TRACTO
UI/UX Case Study · Nitin Raina
Managing health, simplified.
Tracto helps older adults stay active, take the right medicine at the right time, and see a doctor without fighting a phone queue.
Try the prototype ↗ Read the story ↓
Tracto helps older adults stay active, take the right medicine at the right time, and see a doctor without fighting a phone queue.
Try the prototype ↗ Read the story ↓Older adults told me the same story in different words. Walks get skipped. Pills get forgotten. And booking a doctor still means a phone call, a queue, and a waiting room. Most health apps answer this with more features and smaller text.
Tracto is my answer to a simpler question: what if the app did the remembering, and the person only had to live their day?
of adults over 70 are physically inactive
skipped appointments because scheduling took too long
want to manage health with technology, but find today's tools hard to use
don't take medicines the way they were prescribed
"People don't quit health apps because the text is small. They quit because remembering is hard."
That one insight from research drove every decision here. Tracto is designed for memory first. One action per screen. The app keeps track of steps, doses and appointments, and the person only ever confirms.
Contextual inquiry sessions with elderly participants across different levels of tech comfort and income. I watched how they track their health and reach their doctors today, in their homes, on their own phones.
"I want to stay independent. Not learn a computer course."
"I just want to keep up with my grandchildren."
Names changed for privacy.
Independence and family get people moving. Fitness goals and streaks don't.
Arthritis and joint pain mean the app adapts to the person. Never the other way round.
Low tech comfort calls for big targets, high contrast, few steps and visual instructions.
People want their doctor to see their numbers. Today's tools keep them locked away.
Straight from the sessions, in the participants' own words.
"I need an easy way to track my daily activity and see progress towards my goals."
"I need reminders and a record, so I know I've taken my medicines correctly."
"I need to book clinic, video or home visits without phone calls and long waits."
"I need something clear and easy to find my way around, even with my limited experience."
Fitness trackers assume young, able users. Booking platforms ignore daily wellness. The space in between is where Tracto lives.
| Capability | Fitbit | Google Fit | Practo | Tracto |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elderly-first interface | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fitness & activity tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Medication reminders | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Doctor booking — clinic / video / home | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visual, step-by-step guidance | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
What used to take a phone call and a waiting room is now three taps and a glance. The review step exists because people told me they fear committing by accident.
The home screen answers four questions before a single tap: How much did I move? Did I drink enough? Which medicine is next? When is my doctor?
The step ring owns the screen. One goal, one glance, no competing charts.
Water, medicine and appointments each get one card with one fact on it.
Every icon carries a word. Nobody has to guess what a symbol means.
Finding 01 said motivation is personal, not athletic. So the Activity screen celebrates consistency and never mentions records.
Seven bars and one trend. No rankings, no streaks to break, no guilt.
"22 min · gentle pace · felt good." Activity logged in human language.
Chair stretches for joint comfort, matched to ability and shown with pictures.
Half of all patients don't take medicines as prescribed. Tracto treats a dose like a boarding call: unmissable, unambiguous, and logged.
A notification can be swiped away by accident. A full-screen moment can't.
"I took it" is the biggest button in the app. "Remind me later" is quieter, but still large.
"Take 1 tablet with food." No medical shorthand, no abbreviations.
Choose how you want to meet — clinic, video or a home visit. Pick the doctor. Review everything. Then, and only then, confirm.
Step 1 — choose how · Step 3 — review, then confirm
Every screen was checked against three hard rules. They're not aspirations, they're the spec.
Body — 18 pt minimum
Subtitles — 24 pt
Titles — 34 pt
12 pt captions — nothing in the app renders below 18 pt. Ever.
Body text targets AAA. Nothing interactive falls below AA.
Primary buttons are 76 pt tall, and every icon carries a text label.
Task-based sessions with elderly users: book a home visit, log a medicine, check the week's progress. Three of my designs didn't survive contact with real hands.
Symbols alone didn't land. Labels removed every hesitation.
A small checkbox was missed and mistrusted. A dedicated screen made the action obvious.
People feared committing by accident. Reviewing first turned anxiety into confidence.
Every change traces to the same root: fear of doing something wrong. The fix was never more instructions. It was fewer chances to err.
to book a doctor — was a phone queue and a waiting room
every piece of text in the app, nothing renders smaller
of icons carry a text label, in every state
blocking issues found in testing were fixed and re-verified
Bigger fonts weren't the breakthrough. Removing things to remember was. Design for memory first.
Every iteration came from watching, not asking. None of the three failures ever came up in conversation.
Older users don't want a medical instrument. Kind words and forgiving flows kept them coming back.
I'd love to hear what you think — or walk you through the thinking behind any screen.
Open the interactive prototype ↗