Creating a wellness app from scratch
Case study about the fourth project in the UX/UI bootcamp at Ironhack.
The goal of this project is to design an app related to both physical and mental well-being.
As stated by William James, an American philosopher and psychologist: ‘to create or break a habit, one has to perform it for 21 days. After that time, the repeated action will become internalized, functioning automatically.’
This case study focuses on the creation and design of an app to assist in incorporating new healthy habits into your daily life and providing a motivational reason to successfully carry out the new habit for 21 consecutive days. It has been a group project with a two-week timeline for completion.
Empathize
To gain a deeper understanding of the target audience and the problem, we conducted secondary research by interviewing 5 individuals and surveying a total of 29 people.
Through this process, we came to understand that 50% of individuals often encounter various challenges and obstacles when trying to maintain a newly acquired habit while integrating it into their daily routines.
Additionally, through interviews and surveys, we observed that 68% of the respondents mentioned that they would appreciate the option to receive daily reminders to encourage them to maintain consistency in practicing their habit. We also identified another crucial aspect, as 71% of the participants expressed the desire to receive more detailed information about their progress in achieving their habits.
A thorough analysis of current competitors in the market revealed the presence of habit-tracking apps and applications that provide notifications throughout the day to remind you to drink water. However, we identified a lack of visual information regarding your progress, as well as apps that allow tracking multiple habits simultaneously or customizing a habit to your preference without relying on predefined options. We found no app that combines these features in one platform.
Define
Taking into account all the information obtained in the User Experience Research, we were able to define our user persona: Anna, a forgetful 29-year-old who needs something to remind her to drink water throughout the day.
She also aims to achieve her personal goal of walking a bit every day but struggles to find motivation, often postponing it to the end of the day.
After gathering all the information from the research and interviews and having defined the user persona, we have identified the problem statement:
Independent post-graduate professionals need to find a way to prioritize and stick to healthy habits consistently because establishing habits is motivating and gratifying.
It’s worth highlighting the complications arising from procrastination and the lack of motivation when implementing a new habit in your life, as mental health is adversely affected by frustration and neglect towards our own body. In the face of these negative aspects, we recognize the importance of addressing this issue and finding effective solutions.
Ideate
Through brainstorming sessions, various ideas emerged for the application. The conception of the app was visualized as a habit planner where Anna could choose which habits to incorporate into her life, customize them to her liking, track her progress through a calendar, and utilize other informative visual tools.
We also wanted to integrate reminders in the form of mobile notifications so that Anna doesn’t forget to drink water and can be reminded that it’s time to go for a walk. We aimed to make these notifications customizable, allowing Anna to receive them as many times as she wants throughout the day and at the specific times she chooses.
Additionally, a section was added with tips and information related to incorporating healthy habits into your life. This way, Anna could discover other types of new habits that she may not have considered, understanding their potential benefits.
In this way, we proceed with the definition of the user flow:
Prototype
As a team, we designed the lo-fi prototype, which we tested with 3 people, some of whom we had interviewed earlier.
After testing, we noticed that the buttons labeled “Habits” and “Goals” were causing confusion, so we decided to redefine the names and placement of the buttons. We also observed that the names of the parameters for customizing a habit were confusing and repetitive.
Additionally, what was initially intended as a path to track progress seemed redundant with the information provided in the calendar, so we decided to eliminate it.
Mid-fi:
Once the mid-fi prototype was tested with four individuals, we added a weekly view to the calendar to meet the users’ desire for more graphic and visual information about their progress. For the same reason, we incorporated graphs in the sections dedicated to each specific habit. We refined the names of sections and subsections that caused confusion or were not clear without context.
Hi-fi
After making all the modifications, we proceeded to create the high-fidelity prototypes, maintaining a fresh and modern tone to enhance the necessary motivation for sticking to your habits.
Additionally, we incorporated current and clear typography to ensure the message is not lost and to facilitate usability.
Conclusions and thoughts
Procrastination contributes to stress and anxiety, negatively impacting mental health, while a lack of healthy habits can lead to physical issues such as fatigue, irregular sleep, and long-term health risks. These behaviors can form a harmful cycle, and it is necessary to eliminate them from our lives. With the creation of this app, we can achieve this goal and thus improve our physical and mental health while paying attention to our bodies.
On the other hand, the conclusions that I can highlight about the process of this project boil down to the importance of testing low- and mid-fidelity prototypes, as well as actively listening to users. They should be able to navigate the app intuitively and easily even without detailed context. The user interface (UI) aspect is crucial to work on, but it is true that a project may falter if it lacks a good user experience (UX). The effective combination of both disciplines is key to achieving a positive and satisfactory result.
Thanks for joining me on this design journey for a healthier life. Did you enjoy it? Follow me for more inspiration. Give it a clap and share if you did!
