ACMD: Bowel Cancer Screening

Project overview

This project was undertaken as a university collaboration with a real client, the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), focused on improving participation rates in bowel cancer screening in Australia. The work explored a complex, multi-touchpoint service, using research and service design to identify where users drop off and how the experience could be improved to increase engagement.

My role

Initial research was conducted as a team, after which I focused on analysing qualitative data and translating it into actionable outputs. I developed personas and end-to-end user journeys, identifying key friction points and behavioural patterns. I then led the service design work, redefining the journeys to reduce friction and introduce targeted nudges aimed at improving participation rates. The rest of the team focused on the design of individual physical and digital touchpoints.

Research & insight

Alongside secondary research, we conducted interviews to understand where users experienced friction, how they moved through the service, and what influenced their decisions. I analysed the qualitative data and translated it into clear themes, personas, and user journeys, highlighting key pain points and opportunities across the experience.

Service design

I mapped and redesigned the service across touchpoints, addressing key issues including low involvement of medical practitioners, limited distribution options, user procrastination, and low follow-up rates after positive results. The outcome was a more connected service model with clearer pathways and communication flows, designed to support users through the process and reduce drop-off at critical stages.

Storyboarding

To communicate the proposed experience, I created a hand-drawn storyboard illustrating how the redesigned service would work in practice.