Orthopy is a DiGA, a certified digital health application (Medizinprodukt Klasse I) prescribed by doctors and reimbursed by health insurance providers in Germany. Until this project, Orthopy supported patients with knee injuries only. The opportunity was significant: extending the app to a second patient group, shoulder injuries, which meant designing for a fundamentally different anatomy, different surgical pathways, and a different set of movement restrictions.

The challenge concentrated in the onboarding. To support each patient with the right therapy content and training videos, the app needed to capture a precise picture of their medical situation upfront. Diagnosis, surgical status, orthotic devices, individual movement limits, load capacity. All without overwhelming patients who often start the app in pain, stress, and uncertainty about their own condition.

My contribution in this project was primarily conceptual. The visual design system was already in place, and I worked within the given design language, focusing on flow logic, branching decisions, and how patients move through the app. My conceptual work covered multiple areas and features such as the full shoulder onboarding as the main focus, gamification of training progress, the WORCI questionnaire and health score, and smaller features like the biometric login.

The shoulder onboarding became the core of this project. I designed it end to end, from the conceptual flow logic to the final screens to a clickable prototype used for testing. The flow had to capture a complex medical picture in a sequence that patients could actually complete. Diagnosis selection (rotator cuff injury or impingement), affected side, surgical status with timing, current use of an abduction pillow or orthosis, specific movement restrictions in flexion and internal and external rotation, and load capacity. Each answer branched the path, and each combination led to a different personalized training concept across multiple rehabilitation phases.

A central design challenge was reducing cognitive load in a context where most patients are not medical experts. Every question needed clear medical language alongside accessible cues, plus a fallback to consult their doctor or physiotherapist when uncertain. The final flow handled eight distinct case paths and produced fully personalized training content from a single onboarding session.

Adherence is the central challenge in digital therapy. Patients who do not train consistently do not get better. I worked on the conceptual foundation for visualizing progress and rewarding consistent training, drawing on behavioral design and gamification principles to support sustained training across the recovery journey. The patterns had to work for the rhythm of rehabilitation, where progress is slow and deeply personal.

This part of the project also gave me more room to work visually. I designed the illustrations for the awards system, balancing warmth and reward with the visual restraint the established design language required.