DISCOVER PROJECT
Kito Health
Kito Symptom Checker
Accessible, reliable medical guidance for underserved communities
November 2022 (MVP validated & near-launch)
— In regions where healthcare is distant, costly, or unreliable, even small symptoms can create big uncertainty. As Product Design Lead at Kito Health, I guided the creation of a free triage app that helps Kenyan parents make safer decisions about their children’s health. Over three years, I led research, UX strategy, design, brand identity, and discovery processes—transforming clinical knowledge into a simple and trustworthy mobile experience designed for families in underserved communities.
SERVICES
Product Design Lead, UX/UI, Research, User Testing, Branding, Design Strategy
Project Overview
Create a safe, reliable, and easy-to-use triage tool that: - Supports parents in low-income communities - Translates medical expertise into clear guidance - Works in areas with limited connectivity - Builds trust through a culturally aligned brand - Enables early detection, home care, or emergency escalation
The project aimed to deliver a free, mobile triage solution tailored to the realities of Kenyan parents, combining medical accuracy, cultural relevance, and highly accessible UX.
Kito Health was born to address the difficulty Kenyan families face in accessing healthcare—due to cost, distance, and long waiting times. My role was to define the product vision and transform it into an intuitive app experience, aligning doctors, engineers, marketing, and a Kenyan brand agency. Through research, field visits, and iterative testing, we shaped an MVP that guides parents step-by-step: choosing symptoms, answering simple questions, and receiving certified advice based on the Manchester Triage System.
Approach
Parents using the prototype during user testing in Kenya
We adopted a research-driven, culturally sensitive approach centered on understanding how Kenyan families make health decisions. This meant combining desk research, remote studies, and—once possible—on-the-ground immersion in Nairobi. Throughout the process, we worked closely with medical experts unfamiliar with UX and translated their clinical knowledge into simple guidance flows suitable for low-literacy and high-stress situations.
Our approach followed the Double Diamond: - Discover: surveys, interviews, competitive analysis, and remote focus groups - Define: persona creation, empathy mapping, user journeys - Develop: wireframes, user flows, MoSCoW scoping, mid-fidelity prototypes - Deliver: remote usability tests in Kibera, UI design, design system, and brand identity The combination of research, clinical collaboration, and iterative validation ensured medical reliability while keeping the product accessible and intuitive.
Process
Our process combined design thinking, lean UX, and real-world validation to build a triage tool grounded in genuine user needs and medical accuracy.
We began with extensive discovery due to the lack of local digital-health data. After gathering insights, we defined our primary persona (Aminah) and mapped the 5E’s user journey. We then moved into co-creation with the medical team—aligning on the triage logic, symptoms, and question flows. Wireframes and mid-fidelity prototypes helped us refine the experience quickly before conducting user tests with families in Kibera. Finally, we built the brand identity, design system, and high-fidelity UI, ensuring a reliable, warm, and trustworthy product.
A clear, culturally grounded, and reassuring experience built through simple language, fast guided interactions, and a warm, trustworthy identity for moments of stress.
Final Design
The final design delivers a warm, accessible triage experience where parents can quickly understand symptoms, receive clear next steps, and feel supported by a trustworthy health companion.
The app guides parents in three simple steps: select symptoms, answer straightforward questions, and receive color-coded triage outcomes—Stay at Home, Monitor, Attention, or Emergency. The interface is clean and human-centered, built with a scalable design system and enriched by a brand identity inspired by Kiswahili culture. The Kito logo—combining a stethoscope and a winking eye—reinforces warmth, trust, and care. From tone of voice to UI patterns, every detail was crafted to reduce anxiety and support safer healthcare decisions.
Product Images
“Designing Kito Health meant turning medical complexity into clear, trusted guidance for underserved communities. The result was a culturally sensitive product with real potential to improve healthcare decisions for Kenyan families.” — Fabio Divac
Achievements
“Fabio played a fundamental role in shaping Kito Health from an idea into a validated, culturally aligned product. His leadership in research, design, and strategy allowed us to create a tool that meets the real needs of Kenyan families.”
– Marcus Harbord, Medical Lead at Kito Health
Kito Health achieved a validated MVP, strong early feedback, a complete design system, a culturally aligned brand identity, and clear evidence of positive impact among early adopters in Kenya.
The product successfully passed user testing in Kibera, confirming usability, clarity, and trustworthiness. The brand identity strengthened credibility, while the triage model improved parents' confidence in handling symptoms. The roadmap, strategy, and cross-team collaboration frameworks I established helped the team continue development post-handover with solid foundations.
