Blair Su
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Lighthouse · Student team project & Concept

Carefree diabetes support, wherever the trip goes

Over 10 weeks, our five-person team designed Lighthouse, a service that helps travelers with diabetes find suitable meals, a more discreet place to inject, and timely reminders to stay on track. I took part in research from start to finish, designed every screen of the Google Maps experience, and later rebuilt the prototype with AI-assisted coding.

My role
Product Designer
Team
3 Product Designers
1 Visual Designer
1 Industrial Designer
Timeline
10 weeks, 2023
(prototype rebuilt 2026)
Tools
Figma
Codex
Problem
Travel breaks the routines people with diabetes rely on, from what to eat to where to inject.
Solution
Diabetes support built into Google Maps, from finding meals and Lighthouse stations to medication and glucose reminders, so care fits into the trip.
Result
8 design awards (Indigo Design Awards, 2024 - 4 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and European Product Design Award, 2024) and 83% satisfaction in usability testing.
Jump to the design

Discovery

Travel breaks the routine

At home, managing diabetes follows a steady rhythm: check glucose, inject, eat, check again. Travel takes that rhythm apart. Our first idea was simple: a reminder app, so people wouldn’t forget their medication on the road.

But it was never just about medication. We talked with five people living with diabetes, and their stories had little to do with forgetting.

A security guard living with type 2 diabetes: ‘Menus have calories and gluten-free labels, but almost nothing for people with diabetes.’ A retired man living with type 2 diabetes: ‘Sometimes I’d sit in my car or a public restroom to take my insulin injection. I’ve gotten so used to it that I forget how awful the experience actually is.’

Across our interviews, the same three challenges kept coming up:

  1. 01 · Dining requires more planning

    Nutrition information for people with diabetes is rarely available.

  2. 02 · Injection depends on place

    People know when to inject but struggle to find where.

  3. 03 · Routines become easier to miss

    Without daily cues, glucose checks and medication slip.

So we changed the design direction. A reminder app could only solve one of these three problems. Instead, we designed for all three:

  1. 01 · Dining → Google Maps Plugin

    Our interviewees already used Google Maps to find restaurants, so we built support right into it.

  2. 02 · Injection → Lighthouse stations

    Semi-private spaces in malls and near tourist spots to inject and restock.

  3. 03 · Routines → Smart reminders

    Kept from our first idea, but now built around each traveler’s day.

Lighthouse station concept: a semi-private injection space Lighthouse station concept: a diabetes supplies kiosk

Lighthouse stations are semi-private booths with a place to sit, diabetes-friendly snacks & supplies, and medical waste disposal bag with alcohol disinfectant cotton pad.

Final Solution

1. Onboarding: Set Your Medication Schedule

Onboarding 2: diabetes-friendly restaurants and Lighthouse navigation
Onboarding 3: personalized insulin and medication reminders

Got a plan for your insulin on the trip?

Lighthouse knows my routine now. It’ll remind me.

Black, gray and yellow hand-drawn illustration of two travelers with luggage looking at a phone at the airport
Onboarding 4 through 8: choose diabetes medication and when to take insulin

2. Before Meal: Navigate to Diabetes-friendly Restaurant & Nearby Lighthouse

The default map changes to a list of diabetes-friendly restaurants
Details and reviews for a diabetes-friendly restaurant

I’m getting hungry. Where should we eat?

Found a diabetic friendly spot, with a Lighthouse on the way for my insulin.

Black, gray and yellow hand-drawn illustration of two travelers checking a phone beside a café
Navigation to the restaurant changes to Lighthouse details, then adds Lighthouse as a stop on the route

3. After meals: stay on track.

Lock screen notification: Lighthouse asks to start a post-meal glucose-check timer
Lock screen timer set for the next glucose check in two hours

What’s that notification?

Just Lighthouse, reminding me to check my glucose.

Black, gray and yellow hand-drawn illustration of two travelers wearing seatbelts in a parked car, checking a phone, with simple reflective windows
Lock screen timer counts down, then Lighthouse sends a glucose-check notification

Results

83%

average satisfaction across 20 participants.

In task-based usability testing, participants completed the full pre- and post-meal flow.

8 design awards (Indigo Design Awards, 2024 - 4 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and European Product Design Award, 2024)

Reflection

Question the first framing.

We almost built a reminder app for a problem that was really about coordination. Listening past the obvious answer changed the whole product.

Meet people where they already are.

Instead of asking travelers to adopt a new app, we put support inside a tool they already trust. Adoption is a design problem, not just a marketing one.

Full research and process available on request.

Lighthouse final design