance
Disconnection between rehab exercises and daily life goals
Limited access to continuous care
Lack of understanding of clinical progress
An app that offers goal-oriented feedback, achievement tracking, and encouraging messages to keep users motivated.
An app that uses tracks user’s motion to provide immediate, corrective feedback during exercises.
An app that aligns exercises with patients’ personal ADL goals, making every movement meaningful and goal-driven.
An app that provides between-visit support with therapist-authored exercise programs.
An app that visualizes clinical assessments like the Fugl-Meyer in simple, motivating ways to help patients track and celebrate progress.
Clinicans
"It’s difficult to foster engagement and motivation when patients feel isolated and disconnected."
"It’s difficult to have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings."
"It’s difficult to personalize exercises for each patient when I’m managing a high caseload."
"It’s difficult to track patient progress between sessions, especially when they don’t record what they’ve done."
"It’s difficult to assess patients accurately when I’m rely primarily on manual tools and visual observation."
Lack of social connection and peer learning
Limited visibility into at-home performance
Time constraints for individualized care
Incomplete or inconsistent patient logs
Manual Fugl-Meyer assessments are time-consuming and error-prone
An app that enables therapist-led group meetings where patients can share experiences, support each other, and participate in social ADL-based rehab sessions.
An app that provides therapists with visualization of patients’ home environments, enabling more accurate remote assessment.
An app that supports therapist-authored ADL programs, based on each patient’s environment, goals, and impairments.
An app that automatically logs patient performance, summarizes key metrics, and visualizes trends, giving therapists objective data to guide treatment.
An automated motion tracking assistant for scoring. Reducing repeated trials, increasing consistency, and minimizing the burden of tool juggling in low-resource settings.
Persona
User persona
Based on key insights into clinicians’ and patients’ behaviors and needs, I created two personas to better empathize with users with different motivations and to guide our design decisions.
Competitive Analysis
Identify strengths and gaps in the market
To differentiate Reia in the Tele-rehabilitation app market, I conducted a competitive audit of current existing platforms, analyzing key features, user experiences, and engagement strategies. I identified strengths and gaps in the market, gaining insights that informed Reia unique value propositions and guided design decisions throughout development.
How Might We?
Thus, I asked…
💡
How might we build a system to enhance accessibility and affordability for patients, while enabling clinicians to expand their impact.?
Design Goals
Design Goals
💻
Intuitive Interface Design: Develop a clear and guided flow for both patients and therapists, simplifying setup and navigation. Leverage spatial and MR-based design cues to help users intuitively understand exercise instructions and interact with their physical environments.
♿️
Ensure Accessibility: Design an inclusive experience that accommodates a wide range of mobility, cognitive ability, and tech literacy—ensuring equitable access for all stroke patients and therapists.
👩🏻
Personalized ADL Integration: Empower therapists to co-create rehabilitation exercises based on each patient’s unique goals, home environment, and functional deficits—ensuring rehab activities are meaningful and rooted in real daily living.
🎮
Gamify the Experience: Incorporate motivational elements like progress visualization, ADL goal completion badges, and milestone unlocks to enhance engagement and promote consistent participation in rehab routines.
🤝
Foster Group Motivation: Integrate therapist-led group sessions to build social connection, promote peer support, and encourage shared progress among patients.
📈
Visualize Progress: Provide intuitive dashboards that help both patients and therapists monitor recovery trends, celebrate small wins, and adjust plans based on data-driven insights.
🧠
Automate Clinical Insight: Streamline assessments such as the Fugl-Meyer by integrating automated motion tracking and scoring, reducing therapist workload and improving consistency—especially in low-resource clinical settings.
Design System
System design
This system design enables real-time, synchronized interaction between clinicians and patients by connecting a web-based portal with a mixed reality rehabilitation experience on Meta Quest 3, leveraging WebGL, WebRTC, and Unity for seamless communication and spatial visualization.
User Flow
User flow
I focused on visualizing the sequence of actions a user would take to achieve their goals when using the application. This user flow informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
Design System
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
I created over 78+ high-quality wireframes to conduct usability testing before moving on to visual design. This step allowed me to refine the user experience early on, identify potential challenges, and ensure that every screen and interaction met user expectations.
Patient facing MR Interface Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Design System
System Design
Typography and theme colors
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Final Product
Function 01 : Fugl Meyer Test
When Patients click on Motor Function Test. They start to do a series of body movement following instruction, and with body tracking in VR, we analysis patients initial stroke affects, later on recovery conditions, and providing the data for therapist.
The Test will be separate into 4 modules, each module contains 3-5 tests. The avatar will explain what to do. In front of patients, is a mirror, which helps the patients to understand what they are doing. On the left side is a video instruction, which we provide the accurate body movement they need to follow. And on the right side, there is choose for go to the next test(skip current one), go back to the last test, and redo current test.
Function 02 : Progress & History
Patients can view their daily progress, XP earned, and collectible achievement stickers to stay motivated. An estimated recovery timeline helps set clear goals. 💪 The center features an interactive body map showing progress by body part. On the right, a panel displays completed exercises. Selecting one highlights the related body areas.
Function 03 : Therapy Session
When Patients have a scheduled meeting with therapy, they should click on therapy session. This will automatically send a notification to the backend and let our therapy know their patient has join the meeting. While waiting, there will be a short animation page, which is what showing here.
Function 04 : Daily Exercise
After a scheduled meeting with therapy, the therapy will assign daily exercise to their patients. Which is usually 1-5 exercise.
When patients click on Daily exercise. They will be able to do these assigned practices.
Progress
We are currently in the third round of testing for clinician-facing Web-portal design, and second round of testing for patient-facing MR system.
Impact
Feedback from our client — Stanford University Clinician
Julie Muccini
Clinical Research Manager at the Human Performance Lab at Stanford University
🌏 Stanford, California, United States
"In stroke rehabilitation, it's essential to go beyond traditional metrics and understand the nuances of each patient's journey. At the Human Performance Lab, we're focused on integrating technology to bridge the gap between clinical precision and at-home practicality. We want to ensure that therapists have real-time insights into how patients perform exercises in their own environments, not just in controlled settings. It's about creating a seamless system that supports patients wherever they are, making rehabilitation both effective and accessible."
Learnings
Vision into Action
When I joined Reia, it was just a concept—an idea waiting to be developed into a fully functional Web Portal and VR experience that the Clinicians and patients would actually use. One of the most fascinating aspects for me was running A/B tests on different user interfaces. It was incredible to see how even small changes like how progress is visualized or how rewards are framed could affect user engagement and outcomes.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Working closely with different team members—product managers, researcher, and engineers—taught me the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Each team had its own priorities, insights, and goals, which often led to spirited discussions where we had to align our visions and find a common path forward. The challenge was not just in sharing ideas, but in listening, compromising, and finding solutions that balanced creativity and technical feasibility. It reinforced for me that great products are born not from individual effort, but from a collective passion and dedication to a shared vision. This informed a foundation for the app's design, guiding decisions throughout the process.
More Works
(GQ® — 02)
©2024
FAQ
01
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02
What is your inpiration?
03
How does the product stand out from the market? What is the result from compatible research?
04
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