GLUKI

I am your Type 1 Diabetes Advocate: I Stand for Glucose Key Indicator

Meet the Team

Team Members (From left to right): Andrew Rich, Noah Hensley, Brandon Nguyen, Vienna Dinh, Mikaela Reyes, Devin Xia

Sponsor (Center): Staci DePatie

Background

Children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes face a steep learning curve in understanding how to manage their condition. Balancing insulin, food, and blood sugar levels can be overwhelming. At the same time, parents and teachers often feel unprepared to support them. GLUKI was created to bridge this gap by turning essential diabetes education into an engaging and supportive experience for everyone involved.

Method

Our team integrated agile/iterative methodologies
- Utilized different exercises to generate new ideas to design the game and its mechanics, e.g. Crazy 8s
- The game is catered towards a younger audience
  - Emphasis on positive reinforcement using coins
  - Less text
  - Interactive design with a straightforward game mechanic

Development Process

Communication with Staci

Our group, luckily, had a sponsor that was very involved and readily available to provide any guidance. In fact, our sponsor, Staci, was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic herself, which assisted with the design and ethics throughout the project process. Meetings with Staci were fairly easy from the get-go, as we established communication through a Discord server. In addition, we had weekly meetings on Zoom with our Sponsor where we were able to showcase any design and development iterations and receive instant feedback.

Documentation

Persona 1: child

Persona 2: child

Persona 2: Parents

Persona 2: teacher

We created 4 personas to guide our design process, each representing different backgrounds, experiences, and challenges in managing Type 1 Diabetes. This was important because our project is geared towards teaching people how to manage the condition effectively, so understanding the day-to-day realities of those living with it helped us create more empathetic, relevant, and impactful solutions.

Empathy Map: Children with Type 1 Diabetes

This empathy map captures the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of children living with Type 1 Diabetes to help us better understand their daily challenges and emotional landscape. By exploring what they see, hear, say, do, think, and feel, we gained deeper insight into their frustrations—such as the burden of constant monitoring and social stigma—as well as their motivations, like staying healthy to participate in normal childhood activities.

Empathy map: Parents of Children with T1D

This empathy map explores the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors of parents caring for children with Type 1 Diabetes. By analyzing what they see, hear, say, do, think, and feel, we uncovered the emotional and logistical complexities they face—such as the constant anxiety around blood sugar levels, managing treatment routines, and concerns about their child’s future independence. At the same time, we recognized their deep motivation to protect, educate, and empower their children. These insights allowed us to design more supportive and informative tools.

Website Design Process

As a group, we were tasked with redesigning the website for the app GLUKI to make it more visually appealing, easier to navigate, and more informative. Our goal was to better showcase the app’s features and mission, helping users quickly understand how GLUKI supports the management of Type 1 Diabetes.

Initial Version of the Home/Landing Page

Final Version of the Home/Landing Page

Sugar Coaster Design Process

To ideate different game mechanisms that would best engage our target audience, we used the Crazy 8's method. Through this rapid sketching activity, we discovered that a punching mechanism—activated through a simple tap—would make gameplay more accessible and enjoyable, especially for children who are still developing reading skills. This gesture-based interaction allowed for intuitive play while reinforcing learning objectives. We also leaned toward a design that emphasized positive reinforcement, so that children feel encouraged and motivated rather than punished, creating a safe, supportive environment for learning how to manage Type 1 Diabetes.

Sugar Coaster Design Iterations

Sugar Coaster User Flow Mechanics

Evaluation

Peer User Testing

Our user testing for the Sugar Coaster game consisted of in-class testing and some internal testing using user flows.

App

Game instructions unclear; keep short and simple
A good level in the blood sugar meter is needed visually
A dashed line at the top indicates the blood sugar meter
Steep drops
Make tutorials slower towards the start so users can process information
Speed is too fast; it’s hard for users to learn the mechanics and make decisions about which items on the track should be consumed
Pause button + exit button during the game
Settings: sound (possibly),

Website