“My ALZ Journey” App
Alzheimer’s Association
Opportunity: Public health research shows that individuals & their loved ones lack significant support and guidance upon receiving a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other MCI. The Alzheimer’s Association has a wealth of knowledge and resources, however they only reach 1% of the 7 million people diagnosed and 11 million caregivers. Understanding their website is vast and difficult for their core audience to navigate, Alzheimer’s Association wanted to create an app to provide a roadmap for users and connect them to Alzheimer’s Association’s resources and community groups.
Project Impact: In the year since “My ALZ Journey” was launched, it has a total of 43,128 unique downloads. User research and early adopter feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. A user survey showed that 90 percent stated they would recommend the app, and 88 percent found the content helpful.
Award Winning:
W3: 2025 Silver Winner, Mobile Features, Best User Experience
Anthem Awards: 2025 Silver Winner, Health Education and Literacy Platform
Anthem Awards: 2025 Bronze Winner, Digital & Innovative Experiences
“My ALZ Journey” is a mobile app co-created with and for people newly diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s, dementia, or MCI and for their care partners. The easy-to-use, stigma-free app leverages the Alzheimer’s Association’s deep knowledge base to curate relevant topical content, planning tools, creative activities, and local community resources according to user type (person living with dementia or care partner), location, and age at diagnosis. “My ALZ Journey” app provides a roadmap that begins with understanding and accepting their diagnosis/the diagnosis of their loved one, to living well with a diagnosis, to connecting users with their community, to planning for the future.
My Role: UX Strategy Lead, UX Research Lead, Project Management Lead
Team: Chelsey Delaney (Co-Founder, Content & Design Lead), Gillian Neer (Co-Founder, Product Management Lead), Eliana Teran (UX Designer), Alzheimer’s Association (Client)
project highlights
A “Soft Landing” & Community
One of the primary goals of the “My ALZ Journey” app was to expand the Alzheimer’s Association’s reach beyond the 1% of diagnosed individuals currently engaging with its support services, community groups, and medical resources. Unlike their website (ALZ.org) where the user journeys are broad and not tailored to diagnosed users, the app provides a personalized “soft landing” that reduces confusion and isolation that patients and their care partners report experiencing post-diagnosis. Through guided, relevant content and connections to local Alzheimer’s communities, the app creates a more supportive experience while strengthening users’ ongoing relationship with the Alzheimer’s Association and its broader ecosystem of resources.
User Research & Vulnerable Communities
Public health research indicates that people who are newly diagnosed and their care partners aren’t finding ample support post-diagnosis. The app and its design were co-created, tested and validated with early-stage, newly diagnosed people and care partners. During prototyping, I conducted user interviews and prototype testing with a group of people living with dementia (PLWDs ) and with a group of care partners of PLWDs in order to understand what support each group most needed and wanted. Then during beta-testing, I conducted a multi-method research test with PLWDs and care partners, which included a diary study, usability testing, surveys, and app analytics to identify any obstacles and iterations we could address prior to release.
App IA & User Journeys
The “My ALZ Journey” app organizes relevant ALZ.org content into an intuitive, user-friendly and accessible interface. There’s a ‘Home’ screen that guides users through a curated path of content, resources, and activities, a ‘Library’ that features educational content by topic, a ‘Community’ section that connects users to their local ALZ chapter, events, and support groups, and an ‘Activity Center’ that offers interactive activities. Since one of the core user groups is people living with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other MCI, we ensured that the app UI was large and high contrast for users with limited dexterity and vision. Additionally, we focused on providing clear, one-way user journeys and implementing strong visual cues to support user navigation and eliminate the user’s need to remember or recall.
Content Strategy & Customization
My ALZ Journey includes two core experiences, one for people who have been diagnosed with dementia (PLWDs) and one for care partners. During onboarding into the app, the user answers questions that curate app content, resources, and tools according to their user type, their location, and the age at the time of diagnosis. For example, the app adjusts the content journey, including how the content is written, based on the user type (e.g., ‘Maximizing Your Independence’ vs ‘Maximizing Independence’) or whether or not the dementia was early-onset. Additionally, the app gently transitions care partner users to ALZ.org for support as the disease progresses to the middle stage. This is further supported by a push notification system that encourages users to interact with the ALZ community and to re-evaluate the level of support needed.
