Conrad Ennis Jenny He

Prototyping Tools for Embodying UX Design

Fall 2012

PROGRESS

Overview Defining the problem Our Solution Process Overview

Conceptual Model Research Methods Interviews Maketool 1: Journal activity Maketool 2: Timeline activity Synthesis

Synthesis & Insights Triggers and Fuelers

Ideation & Prototyping Rough sketches Mockups Interactive prototype

Concept Progress and Achievements Sharing and Feedback Reflection and Visualization

Happier people are more productive in the workplace and at home. There is a big social and economic benefit to being a happier person.

So how can people be happier? Psychology research shows that people who articulate and pursue pleasurable and meaningful goals are generally both happier and more successful.

Striving towards a goal gives us a tremendous sense of growth.

That being said, many people have the aspiration but often need a gentle nudge to get up and act on their goals.

WHY UP?

We created UP, a multi-platform system that helps people achieve meaningful life-enriching goals and to feel proud of their accomplishments. UP exists on a mobile phone, tablet device, and on a web browser, in order to take advantage of the ease of accessibility of mobile phones and the large screen real estate of the web browser and tablet devices.

Our initial idea started with the goal of helping people achieve their bucket list goals. Through our research, we found that although not everyone had a bucket list, everyone has goals and aspirations they wish to pursue.

Therefore, we expanded the project scope to include helping people achieve any goal they find meaningful or relevant.

OVERVIEWUP is designed based on user research focusing on understanding how people achieve goals and what motivates them to work towards achieving a goal and finding personal meaning from it. Over the course of one semester, we conducted three research methods to identify a project scope, understand what motivates people to achieve and how they share or communicate that process.

EXPLORATION IDEATIONSYNTHESISIDENTIFICATION REFINEMENT53 421

EXPLORE

other users user

goal

sub-goal

friends on social media

encouragement(likes, comments,

badges)

businesses

deals

personalized deals

progress

list of goals

achievement

list of achievements

fuels

filtered into

shared with

create

advertised to

shared on

give

receives / gives

record

make

keeps track of

creates

follows

creates

becomes

added to

reflects

shared with

receives / shares

To identify the focus of our concept, we produced a conceptual map of our system. We then used various research methods to explore and evaluate our model. Data synthesis led us to key insights on which our concept ideations and design is based upon.

We interviewed participants with the following questions: 1. How or where do you record your goals or motivations? 2. Describe the last time you achieved something on your list of goals. 3. What prevents / enables you to achieve a goal? 4. Would you use deals or promotions when achieving your goal? 5. Would you share your personal goals / aspirations with other people? 6. How do you display or share your achievements? 7. Are you curious about other people's bucket lists?

Our goal is to understand the design space: primarily people’s thoughts and opinions on various aspects of keeping and achieving bucket list goals.

> There are two groups of people: the motivated expert and the aspirtional novice

> Expert bucket list users have a more organized way of keeping track of their goals

> Expert bucket list users are motivated intrinsically to achieve goals

> Novice bucket list users can be encouraged to achieve goals with financial incentives

> The main challenges towards achieving goals are time, money, laziness, and fear

> Sharing bucket list goals with another increases one’s accountability towards finishing that goal

> People maintain a bucket list as a way to be reminded of their mental state and general aspirations

PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS

FINDINGS

accomplish+ share

go out and achieve

list / trackgoals

motivated toachieve goal(s)

inspirationto achieve

focus on goal(s)

men

tal c

apac

ity

ph

ysic

al n

eed

s

INTERNAL /EXTERNAL

STIMULI

FEEDBACK(POS / NEG)

PROCESS / PROGRESS

steps to accomplish

motivator / detractor

MAKING A LIST AND ACHIEVING A GOAL

Our focus is to explore how people can be motivated to achieve their goals. To understand people’s thoughts and experiences while working towards a small goal. And to observe people’s documentation habits as they worked towards a self-defined goal that is achievable in one week.

> Participants used social media as a place to document and share their progress

> Participants felt they had a reputation to uphold

> Once participants took the first step to working towards the goal, their progress and effort accelerated

> Social support, such as telling other people about their goal, holds participants more accountable towards achieving it

MAKETOOL phase 1

FINDINGS

Participants were asked to describe the experience of achieving a goal. This exercise allowed people to reflect on past events and corresponding emotions, map experiences to specific people or places, and establish a sequence of events.

To understand how participants worked towards achieving a goal in the past and the various touchpoints along the way where participants

Participants...

> Utilize social media to recall details

> Showed engagement in organizing / sequencing

> Treated the timeline as a narrative of experiences

> Responded positively to visualization of actions and memories

> Had strongly tied emotions to memory of places or events

MAKETOOL phase 2

FINDINGS

SYNTHESIS

trigger: getting motivated

Cognitive dissonance: When the actual self does not match the ideal self, it pushes people into action to resolve the internal conflict.

Limited time also triggers people to act on their goals.

Social support = external pressure. Social support can act as an external pressure that triggers people to act on their goals.

fuelers: staying motivated

Breaking down a goal into increments lessens the challenge.

Seeing progress lefts people’s moods, and is the greatest source of positive feedback.

Social support = positive feedback

Keeping a record of goals and progress in a personal, convenient, and accessible place keeps people motivated.

Providing resources helps decrease the learning curve.

Social support = resources

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We identified two main categories of motivators that work in concert to help drive people to achieve their goals: triggers and fuelers

incremental goals

CHALLENGES

TRIGGER

PROGRESS

ACTION TO ACHIEVE

awareness:ideal self = actual self

monitoring progress:time limit / deadline

monitoring self

fuels make(s)

moneytimeabilitymotivation

SOCIAL SUPPORTresources forachievement

reflect

drives

resolve

drives

documentation

motivation

IDEATION

updates, most recent activity

timeline

collage

goal sub-goals

june july august

P̂

INITIAL WIREFRAMESAs we began to apply our research and maketool results to our concept designs, we roughly sketched the main features of both the interface and UX. Through discussion, we formed a basis for our interface: a visual archive that documents and shares the user’s progress, accomplishments and feedback.

After creating preliminary wireframes for each digital platform, we mocked up the sketches of the mobile app onto Axure, an interactive wireframing software. Doing so enabled us to get a better idea of the layout and content required to support our main functions. Prototyping both the design and UX of the system informed our next steps in refining our concept and deliverables.

FEATURES

PROGRESS

SHARE

REFLECT

> update and share progress with friends

> visualize achievements and goals> receive feedback and advice

> keep track of progress at home or on the goal> breakdown goals into manageable chunks> receive weekly “nudges” to make progress

> sync profile with existing social networks

Keep Track of Progress

Users can create goals that are added to a list. UP also asks users to write down why they want to achieve the goal when they are creating a goal.

This builds on the trigger of cognitive dissonance. This way, users can keep their motivation fresh over time, as they are reminded why they wanted to achieve the goal.

Break Down Goals into Manageable Chunks

Users can also create subgoals within a goal to break down intimidating big goals into more manageable steps.

PROGRESSReceive Weekly “Nudges” to Progress

Based on our key takeway on cognitive dissonance, UP will send weekly push notifications to the user’s mobile devices.

The message asks what the user will do this week to get closer to his goal. This feature not only periodically reminds users of their ideal self state and asks them to reflect on their achievements, but also requests users to create and achieve a subgoaland subsequently move closer to the larger goal.

SHAREUpdate and Share Progress with Friends

Users can check in their progress or simply share their experience easily and quickly on the go on mobile devices or at home.

Sharing goals and progress helps maintain motivation to finish the goal, because by allowing friends to know about his goal and progress, the user is more ‘pressured’ to keep to the goal to maintain a reputation.

Receive Feedback and Advice

Social support in the form of feedback or advice can be a very effective fueler. UP aggregates and displays all of the related feedback and comments from various social media sites, such as Facebook or Twitter, onto the user’s timeline.

Visualize Goals and Achievements

UP provides users with a simple and concise visualization of their achievements and experiences in the form of a timeline or a photo collage.

By seeing their own progress and self-improvements over time, users are constantly reminded in a natural way to keep striving for their goal.

These visualizations act as archives of the user’s journey, providing context and mementos to inspire new achievements and reflect on past ones.

A Multi-Platform Experience

UP exists on a mobile phone, tablet device, and on a web browser, taking advantage of the ease of accessibility of mobile phones and the large screen real estate of the web browser and tablet devices.

Users can check-in their progress anytime anywhere on their smartphones. UP uses the larger tablet and web browser screen real estate to create beautiful visualizations of the user’s journey.

REFLECT