Raru
•
Raru •
Raru is the first digital platform designed to provide personalized support to oncology patients and their loved ones. It offers a supportive community, access to qualified professionals, and innovative tools to help users navigate their medical journey.
As the lead designer on this side-project, I’ve shaped the brand identity, designed the landing pages, and am currently designing the user experience for the app. Check out the project page to see the work in progress!
Lead designer
Role
January 2025 – ongoing
Time
Overview
Raru is a digital platform in development, designed to support oncology patients and their families. It aims to create a supportive community, connect users with qualified healthcare professionals, and provide tools to simplify medical report interpretation. Our vision is to offer comfort and strength at every step, fostering a positive and empowering environment. Raru also serves healthcare professionals, helping them expand their network and share experiences within a dedicated community of specialists.
As the lead designer on this side-project, I’ve been driving the creation of Raru’s brand identity, designing and developing the landing pages, and crafting the user experience for the app. Additionally, I’m overseeing the development of visuals for social media, collaborating on the editorial plan, and working on email marketing strategies alongside a marketing expert.
Research & discovery
The design of Raru began with a deep dive into understanding the needs, pain points, and goals of our users. I started by defining three personas, each representing our core user groups: patients, caregivers, and professionals. For each persona, I created an empathy map to visualize their emotional and practical needs, followed by a journey map to outline their interactions with the platform.
To ensure Raru delivers meaningful solutions, I developed a value proposition canvas for each persona. This helped us align the platform’s features with the specific needs of our users. These insights were then synthesized into an overall fit solution, which became the foundation for both the app’s functionality and the brand identity.
To complement our user research, I conducted a competitor analysis. While Raru doesn’t have direct competitors, platforms like Unobravo and Serenis provided valuable insights into market gaps and opportunities. This analysis confirmed our unique positioning and helped us refine our strategy.
Throughout this process, I collaborated closely with the co-founders, sharing updates and gathering feedback to ensure alignment and clarity.
This extensive research not only laid the groundwork for the app’s wireframes (currently in progress) but also informed the development of Raru’s brand identity, ensuring a cohesive and user-centered approach from the very beginning.
Brand identity
The brand identity for Raru was designed to reflect trust, empathy, and professionalism, while also breaking away from the somber tone often associated with oncology-related communications. The goal was to create a visual language that feels approachable, modern, and uplifting, yet remains respectful and professional.
Logo design
The logo combines rounded and sharp shapes, symbolizing the balance between approachability and professionalism. This duality reflects Raru’s mission to be both a supportive community and a reliable resource. We derived the little ghosts from the logo, which have become a distinctive visual element of the brand. Each ghost is color-coded to represent one of the three user groups: patients, caregivers, and professionals.
Color palette
The primary color, azure, was chosen for its calming and trustworthy qualities. It serves as the foundation of the palette, while additional colors were assigned to differentiate the three user groups. Patients are represented by a soft lime, caregivers by a supportive mauve, and professionals by a fresh mint. These colors are used consistently across all touchpoints, creating a cohesive and intuitive experience for users.
Typography
For typography, I chose Outfit for headings and Parkinsans for body text, both available as Google Fonts. Outfit’s clean, geometric style brings a modern and bold feel to titles, while Parkinsans’ rounded edges ensure readability and add a friendly, approachable tone to longer texts. Together, they create a balance of professionalism and warmth, reflecting Raru’s mission to be both innovative and empathetic.
Geometric shapes and backgrounds
Another key visual element is the use of geometric shapes, which add depth and dynamism to the design. These shapes are used in various ways, such as backgrounds with a gradient that subtly incorporates one of the brand colors, creating a light and recognizable effect. In the landing pages, the gradient of the shapes is inverted against the background, creating a soft, negative contrast that becomes more noticeable during scrolling.
Landing pages
To validate interest in Raru and gather early sign-ups, we decided to create two distinct landing pages, which I designed and developed: one for patients and caregivers, and another for healthcare professionals. These pages were created to conduct a smoke test and validate the project’s appeal, collect emails to notify users when the MVP is ready, and attract professionals interested in collaborating with Raru.
Design process
The design process began with a deep dive into the research findings, which helped us define the key content and messaging for each audience. I then created wireframes to map out the structure and flow of the pages. Once the wireframes were approved, I developed a style tile and a UI kit—consistent with the platform’s future design—to establish a cohesive visual language. This included typography, colors, buttons, and other UI elements. Using these guidelines, I designed the landing pages, tailoring the content and visuals to resonate with each target audience.
Development
Using Webstudio, a semi-code tool, I brought the designs to life, ensuring the pages were fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices. Given that many of our potential users will access the pages from smartphones, I prioritized a seamless mobile experience, with fast loading times, intuitive navigation, and clear calls-to-action to encourage email sign-ups.
Results
Smoke Test Success: The pages validated the interest in Raru, with a significant number of visitors engaging with the content and exploring the platform’s value proposition.
Email Collection: We’re currently collecting emails from patients, caregivers, and professionals, building a community eager to be notified when the MVP launches.
Professional Engagement: The dedicated page for healthcare professionals is attracting interest, and we’re in the process of connecting with specialists who want to collaborate.
Next Steps
Performance Monitoring: Continuously analyze user behavior and engagement metrics to identify areas for improvement and optimize the pages further.
Email Campaigns: Once the email collection phase is complete, use the list to keep users informed about Raru’s progress and notify them when the MVP is ready.
Collaboration Outreach: Continue engaging with interested professionals to establish partnerships and collaborations for the platform’s development.
Project’s next steps
UX and Design System
Finalize the wireframes, refine the UX design, and establish a comprehensive design system to ensure consistency across the platform. Create interactive prototypes to test the app’s flow and functionality.MVP Development
Build an MVP to collect data, gather user feedback, and start building a community. This will allow us to test basic features and validate the platform’s core functionality.Usability Testing
Conduct usability testing with real users to identify pain points and areas for improvement. Iterate on the design based on their feedback to ensure a seamless and intuitive experience.Content and Marketing
Continue developing engaging social media content and email marketing campaigns to grow the community and keep users informed about Raru’s progress.Core Features Development
Begin the development of the app’s core features, laying the foundation for a fully functional platform that meets the needs of patients, caregivers, and professionals.
