Case Study - 2021
App Feature
Challenge
Fitbit prides itself on helping people to set goals to transform their lives for the better, through tracking their activities, eating habits and mindfulness. With Google’s recent acquisition of Fitbit, the company is looking into to features to further assists app users with improving their health.
Solution
To further aid Fitbit’s goal of assisting users to a healthy transformation. I have implemented a habit tracker feature; which would educate users on the effects of habits on mental health as they begin their journey to create better ones.
Goal
• Design a feature for Fitbit app that follows its branding guidelines.
• Help users create new habits to better improve their overall quality of life.
• Understanding the case of changing social media consumption habits.
My Role
Product Designer, Researcher, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, User Testing
Deliverables
Competitive Analysis, Diary Study, Wireframes, Prototype, User Testing
Tools
Figma
As a long time user of the Fitbit app, I’m truly grateful for the support it has provided me in my weight loss journey. Everything from motivating me to be more active for that particular week because of a step challenge with my friends; to meticulously adding my caloric intake to make sure I’m underneath my daily limit. Eventually my journey transitioned from just weight loss to a healthy lifestyle. This included me focusing on my sleep and my mental health. During this period I found myself in need of habit tracker to break and create habits; something Fitbit doesn't provide. Which I found to be strange since Fitbit’s goal is to create a healthy lifestyle but doesn't offer such a crucial feature to reach that goal.
For this particular project, I decided to do a hybrid between diary studies and interviews; along with competitive analysis. I felt this would give me a better understanding of the effects of over consumption of social media on the mental health of the participants.
For my research I split my 4 participants into two groups.
Group 1 - was monitored and questioned for four consecutive days while using social media for 30-45 minutes, followed by an interview on the last day.
Group 2 - was solely used for interviews.
The use of this particular methodology lead to some fantastic insight but it wasnt without some difficulties along the way. Both participants in group 1 were initially hesitant to open up about their deeper emotions that were being processed while browsing. It was only due to my previous knowledge of their daily lives that I was able to guide them to go deeper than surface level.
Participant 2 was able to acknowledge that she was stuck in an unhealthy cycle that begins with the consumption of social media because of either boredom or a need for an escape from stress and responsibilities. While in this mental state she found herself to be more prone to emotional eating. This was worsened when posts reminding her of her upcoming Pharmaceutical exam were shown on her feed. Eventually, this would lead her to go out to eat at a place she saw on Instagram or eat something at home. Further procrastinating her studies and ruining her diet.
On the final day I interviewed them as I did with group 2.
Simultaneous to the diary study, I interviewed group 2. I discovered that this method led to more information about their views on habits and habit trackers and less impactful information about the effects of social media consumption on their healthy.
After better understanding my users need, I went on a journey to find a habit tracker that helps users not only successfully create a habit but also educates them of the impact these habits have on their mental health. I was unable to find a habit tracker that tackled educating user on the effects of their habits. To make it more challenging, the tracker must also be able to provide support through friends or a community. I was able to find the following apps that exceeded in some aspect but failed in others.
I then created a User persona to with insights from my research. By doing so, I was able to get a clear understanding of my target audience.
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After compiling the information from my research, I decided that breaking the habit of, overconsumption of social media and others alike is crucial to users' health. In attempting to break these habits, users want a simple to set up tracker that simultaneously educates you on the benefits of breaking them.
After writing down some key user needs from my interviews. Needs such a tracker that prioritizes simplicity in setting up a habit to track.
“If its too complicated I don't even bother” - Participant #3
Another need that repeatedly came up in the interviews was the tracker should be educating its users as to how certain habits affect mental health. With these user needs in mind, along with others, I began sketching wireframes for the app.
I began prototyping by taking screenshots of the app in use and downloading the fitbit font. I used colors and fonts consistent with the app. Consistency was crucial since the app feature has pre existing branding and customers who are familiar with using the app.
I chose to visually break down the habits into three pages.
For the usability testing, I asked 3 participants to complete the following tasks.
• Create a habit to limit social media consumption
• Update their daily consumption”.
All users passed the first task but two failed to update the daily social media consumption. To remedy this, I added an edit icon next to the current usage. The same two participants also mentioned other small pain points. Such as confusion setting up the habit for the first time, due to poor word choice. Another point was a lack of a positive message when you finish creating the habit.
It was eye-opening, to find out through my research how habits such as too much social media consumption can negatively affect our lives. Though I was pleasantly surprised that participants understood to some degree that these habits can’t be healthy and wanted to break them but struggled to do so for various reasons. Reasons such as not fully understanding how these habits affect their lives, lack of accountability or overcomplicated set ups on previous habit trackers. Due to this, I strived to create an easy to set up tracker, that doesn't overwhelm the user and educates the users about the impact of each habit that they partake in. I remedied the lack of accountability pain point with Fitbit's already massive community and user friends list. I wanted to further resolve the lack of accountability, with features that shutdown social media apps and financial incentives but due to Fitbit's branding and lack of time, I chose not to go in that direction.
Overall, I believe I was able to create a habit tracker within Fitbit’s branding that solves the users need of an easy to setup tracker that educates users on the habits and holds them accountable on their journey.
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