2023 SCAD
lighthouse
Duration: 1o Weeks
ROLE: VISUAL DESIGNER / PM
TEAM: Chris cai / Minyan Chen / Kasa Chan / Xun Su
Lighthouse is a service design project focused on public-facing diabetes care scenarios, such as finding diabetes-friendly restaurants, accessing public insulin injection spaces, and receiving blood sugar testing reminders out of home. It aims to provide accessible, everyday solutions for public diabetes care.
The project was developed by a cross-functional team of service, UX, and product designers, combining diverse perspectives to create a solution that is user-centered, socially impactful, and feasible to implement.
Final Deliverable
Lighthouse includes semi-private public spaces for insulin injections, kiosks offering essential diabetes care supplies, and a companion mobile app plugin.
The app helps users locate diabetes-friendly places, access nearby injection spaces, and set personalized medication reminders.
The Problem
In the U.S., nearly one in ten people lives with diabetes, yet public spaces rarely support their daily care needs.
Access to diabetes-friendly services and awareness remains limited in everyday environments.
“Menus have calories and gluten-free labels, but almost nothing for people with diabetes.”
— Female security guard, living with type 2 diabetes
“Sometimes I’d sit in my car or a public restroom to take my insulin injection. I’ve gotten so used to it that I forget how awful the experience actually is.”
— Retired man, living with type 2 diabetes
Feature Journey
Personalized Onboarding: Guides users through app features and helps set up personalized schedules for both medication and insulin injections..
Meal Planning: Recommends diabetes-friendly restaurants, sends timely insulin reminders, and navigates to nearby injection spaces.
Post-Meal Monitoring: Provides dynamic blood glucose testing reminders based on time and location changes.
Public Site Support: Offers semi-private injection spaces in malls, transit hubs, and tourist areas, with kiosks supplying essentials like alcohol wipes, water, and fast-acting glucose.
Take Away
This project went through three rounds of iteration across both UX and physical product modeling. With continuous feedback from people with diabetes, we refined every detail—from copy and visual language to user flow—to ensure the experience is clear, usable, and grounded in real-world contexts.
We designed with users, learning from their routines and pain points to deliver a solution that truly fits into the daily lives of people managing diabetes.