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
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.
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.
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.
