Introduction

I have always been interested in self-development. In June 2018 as a UX|UI Design student at Ironhack, I was presented with an opportunity to create a wellness related product . After reading a few books in the subject of habits I decided I wanted to create an app to help people resetting their lives by developing new habits.

The Challenge

People want to find a quick way to change their habits. The challenge is reconstructing your habits might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. It takes an enormous amount of self-discipline, awareness and motivation. To change your habits you have to first understand what habits are and how the habit cycle works.

Research

I began by looking into existing research studies on habits. I then created a survey and conducted interviews so I could better understand and empathize with a user wishing to change their habits.

Findings

A habit can be defined as “something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it”.

As per the British Journal of General Practice “Once initiation of the action is ‘transferred’ to external cues, dependence on conscious attention or motivational processes is reduced. Therefore habits are likely to persist even after conscious motivation or interest dissipates. Habits are also cognitively efficient, because the automation of common actions frees mental resources for other tasks.”

Charles Duhigg

According to scientific research there are three main components of the habit cycle. In the book “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, Duhigg identifies this three parts as a cue, a routine, and a reward.

YouTube

I used an YouTube video called “How Habits Work” when presenting my work to illustrate how the habit cycle is formed. This video gives a concise explanation of the habit cycle.

The cue: Yawning

The routine: Drinking the coffee

The reward: Feeling of alertness

Once the cue is identified the routine can be altered in a way to achieve the same reward. Essentially replacing a bad behavior with a more positive one.

The cue: Yawning

The routine: Five jumping jacks

The reward: Feeling of alertness

Data Research

Conventional wisdom suggests that it takes 21 days to create or break a habit. However, more recent studies suggests that there isn’t a magic number.

Research also says that people should be encouraged to aim for small and manageable behavior changes, because failure can be discouraging.

Survey

Having this information in hand I created a survey to find out more about my potential user. Below there is a sample of the questions I had.

Survey conclusion

People want more than just to get control of one aspect of their lives. They want to balance several aspects of their lives. However, I found in the results of my survey that the majority believe it is too hard to keep track of their habits, don’t have time to track habits, or just forget about it.

Interviews

During the interviews I tried to dig as deep as I could to find out my user’s needs and a way to improve their lives. I let people speak freely about their habits because I wanted to keep all topics relating to habits open for discovery. I also interviewed people who kept really good habits to discover their secret and try to replicate than on my project. Here are some quotes from my interviews.

“I want to create a better version of myself”

“I need guidance from someone who understands about habits better than me”

“Procrastinating keeps me from achieving my goals”

“I have a hard time following a routine”

“I need help and motivation”

After listening for hours and analyzing people’s struggles I created a User Persona, Empathy Map, User Journey, User Flow, Affinity Diagram. All to help me building the best possible solution.

Empathy Map

To properly empathize with the user and see the world through their eyes I created an Empathy Map. The idea is to answer main questions. For instance: What does my users want? What motivates them? What can I do for them? Who are they?

Creating this map made me comprehend the users entire sensorial experience when dealing with the product I was creating. It brought out factors in the experience that could have been easily overlooked.

User Persona

Based on my findings I created my user persona, Sarah. Sarah is a 28 year old millennial, she is single, works in marketing, and lives in a large city. She is passionate, optimistic, giving, but she often feels stressed and overwhelmed with her busy schedule and poor time management. She wants to be able to manage her time better and live a balanced life.

User Journey

By creating a user journey I was able to find space for interaction between Sarah and the app. I looked for moments where Sarah could change a few daily habits without feeling pressured or forced to do so. This is critical because if the timing is not right it will only make Sarah feel more stressed and overwhelmed. I am working to create the exact opposite experience.

Understanding the market

I began my competitive analysis by looking up the most popular apps about habits in the market. My goal was to understand my competition and finish with a product that outperforms anything on the market. I used some of those apps myself to identify what features could work and what wasn’t working. I explored the top competitive apps and found that there were negatives and positives. A common theme was a great initial experience, but I found myself not feeling compelled to log back in and track habits consistency. The base of creating a habit is consistency. Therefore I sought to find out what feature has the most potential to solve this issue.

Most apps won’t require to set a challenge for yourself for an exact period of time or engage you long enough to keep you coming back. After iterating I came to the fact that a mentor or coach can motivate the user to create better habits and achieve goals.

Sketching the solution

After prolonged research and competitive analysis it was time to sketch a solution for the challenges my users were facing. I began sketching an app with all the features I thought were important for my users. I tested my sketches with prospective users and other designers to get valuable feedback.

I implemented some changes and kept some ideas open for a possible new version of the app. Below you can see and compare my first sketching of the app with the mid-fidelity wireframe.

User Flow

Having in mind who is my user, what is their story, where are they coming from, and where they are going. I created a user flow showing the different paths my user takes to complete a task. Thinking of every possibility and every direction my user chooses to follow.

The best way to know if the user flow makes sense is to put it to test. That exercise saves a lot of time in the overall process of creating a product the user wants and need. Facilitating the idea of making the product useful to all users.

Visual Design

When it was time to communicate the essence of the visual brand, I wanted to create a feeling of a balanced life. I wanted to motivate people to believe they are able to be everything they want to be. I defined the brand attributes and did a visual identity competitive analysis. Which come out in the words and arrangements of the images, colors and forms below.

Brand Attributes

Brands similar to humans have personality traits. For this brand I wanted to give a distinct personality. I wanted this brand to be relaxed, yet powerful and elegant at the same time. It was important for the design to be minimalistic in order to create visual space for the user.

Testing

Throughout the creation process I tested the product countless times. Testing with potential users was essential to the quality of my product. I performed extensive tests with my target users, and also those outside my target demographic. When in doubt I gave the user options to understand how the user could potentially react. With each test I gathered valuable insight, which helped me implement changes quickly with minimal effort. I found this extremely useful, because if I had forgone this process the quality of my product could have been compromised.

Final Result

As a result of my work you can check out this video 

What is next

I will continue to test my prototype and look for space for improvement. Habits is a topic I am especially stimulated by. I would be open to the possibility of going forward with this project and making this a real solution for existing challenges.

Thank you note

Time is the most valuable existing currency. So thank you for taking the time to read my Case Study.

Paula Barreto