I AM CHANGE
Case Study for Motivational App
[Jan 2020] UX Series 1
Introduction
Few months ago, a conversation and emotional support practically helped few people who were quitting to participate in the fashion show to become the winners of the fashion show. How amazing it is, if an app, transforms you in multiple ways, and gets the certainty, and other things expected to adapt in this age and day.
“I am Change” is a motivational mobile application which is a blend of performing affirmations and bring out a positive change. The change I’m talking here is the lifestyle change, mentality and instilling some great new habits in your everyday life that will help us make a better individual in future.
Empathising with the Users
Understanding the challenge
I generally attempt to try new habits, which are going to affect my living in a positive way when the semester or any new event begins, however by the mid, I fail to maintain what I started. This is me, alongside rest of the people I interviewed.
Research Methods
Facts
Coming across interesting facts during our initial research project gave me a little clarity about the whole concept of how motivation works -
Research says that, long lasting change is in all likelihood when it’s self persuaded and rooted in positive thinking
Studies have also shown that objectives are easier to reach if they’re specific (for ex: walking 20 minutes every day, rather than getting more exercise)
To the point goals (having an excessive number of objectives constrains the amount of attention and determination to accomplish it)
Change is a process, not an event
User Interviews
I prepared a questionnaire for the group of school and college students. Because these are the bunch of people in the age group, who are the most distracted, and eager to become a personality which benefits them in one or the other way.
My questionnaire for the interview included, general enquiries for which, even I was curious for, like, What techniques individuals use to motivate themselves, what prevents them from accomplishing their objectives, Do they know OKR, Affirmations, and different methods to propel themselves, and so on..
Questionnaires
I also prepared a survey with Google Forms and distributed it among different groups of people on Whatsapp.
The purpose was to determine the various changes they need to see in themselves. For ex : Some need to be thoughtful, some want to just be kind, then some need to lose weight, etc.
Learning about the problems of potential users is a great way to be inspired and motivated. Working with real world data is a good starting point to help avoid guesswork and preconceptions. Using this information provided a better chance to discover the root of the problem and how to solve it.
In the process of interviewing the users, I discovered that most of them need Change, and over 70% of them dawdle to progress in the direction of it. The rest of them fear change.
Pie chart showing the percentage of students who procrastinate and those who fear change
Quotes from the Users
When I see myself that I’m not doing anything for a very long time, a realisation hits me that I should be productive for once for my own sake
In my mind, I make a list, to do this, and then this, and then this, and eventually I forget as the time passes.
When I see any motivational post on Instagram or any social media site, It is relatable but I believe that is not for me but for everyone, I would love personal attention to change myself
I look at other people doing insanely amazing shit, and I feel like I should become one of them
I don’t specifically seek out motivation, I do that at my low point where, I just know I’ve spent a lot of time doing nothing and that I should be doing something.
My motivation is for very short period of time.
If change works out, it works out, if it doesn’t, I don’t put much thought to it
I like planning and doing stuff before each and everything.
I like people coming to me, sharing their stories and motivating me. I relate a lot with personal talks and conversations.
Define
Here, I tried to analyse and interpret the various interviews and defined them into a common category, like what the user needs, my insights on the answers given during the interview and the users problems
User Personas
The results of my survey suggested that there were several types of users with diverse needs. The accumulation of the different insights and common patterns that came from the users’ answers helped me create three personas which are the manifestation of that data in a character. Two of the personas presented edge cases since they were based on certain needs of some of the participants. Therefore, eventually I focused on the more common persona.
Focusing on a specific user helps to keep his needs in mind and not get distracted whenever an idea for a new feature or demand pops up.
Ideate
Methods of motivating the users
Self Affirmations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cxoR-HIAaU — Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind Before You Sleep Every Night by Team Fearless. This video is about how affirmations can bring a positive change in you which actually inspired me to work on this project.
Well, affirmations are nothing, but, positive statements about you overcoming negative, self sabotaging thoughts and start to make positive changes when you believe, and repeat them.
Give Responsible Tasks
It is important to treat the users (students) as grown-up individuals. The primary step is to give them some responsible tasks.
This helps them to develop a sense of responsibility and they will get a feeling that they are important too.
They feel motivated to take up important roles in life.
Switch Roles
Encouraging the students to switch roles with the character can be a very interesting job for them to feel the change they want to see in themselves. This may provide more clarity of what they are aiming to achieve.
Set an Example
The best motivational activity is to set an example for the users.
This can be done by recommending good books and videos on successful people, and how they can look upto them.
This can give the users some sense, confidence and even inspire them to achieve bigger.
Rewards
After every affirmation, some points would be given to the users which can encourage them to move forward and unlock the next level where they move to change or add something more in their personality after every 21 or 30 days, because it takes 21 days to change a habit and I am aiming for the same.
Initial Ideas for the Application
My initial idea about the application was to make an appropriate schedule for the users, which would incorporate the important dates or occasions where they required motivation, like, speech or debate event.
To furnish affirmations followed with activities every single day, however I understood that would be hard for the user to cover it, so I rather kept it on them. They can finish a given task at whatever point they wish to in the entire day or week, and afterward they would be compensated with certain focuses they can use to get into the following level of inspiration.
I thought of making characters they can look upto for persuading them further, as Pikachu and different Pokemóns for the people, users have their very own characters too.
Likewise, an idea came where I thought on the off chance that the characters resemble the users, for instance, both healthy, at that point they together can begin a journey of progress.
At that point, a thought struck in my psyche, why not make it a community, where individuals are motivating and changing one another, as if somebody’s great at openly talking and the other one is great at reading, perhaps they can help each other.
All these ideas, were an excessive amount to begin with a new app. So, I kept it simple with just affirmations and recommendations.
User Journey Map
Next, I scripted a typical daily feeding routine for my persona. This process helped me decide how the app’s user experience might be designed to fit in with a routine.
Just affirmations aren’t compelling. For most adequacy, I put recommendations, like, books to read, videos to check out, related activities, making the users feel certain about acquiring a change themselves.
Design
User Flowchart
Up until now I had a vague idea of how the app will function. Mapping the basic flow of the app forced me to figure each step on the path the users will take throughout the solution. I first sketched it on paper and then digitally rendered it.
Sketches
This was the first step to help me outline the app and visually imagine it.
Wireframes
This visual guide represents the skeletal framework of the app. It helped me arrange the interface elements while I focused on the functionality rather than what it looks like. Moreover, the simplicity of wireframes allows me to quickly test ideas without diving into the details.
Story Board — Using the app
I created a storyboard describing my user’s experience with the app. This is a great tool to explore how the app will be used in a larger context, as if it was a part of a bigger narrative. It’s an effective and inexpensive way to capture, relate, and explore the app in a real world setting. I created a storyboard describing my user’s experience with the app. This study helps understand the circumstances and the larger context in which the app will be used.
Inspiration Board
Before getting started with the visual design I created an inspiration board. The purpose is to learn about the visual world and gathering inspiration from other Motivational and affirmation apps.
Style Guide
Naming & Logo
The name of the application resembles an affirmation itself. Since the entire application chips away at change through affirmation, the name of the app is “I AM CHANGE”
I AM is kept bold and typeface is quiet quirky so that it defines the major part of what the app does. Change is the secondary part of showing activity and thus kept readable yet light.
Additionally, concerning the interface, I needed to give the attestation a vocal touch, so I made it like a wave form with the shadow moving clockwise
Color palette
The color green symbolizes life, health, youth, growth, rest and relaxation. Hence, a green color palette is fitting for an app that promotes growth and health life style of a person. Additionally, I used black for the text and included a great deal of almost white to give a calm and clean appearance.
Typography
Inter is a well-balanced typeface that seems to complement the interface. Simplicity was the leading mantra; therefore, I decided to go with a light and simple font for the texts in the app.
Icons and Illustrations
The illustrations and icons are an important part of the design. They communicate ideas and concepts that should not and sometimes cannot be communicated with words. Furthermore, they allow consistency of the visual aesthetics that help build the users’ trust and produce moments of delight.
Iterations
Final Design
Onboarding Flow
The objective of onboarding flow in “I AM CHANGE” is to encourage at the same time, challenge the users to push ahead using the application. The significant part was to have the user ‘sign in’ with the application to realise more data in regards to their age, information, and so on and pick the character they need to create in themselves, without getting disheartened and turning off the application, it required a basic and quick process. I kept initial 4–5 slides of illuminating the users about the application, and afterward continued with swiping up down class in character selection, to facilitate the procedure.
Sign Up & Information
Incorporating, Soft UI in buttons and the experience, makes the app more interesting for the users.
Primary Page
This component is the primary page of the application. After onboarding, clients are directly moved to this page, where they start with their affirmation statement.
The affirmation will be reminded to the users three times each day, that is morning, afternoon/evening and night. Also, they would repeat the positive sentence thrice, while envisioning the whole.
On finishing the statement, they would be directed to a page where they’d be reminded about the following alarm with cites which will assist them with staying tuned with the character they’re trying to become.
Secondary Page
The second page is the heart of the application, since, this is the place you put your positive contemplations into activities.
This is where you’re given weekly task to read books, blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos and write and then in the end of each task, recommended some random act of kindness that you can perform which will make you increasingly engaged with being the character you need.
This stage not only encourages but even starts changing your mind and you start to like the character that you’re turning out to be.
Last Page
The last page is for the reminders of significant events, and checking in the user’s progress. When the users have updated any important reminder in the calendar, they’ll be helped with a reminder at the time they need, with certain tips, identified with the challenge they’re on to which really ends up being very useful for performing in real life and experiencing the difference.
At the point when sliding to the following page, it shows a profile of the user, their advancement and how much characters they’ve unlocked up until now.
This is significant on the grounds that, it will give them a knowledge of how much they’ve accomplished something, a confidence to not stop yet.
Conclusion
What did I learn?
Designing the app has been an exciting and challenging journey. The challenging part was to comprehend, why the users would at the first place start using the app, when they’re stern enough to not believe in any motivation. As the study continued, I started getting into the user’s perspective. I researched the motivational techniques, people use at times. I understood the needs of the users through the survey and conversations. Finally, I faced the challenge of creating an engaging app both from the user experience perspective and the visual perspective.
“I AM Change” app being my first project in UI/UX, it helped me a great deal in understanding and experiencing the design of a product.
Next Steps
Usability test of the prototype with users
As much as designing, Usability test is an important factor in UX process. It tells us, if there is any other changes to be made, to improve the app.
Final Thoughts
I AM Change is made to help and bolster people at a personal level. We regularly get befuddled after using certain motivational app, because the issue probably won’t be identified with us. Designing the application, in a way where we know there are issues which will be there throughout everyday life, and as much as we wish for the problems to be gone, it is in every case right, to prepare us for those difficulties. I AM Change, focusses on changing the person in a way where he/she feels good about themselves and prepared for any challenge.
Do check out the visual case study on Behance and interactions on Dribbble
References :
Research : https://addicted2success.com/
Illustrations : UnDraw Illustrations
Credits :
Credits for Interview : To all the students and college mates who helped me understand the challenge better.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more case studies 🙌
