Created in 3 weeks as part of the Intro to HCI course, aimed to redefine activity tracking by discouraging system “cheats” and reinforcing meaningful movement. Through research, we identified gaps in existing trackers and designed a wearable-linked solution using abstract visuals to represent activity intensity and personalized messages to encourage progress.
Team
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
Miro
Duration
3 weeks
Create or modify an existing activity tracker application that links to a wearable device, empowering users to be healthier. We have to do this by describing and systematically altering the user's mental model about what activities are beneficial, rewarding these behaviors rather than common "cheats" to the system.
To scope down the project, we conducted research on how different users consume and engage with fitness trackers. This helped us identify key user behaviors, motivations, and gaps in current tracking experiences, ensuring our solution addressed real needs rather than assumptions.
Selecting target audience
The devices are popular with Gen Zers (70%), millennials (57%) and women (51%).
Nearly 70% of Americans Would Wear a Fitness Tracker/Smartwatch for Discounted Health Insurance.
Why Twenties?
This age group strikes the perfect balance between tech adaptability, health consciousness and social engagement. Their openness to new technologies, combined with the pressure of social validation, makes them the ideal audience for innovative fitness trackers.
What matters to them the most?
The quality of the exercise is immensely more important than the quantity of work done when exercising.
Steps alone, do not provide information about exercise intensity, which may be more important than the number of steps taken.
External motivation or accountability plays a significant role in the user's improvement in the activity.
Users are primarily motivated by achieving a preset step goal or a self-imposed target, leading to feelings of dissatisfaction, exaggeration, and instances of dishonest activity reporting.
How might we shift user motivation away from rigid step goals, while still encouraging physical activity and wellness?
To gain deeper insights, we conducted 10+ user interviews and 30+ survey responses, collecting qualitative data to validate our research. These conversations revealed how users engage with fitness trackers, the challenges they face, and what truly influences their exercise habits. Below are key takeaways in their own words.
Interviews
Surveys
To uncover patterns and key themes from our research, we conducted affinity diagramming, grouping insights from user interviews and survey responses. This helped us identify common pain points and behavior trends, guiding our design decisions.
Affinity Diagramming
What do they do?
What do they like?
What do they dislike?
What is missing?
Before finalizing a solution, we visualized the user’s journey through a storyboard, capturing their daily interactions, struggles, and motivations with fitness tracking. This exercise allowed us to step into the user’s world, uncover hidden friction points, and reimagine how a tracker could encourage real movement instead of just numbers. These early sketches laid the foundation for our initial solution.
After defining our initial concept, we translated key insights into low-fidelity wireframes to visualize the user experience. These wireframes explore how users interact with the tracker from setting goals and receiving contextual motivation to visualizing activity data. This step helped us refine functionality, user flow, and interface elements before moving to high-fidelity designs.
Feedback
The motivational messages need to be more natural & suggestive in a way that is not irritating over time.
Need more clarity and understanding of their activity.
The app should educate users about why an activity is beneficial.
Abstract Visuals
Using visual graphics to represent a user's activities, including walking, standing and running. These graphics also indicate the intensity of their activity.
Personalized Messages
Secondly we use personalized messages designed to inspire users to either walk faster or maintain their physical activity.
