The Project
A client came to We and Bold to create a health and wellness application that improves your well-being through sleep quality. I was in charge of translating the client's needs into research that supports a design for the Ukor app.
Research the market and user paint points
Create an app that teaches users how to live a healthier lifestyle starting with getting better sleep
Develop a brand identity with clients
Build. Measure. Learn.
I used Lean UX principles in the development of "Ukor" to focus on users and their needs at each phase of the design process.
Walk client through our Client Benchmark to understand client's ambition and brand vision, mission, voice
Research and validate the client/brand hypothesis.
Conduct early user testing with rough sketches to unveil unexpected pain points.
Externalize the work using sticky notes, printouts, or sketches.
Brand Canvas
There are three brand canvases to go through each with their own categories to fill out. The first is the company vision. This is where everyone describes what they think the goals, purpose, vision, strengths, and weaknesses are of the company.
The second is the client vision. Here everyone describes their ideal product persona and the goals the product will help them achieve. They will also describe in detail the journey a user will go through with the product, starting from where they learn about the product.
The third canvas is the market vision. Here is where the clients define who their competitors are and what companies inspire them and their product.
Research &
Problem Definition
Hypothesis
Most health and wellness apps available to users deal with sleep, fitness, nutrition, and stress management independently, diminishing the journey to a healthier lifestyle. Dealing with these separately is not a sustainable way for people to change their lives for the better permanently. To become healthier, these needs must be treated collectively. Users can be taught how to change their lifestyle and the first step is to get better sleep.
Conducting User Survey
I conducted a user survey to see what apps people have downloaded and continue to use most and gain user insight. To reach a larger audience, I wrote a short 15-question survey and posted it on different online communities that matched the target user profile. I received 15 responses.
85% said they have downloaded multiple health and wellness apps. Solution: prioritize preferred need improvement
50% disliked needing to download multiple apps for health and wellness related needs. Solution: combine needs in whole-approach focused health and wellness app
92% agreed that health and wellness needs are connected. Solution: organize tackling needs in research-backed flow
The main concern about downloading a health and wellness app is whether the user will maintain motivation to follow the app's protocol. Solution: create straightforward interface and define set amount of time for protocol duration
Personas
Based on the user research I set up three personas and referred to them throughout the entire product development process.
Each persona identified a realistic goal the user might have when working through this app.
The information about each persona focused on its goals and frustrations with the product as well as their interaction with it, which drastically affected my design decisions.
Design Impact
Focusing especially on the interactional context of each persona helped me to understand the physical, environmental, and emotional state of the user at the moment of the interaction. This process has significantly influenced the development of important design decisions and key functionalities. Some examples are as follows:
Instant help function to talk to health professional.
Pre-set goals for success certainty.
Progress bar for each module to drive motivation.
Verified curriculum to help guide user through learning goals.
User Stories and MVP
User research and persona creation brought up the user's main needs, goals, and behaviors. Therefor, I found the main issues my design decisions needed to solve were:
Uncertainty about achieving goals
Instant help from health professionals
Ability to review each module and analyze goals
Set time for each module to keep up motivation
Based on this information, I was able to create user stories and define the MVP.
User Flow
I've created a user flow to map every step of the user interaction required to achieve the main goal of this app: "As a user, I want to tackle my health goals as interconnected parts of a whole"
Ideating Solutions
I sketched each iteration and added elements and screens that were necessary to reach user's goals, to quickly see which ideas worked best. I put the sketched into Figma to build an interactive prototype and tested some user stories with three different individuals.
Users found the label "Module" misleading, it didn't indicate the continuation of an ongoing chapter clearly enough.
Users value the option of being able to reread finished lesson articles.
Users asked for the option to see "ongoing" and "finished" lessons.
The term "module" was changed to "lesson"
A segmented control for "ongoing" and "completed" sections was added.
A blog page was added to revisit completed lesson articles.
Prototyping
I turned my revised sketches into interactive prototypes in Figma. I defined UI elements, design patterns and visual hierarchy. I tested the prototype in person and remotely.
Users wanted the ability to search and filter through blog articles.
Users wanted the option to read upcoming lesson articles before completing the ongoing section.
Users valued the feedback screens after completing each lesson.
A search bar and filter were added to the blog page.
Completed and future lesson articles were made available in the blog page.
Designed for Simplification
After a few more iterations, I designed the final screens with Figma. I conducted A/B tests during the process to define the design patterns, elements, and colors.
My aim was a clean, modern look that helps users fulfill their goals quickly and seamlessly. "Ukor" is a health, wellness, and sleep quality advocate; therefor, I focused the color scheme to help transmit knowledge and guidance.
I also designed illustrations to keep the look fun, unique, and modern.
What have I learned from this project?
Research is a must: I couldn't have designed a product users love without the help of the people who will actually use it. The user survey revealed unexpected information and made it possible to adapt the product to user's needs.
Personas are powerful: Being aware of user's needs and pain points helped me to create a seamless, intuitive, end-to-end experience.
The user is always right: Conducting user testing and evaluating user's feedback at various stages of the UX process helped me to discover and eliminate paint points at early stages.
