PEDHEAD. App Design.
Three week solo project.
An App designed for my Dad, a man who values exercising the mind, but not the body. Due to his poor physical health, he has been encouraged by both his doctor and family to track his activity through a Fitbit. Now, whatever little pleasure he took from walking has been replaced by daily targets and has become a chore.
Learning Outcomes: Micro Interaction, User Flows, User Testing.
AIM
We all think about exercise differently. As we get older, it can become overly intwined with our health and turn into a daily chore. The project aims to reframe how one thinks about exercise, by integrating both body and mind. Taking an enjoyable hobby, such as reading the newspaper, I hope to add value to exercise by shifting the focus from a daily chore to an enjoyable task.
RESEARCH
Fitbits are marketed at the young and able, where the focus is on competition or beating your personal best. Unfortunately that does not hold for those who aren’t as agile as they used to be and may be in poor health. Yet it is the elder demographic that often receive them as a gift in a bid to track and improve their health.
Speaking with my elder family members and neighbours, I asked them about their exercise routine, which was heavily linked to their health. Most had previously bought or had received a gift of a Fitbit.
KEY FINDINGS
The device did make them more conscious about their daily physical activity. However it was still seen as a chore which was not enjoyed.
Some felt disheartened when other family members would playfully compete with each. Something they could not part take in.
Most complained how mundane their exercise routine was. It was about the numbers rather then the activity. My aunt has being doing the same stretches for her bad back for over ten years.
CONCEPT
How might we turn the daily chore of exercise into an enjoyable task?
I wanted to build an app that was at the appropriate fitness level for my Dad and other people like him. It was important that the focus wasn't on hitting a target step count, but instead seen as time allocated for an enjoyable task. The app would meet the user at their fitness level, addressing their unique needs and challenging them appropriately. It would also incorporate something they enjoyed, such as podcasts and music, making it easy for them to navigate and in turn encourage them to keep at it.
PROTOTYPING
In total, I did three iterations of the app. For the first iteration, using the method of paper prototyping, I drew out wireframes, mapping out user flows. I performed user testing with six participants in total, four UX designers and two age appropriate end users. I did this by creating a scenario for the participants and asking them to complete a set of tasks.
Understanding what worked, what didn't work and where participants had questions and suggestions helped me simplify the functionality of the app and define my features. From my findings I was able to refine the site map. I moved onto digital and using Adobe XD, I drew up a Mid-Fi prototype. Again I tested it on my fellow UX designer classmates and the end user. This was hugely insightful as further refinement was needed. For example, it became apparent that cues were unclear or mislabelled.
For the third iteration, the Hi-Fi prototype, using my findings from the user testing, I tidied up the scaling of buttons, icons and added a colour palette in order to enhance and polishing the app design.
FINAL DESIGN
PedHed. Bring the best of journalism to your mind by walking. Walking triggers the play setting to start. Unlock more compelling reads by walking further. Handpicked content, curated and personalised - every story is tailored to your interests so you can hear what matters most to you.
Below are two videos to demonstrate 'How it works' and various micro interactions.
LEARNINGS
It is really important to view what you are designing on the phone you are designing for. I learned this the hard way. After finishing the Mid-Fi on the computer screen, the buttons and text were too big for the phone screen.
For this project we learned and created micro interactions. It is very easy to go overboard! It is important to keep it clean and simple.
Paper prototypes are great for stimulating ideas. As the design was rough and unfinished participants were more forthcoming with ideas and improvements.