Designing The (M) Factor Directory
A dedicated platform for discovering menopause care.
- Type
- Client project at Villvay Systems
- Role
- Senior UI/UX Designer
- Platform
- Responsive web
- Tools
- Figma
The challenge
Create a directory focused on menopause care that communicates deeper provider details without slowing discovery.
The outcome
A focused platform where people can find verified care and trained practitioners can be discovered for their expertise.
Who it is for (Personas, if you will..)
Finding care
Women navigating menopause
Women from perimenopause through postmenopause who often describe symptoms before knowing which specialist they need. They need clear signals on training, access, insurance, and availability.
Providing care
Practitioners trained in menopause care
Licensed clinical and wellness professionals who submit evidence of their credentials and menopause training. They need that expertise to be visible and trusted.
How it came together
- 01Discover
Mapping trust on both sides
The platform grew from the movement around The M Factor documentary. I audited general healthcare directories as a patient and found that proximity and availability were easy to compare, but menopause expertise was often reduced to an unverified line in a bio.
Verification became the link between both audiences. People needed confidence in the listings, while qualified practitioners needed their training to stand out. That decision shaped the search controls, result cards, and provider profiles.
What this told me
- • Support symptoms, specialties, and names in search.
- • Design for comfortable reading, not minimum compliance.
- • Make verification meaningful to patients and practitioners.
- 02Define
Defining the booking decision
Before designing screens, I mapped the questions someone needs answered: Does this provider treat my symptoms? Do they have specific training in menopause care? Can I access them in person or remotely? Do they speak my language, accept my insurance, and take new patients?
I then placed each detail at the point where it changes a decision. Filters narrow the field, result cards surface reasons to include or exclude a provider, and profiles hold the detail needed before making contact.
What this told me
- • Match information depth to decision stage.
- • Remove details that do not narrow or close a decision.
- 03Ideate
Shaping the discovery model
I compared leading with search against browsing by category. Search won because many people arrive with symptoms, not a diagnosis or specialist type. The map became a second view of the same filtered results because distance can rule out an otherwise suitable provider.
For account creation, I limited personalization to location, preferred language, and up to five areas of focus. That was enough to improve the first results without turning onboarding into medical paperwork.
What this told me
- • Use list and map as two views of one result set.
- 04Design
Designing for confident choices
The filter model covers specialty, certification, service modality, language, and cultural focus. I placed Verified Providers above the groups as a primary control, turning trust into a deliberate search choice rather than a badge noticed later.
Cards show the facts most important to a decision, including whether a provider accepts new patients. Profiles then add treatment areas, languages, licensed states, telehealth coverage, insurance, payment, and credentials in priority order. Shared tokens and components keep the directory, content hub, and marketing pages consistent and meet WCAG 2.2 AA.
Focused filters with verification as a primary control. The same results viewed by location. Access and coverage details lead; contact and booking stay visible. What this told me
- • Make trust filterable.
- • Show availability on result cards.
- • Use one system across discovery and content.
- 05Validate
Testing the most complex flow
Stakeholder walkthroughs focused on Explore All Providers because it brings the filter model, result cards, and list and map views together. It exposed issues with the information hierarchy earlier than simpler pages.
Each round refined the filter language, what a card must reveal at a glance, and how much profile detail to preview before asking someone to open it.
What this told me
- • Review the flow carrying the most product logic most often.
More from the project
Looking back
The practitioner dashboard uses Filament, which constrained how provider management and applications could be customized. I worked within its components and plugins rather than designing screens the framework could not support, keeping the workflow practical to build and maintain.
All brand names, trademarks and product imagery shown here remain the property of their respective owners and clients. This work was produced during my time at Villvay Systems and is shown for portfolio purposes only.