Plant | Tamagotchi for health
Concept sketching | Concept testing | iOS | Android | WatchOS | Interaction Design |
UX Benchmarking | Expert Interview | Microinteractions | Prototyping | Wireframing
︎︎︎ Also published in ‘An idea’ on Medium!
The Brief
Create a wellness App from scratch!
Create a wellness App from scratch!
Context
Individual project UX UI Bootcamp Ironhack, Portugal.
Individual project UX UI Bootcamp Ironhack, Portugal.
Deliverables:
Competitve Analysis Report, UX Research Report, Personas, Sitemap, User Flow, Wireframes, Interactive Prototype, Styleguide
Competitve Analysis Report, UX Research Report, Personas, Sitemap, User Flow, Wireframes, Interactive Prototype, Styleguide
Time:
2 weeks
2 weeks
Tools:
Figma, Keynote
Figma, Keynote
How might we...
How mitght we...identify features that help users lead a healthier and more balance lifestyle?
Empathy
Starting with empathy for the user is important as a UX Designer! To identify a users’s frustrations and needs we have many tools at our disposal. One of my favourites is the storyboard since I love sketching. In the image above you see a user under enourmous time pressure and stress. Working late, not getting enough sleep, feeling unmotivated... we have all been there! And it is a vicious cycle. One thing effects the other. The user wants to life healthier but does not know where to begin!
Surveys
After the initial desk research, we send out a survey as a group and our survey was answered by 44 participants. From that point on we all developed our own ideas.
According to this survey the most common reasons not to live a healthier lifestyle was:
Lack of Motivation (36 %), Time Management (36 %) and Emotional Issues (28%).
When asked, which features the user’s would like to see in a wellness app, the most popular features were:
Positive Visual Feedback (36 %), Daily Activities (33%) and Weekly Activities (31 %).
According to this survey the most common reasons not to live a healthier lifestyle was:
Lack of Motivation (36 %), Time Management (36 %) and Emotional Issues (28%).
When asked, which features the user’s would like to see in a wellness app, the most popular features were:
Positive Visual Feedback (36 %), Daily Activities (33%) and Weekly Activities (31 %).
Expert
Interview
In addition to the User interviews, I conducted an interview with a Biologist. The biologist expanded further on the topic of the daily rhythm, energy levels and interconnectedness of health.
“If I would have to name one thing that human can learn from nature regarding health it would be to respect the rythm of nature! It is all about cycles!”
The biologist expanded on the subject of the Circadian rhythm and how different triggers in nature affect the hormonal balance... which in turn can disrupt the natural cycle and impact your health.
Diverge -
Converge
I had used various tools to generate new insights and think about different aspects of wellness and different possible solutions. The information I had on my digital mural wall was growing and growing. Smoke was coming out of my ears! I know this moment from the UX UI process that I had gone through a couple of times by now. I love this moment because I know I’m about to see new connections and have new insights. The ‘Smoky ears’-Moment is part of the process... I love to discover, think and generate new ideas and then arrive at the top of the first diamond where it is necessary to filter again in order to get a grasp on the amount of new inforamtion and then focus on one more specific part - in order to ‘DEFINE’ successfully.
Image: The Double Diamond Model (edited)
Image: Screenshot from Mural showing Brainstorm, Competitor Analysis, How-Might We, Empathy Map, Affinity Map, Value Proposition Canvas and others.
Image: Visualisation + Recategorisation
A reoccuring subject and also an interesting place in the market was the connection between biology and human health. Not just responding to individual goals, but to scientific basis of human health. About the impact of food, drinks, smoking, air and sun your sleep for example Environmental triggers and hormonal responses came up from the desk research on Circadin rhythm. I took a closer look at the App’s available that are related to the theme of biology and human health. It was very useful to take another look at the market after defining the market position more closely. First off, to avoid putting all the effort into a ‘new’ idea and later discovering that the concept already exists, but it also can help define what differentiates the App from others and go a step further with the idea..
UX Bench-
marking
In the graph above, you see a green circle that marks the position of the App relative to 3 other App’s with a similar concept. In this case in relation to an App that appeals to the motivition of competition vs. care taking and an App that is about informing about or relating to nature vs. being a Game-like. ‘Zombie Run’ is also playful, but more competitive. ‘Fabulous’ incorporates environmental triggers and drinking water, sleeping well and exercise as being crucial for wellbeing. And ‘Circadian’ is all about the circadian rhythm but not playful in nature.
How might we...?
(Redefined)How might we motivate a user to use a wellness App when the motivation is low and time is limited? How might we provide information on the biological factors that impact health in a playful and engaging way?
User Stories
Based on the gathered information I came up with the following user stories in the form of single sentences:
“As a User, I want to see positive visual feedback, so that I stay motivated to achieve my wellness goal.”
“As a User, I want to get feedback that encourages me to log in regularly, so that I can work on health goals consistently.”
“As a User, I want to be encouraged to restart after a set back, so that I keep going.”
“As a User, I want to have short tasks daily / weekly, so that I can easily fit it in my schedule.”
“As a User, I want to see positive visual feedback, so that I stay motivated to achieve my wellness goal.”
“As a User, I want to get feedback that encourages me to log in regularly, so that I can work on health goals consistently.”
“As a User, I want to be encouraged to restart after a set back, so that I keep going.”
“As a User, I want to have short tasks daily / weekly, so that I can easily fit it in my schedule.”
Concept
‘Plant’ - Tamagochi for your health!
Informed by the research, I came up with a concept for an App. The desired features (visual feedback, daily or weekly activities) that had been reported by the users are incorporated in the App. The idea relates to nature and the circadian rhythm. In order to address the user’s frustration of low motivation and little time to start living more healthy, I decided to introduce a game-like App that only takes a few minutes per use and introduces small chuncks of information in a playful way. Short tasks that allow the user to learn more about health + the natural rhythm and only take minutes. The emphasis on the game and the small droplets of information in combination with the visualisation of neglect is using addictive Tamagotchi features to your own advantage - to improve your healty!
Informed by the research, I came up with a concept for an App. The desired features (visual feedback, daily or weekly activities) that had been reported by the users are incorporated in the App. The idea relates to nature and the circadian rhythm. In order to address the user’s frustration of low motivation and little time to start living more healthy, I decided to introduce a game-like App that only takes a few minutes per use and introduces small chuncks of information in a playful way. Short tasks that allow the user to learn more about health + the natural rhythm and only take minutes. The emphasis on the game and the small droplets of information in combination with the visualisation of neglect is using addictive Tamagotchi features to your own advantage - to improve your healty!
App Goals
User
Interaction
In contrast to goal setting or tracking Apps, the user is asked a couple of questions about their lifestyle during onboarding and based on the results the app generates a healthy or unhealthy environment for your plant as if the user starts in the middle. The plant environment visualises the impact you already have on yourself - what you are already doing. It informs the user about the impact of the environment we put ourselves in and appeals to care taking rather than enforcing additional guilt. In user tests, the onboarding where the user is first asked their age and then sees a plant grow, the user intuitively grasps the metaphor. After the lifestyle questions and the impact on the environment, testers often responded emotionally with humour or an ‘Ooooh’ ... seeing a visualisation of how they may have negatively impacted their health.
Image: Protype Onboarding ‘Plant’
Typography
+ Color
Before selecting the Colors & the style for the App, I did research into healthy-looking vs. unhealth-looking colors in plants. The goal was to take the natural colors into account but also create a playful, game-like environment:
![]()
Prototying
I started sketching and prototying for the ‘Happy Flow’ of a user that first signs up and completes the first task. First rough and quickly with Paper prototypes and then gradually focussing first on the strucutre, the spacing, the text and the user interaction.
![]()
Interaction
Design
Design
Each step of the way I asked feedback that helped improve the user experience from onboarding and identifying with the plant to understanding the rules of the game. Questions where unclear, some visuals and additional features didn’t fit or were distracting... and I slowly but surely worked out the full Hi-Fi interactive prototype.
Above you see a screenshot of the iPhone Prototype in Figma in the Prototype view. Each blue line represents an interaction (’A click’).
I also worked out a user flow for the moment when the user comes back to user the App again. One pain point that came up during interviews was that a wellness App can make you feel guilty when you haven’t used it for a while and you first log back in. I addressed this by rewarding the log-in itself. And when the user doesn’t log in for 30 days the progress is reset - similar to a Tamagochi dying when you don’t keep feeding it. Therefore the use is rewarded and long-term neglect has a negative effect, but in a playful way. On the other hand, it is not very rewarding to do many tasks at once since all you see is that the plant and it’s environment is improving a little. That’s all. It is all aimed at long-term regular engagement. In the end of the day, it is a game that teaches you about biological triggers and hormonal reactions in a gentle and humourous way.
I also worked out a user flow for the moment when the user comes back to user the App again. One pain point that came up during interviews was that a wellness App can make you feel guilty when you haven’t used it for a while and you first log back in. I addressed this by rewarding the log-in itself. And when the user doesn’t log in for 30 days the progress is reset - similar to a Tamagochi dying when you don’t keep feeding it. Therefore the use is rewarded and long-term neglect has a negative effect, but in a playful way. On the other hand, it is not very rewarding to do many tasks at once since all you see is that the plant and it’s environment is improving a little. That’s all. It is all aimed at long-term regular engagement. In the end of the day, it is a game that teaches you about biological triggers and hormonal reactions in a gentle and humourous way.
Android
WatchOS
iOS
Below you see 3 screens of Android, 3 Screens of Apple Watch and the video of the interactive Hi-Fi Prototype of the iPhone.
![]()
![]()
See the video above for the Hi-Fi interactive prototype of the “Happy flow”
See the video above for the Hi-Fi interactive prototype of the “Happy flow”
Next Steps
- Testing alternative Color palet.
- Review UI examples of sliders for onboarding.
- Selection of examples of tasks and biological facts to refine the content of the App
- Creating an animation in animation software like Flinto.
- Evaluating brand name and logo.
- Working out alternative designs of the App that are more precise in targetting the goal.
Reflection
Stick to MVP (!) — Minium Viable Product. Many times mentionned and I still was too ambitious and worked out many additional flows and details. I ended up working on a lot of screens. Yet in hinesight I see the importance of making the MVP as slim as possible. You want to test the idea without the additional details, additional flow!
Being enthousiastic about an idea or feedback from others can easily cause me to work harder ... but also to go beyond the MVP. Which is overwhelming and possible lost work. But most importantly it can make the MVP weaker as well.
Another learning moment was that I spend so much time coming up with an original idea, that it was hard to relate it to other App’s and good UI examples. Especially as a beginning UX UI Designer I need reference to learn from. And the user needs a visual language they understand. The feedback from teachers was as well to look at more UI examples to improve the UI. So for future prototypes I would keep in mind that while I want to aim for original concepts, I also want to keep it close enough to existing Apps and relate it to what people know and what already works and then evaluate where I can bring in more original UI. The balance between original and conventional is something to keep in mind and depends on the type of product and the type of user.
“The concept! Different and out of the box since the 90’s, since Tamagotchis.“
(Feedback Ironhack Team)
Being enthousiastic about an idea or feedback from others can easily cause me to work harder ... but also to go beyond the MVP. Which is overwhelming and possible lost work. But most importantly it can make the MVP weaker as well.
Another learning moment was that I spend so much time coming up with an original idea, that it was hard to relate it to other App’s and good UI examples. Especially as a beginning UX UI Designer I need reference to learn from. And the user needs a visual language they understand. The feedback from teachers was as well to look at more UI examples to improve the UI. So for future prototypes I would keep in mind that while I want to aim for original concepts, I also want to keep it close enough to existing Apps and relate it to what people know and what already works and then evaluate where I can bring in more original UI. The balance between original and conventional is something to keep in mind and depends on the type of product and the type of user.
“The concept! Different and out of the box since the 90’s, since Tamagotchis.“
(Feedback Ironhack Team)