Just Women, Just Walk
JWJW
Addressing the lower physical activity rates among women through the integration of wearable technology into a mobile app, to encourage daily walking and reduce health risks
Duration
6 Weeks
My Role
Product Manager
UI/UX Designer
User Researcher
Team
Eileen Theng
Vivian Nguyen
Kristy Ha
Ashlyn Riambon
Janne Ho
Emily Hoang
Hanh Binh Nguyen
Daliana Solis Solis
Brandon Nguyen
Disciplines
UX Design
User Research
Focus Group Interviews
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Prototyping
Mobile Development
Tools
Figma
Google Sheets
Google Forms
Firebase
SwiftUI
Jira
My Role
I assumed the role of product manager, maintaining direct communication with stakeholders, prioritizing features, assigning tasks to team members, and conducting focus group tests. I also contributed as a UX designer, creating sketches, and low-to-high-fidelity mockups, incorporating design feedback, and ensuring the project stayed within the scope.
Our Client
Catherine Jones, founder of Werbie, LLC, a startup focused on developing solutions for women with diabetes, and researcher at George Washington University of Public Health. Jones sought assistance from our team to gather further data and design a mobile application aimed at increasing women's physical activity.
The Problem
Gender Gap in Physical Activity
Gender disparities in physical activity persist, with women engaging at lower rates than men. This lower rate of exercise contributes to a higher risk of various health issues in women, including obesity, depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Additionally, more women (38%) than men (30%) suffer from chronic disease.
Catherine Jones, a public health professor and researcher, is focused on reducing HbA1c levels in women with diabetes. Recognizing that walking is a preferred form of exercise in women with diabetes, she proposed the development of a mobile app based on the behavior model to encourage physical activity. With sufficient research and user interest, she aims to present this to Fitbit for potential implementation.
Proposed Solution
Inspiring Daily Walking With a Mobile App
Objective
Mobile application designed to integrate with wearable devices to promote women's physical activity.
Features
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Summary Report
Community Sharing Feature
Reward System
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Pedometer
Educational Messages & Reminder
UX Research
A Survey Study: Understanding Women's Exercise Barriers and Motivations
We expanded the client's data beyond 200 participants to increase the sample size and to explore the reasons behind women's lower engagement in physical activity compared to men. Our survey aimed to uncover their challenges, motivations, and exercise habits.
Methods: The team utilized a survey based on Jones's template and distributed it through online forums and public areas via a survey link.
Data Collection Procedures: Surveys were created and conducted using Google Forms, with all collected data stored in Google Sheets. Additional data from Jones's survey was also incorporated for further analysis.
Survey Content:
Demographics
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Information on age, race, and ethnicity
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Sex at birth
Socioeconomic Status
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Employment Status
Medical History
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Pre-existing diseases or illnesses
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Doctor physical activity recommendations
Exercise Habits
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Frequency of exercise
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Barriers to exercise
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Exercise motivations
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Walking habits since the COVID pandemic
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Average daily step count
Fitness Tracking
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Details on fitness apps used
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Information from fitness tracking apps
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Satisfaction with fitness trackers
Data Analysis
Motivation, Time Management Issues, and Health Improvement Goals
We received more than 300 responses in total from both surveys.
Our findings indicate that women engage in less activity than men primarily due to time constraints, lack of motivation, and scheduling barriers. We've chosen to prioritize addressing the issue of motivation in our project.
A glimpse of Jones's survey data shared to the team.
Leading Factors Preventing Exercise
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Lack of time
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Lack of motivation
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Work/Scheduling barriers
Motivations to Exercise
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Health improvement
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Stress management
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Weight management
Fitness App Features Liked
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Calories burned
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Progress report
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Progress tracker
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Reminders
Sketches
Features to Elevate Physical Activity
To address the motivation challenge, we identified key features based on participant preferences in fitness apps. Our selected features include:
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Reminders and Messages
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Create an area where users can receive motivational messages to help encourage them to walk or reach their goals.
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Progress Tracker/Report
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Survey participants emphasized the importance of a progress chart (86%), showing their growing progress.
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Reward Message
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Enhance users' positive feelings and motivation regarding their physical activity when reaching their goals.
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Community Sharing
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A feature where users can share pictures of their hikes, exercises, and scenic views. This encourages a sense of belonging and motivates exercise.
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For Jones's ongoing research, we introduced an onboarding feature to collect additional data for her possible collaboration with Fitbit.
To assist in creating these features, I assigned team members to explore other applications' designs to make their sketches. We looked at competitor applications such as Fitbit, Apple Health, and Google Fit for design ideas.
Onboarding
Patterns:
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Information one frame at a time
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Ask survey qualitative information to create an account
Reminders/Messages
Patterns:
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Reminders
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Details of activity benefits
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Educational messages
Rewards
Patterns:
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Confetti shower
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Motivating pop-up message
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Goal reached text
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Progress Tracker
Patterns:
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Calorie-burned tracker
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Progress bar/circle for goal
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Bar graph showing weekly stats
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Statistics:
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Calories, steps, miles
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Wireframes and Mockups
Turning Focus Group Feedback into Mockups
I merged the patterns from our sketches into a final set of sketches, which laid the foundation for our wireframes. Due to time constraints, we moved from wireframes to mockups without design feedback from users.
After completing the low-fidelity mockups, we conducted focus group interviews to present our designs and collected feedback. We made our design decisions from low to mid fidelity based on user feedback, presented in the section below.
Onboarding
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Asks user:
- Basic demographic information, exercise goals and motivations, and any pre-existing health conditions
Reason:
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Collect data for Jones's ongoing research
Messages
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Display all previously received messages
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Enable users to search through messages
Reason:
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Motivational and educational messages to encourage the user
Stats
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Line graph illustrating the user's walking trend
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Calendar highlighting the days when the user reached their walking goal
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Data summary showcasing progress
Reason:
- 86% of survey participants emphasized the importance of progress statistics
- Features common in fitness applications
Daily Tracking
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Daily step tracker
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Weekly bar graph
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Daily motivational message
Reason:
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86% of participants emphasized the importance of progress statistics
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Common features in fitness apps
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Features liked according to our data analysis
Rewards
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Confetti pop-up reward for meeting goals
Reason:
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Enhance users' positive feelings and motivation regarding their physical activity
Mockup Design
A View of the JWJW App
Usability Testing
Feedback and Improvements from Focus Group for JWJW App
Following the initial design iteration, we performed a usability test.
The team conducted a usability test with a focus group of 5 women, who represented various physical activity levels within the age range of 50 to 70 years. We had users provide feedback while interacting with the mockups.
Key Findings:
Our findings showed a preference for a simple, user-friendly app, with little interest in advanced features like food calorie tracking or weight logging. Participants appreciated our clean design and color choices.
Outcome:
We applied feedback from the usability test by categorizing messages and adjusting colors in our updated mockups.
What They Liked
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Color Scheme
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Inclusivity in graphics
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Encouraging and educational messages
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Features in the progress tracking
Suggestions Made
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Ask for the zip code in the onboarding screens to understand economic demographics
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Break down messages into categories of education, mental health, and motivation
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Add a 'minty-green' gradient
Comments Made
"We spoke about these gorgeous screens."
"Fantastic job. I LOVE your drawings. Soft and calm."
"Very positive feedback on this screen. Well done!"
"Another awesome screen. The mountain is soothing."
Implementation
Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Strategy: iOS and Future Android Integration
Platforms and frameworks were selected by our developer.
Development
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XCode 12
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iOS 13+
Frontend
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SwiftUI
Backend
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Firebase
Conclusion
Empowering Women: An App to Boost Physical Activity and Health
Our team designed a mobile app to address the gender gap in women's physical activity. The app prioritized motivation based on key findings from our data analysis of 300 participants.
The app, which includes community sharing, rewards, and educational messages, underwent an iterative design, incorporating feedback from usability tests. The team effectively integrated improvements based on test feedback, resulting in a functional and user-friendly app.
Limitations and Challenges
Project Challenges: Time and Implementation Constraints
Time
The tight 8-week timeline pressured us to prioritize specific app features, resulting in the omission of community, weather, and social media components. Additionally, a 2-week pause due to course management issues hindered our ability to fully develop the design.
Implementation
Due to a shortage of developers, our sole developer encountered difficulties in meeting deadlines and was frequently unresponsive to the team, resulting in limited progress in the app development.
Reflection
What I Learned: Collaboration, Design, and User-Centric Approach
Collaboration and Teamwork
This was my first time working in a cross-functional team. It was interesting to understand how their domain knowledge influenced the decisions they made, and it also allowed me to ask questions about their domain.
Client Interaction and Data Handling
I learned how to take an idea and go through the process of conducting research, data analysis, design, prototyping, and implementation. My team members taught me the importance of structuring and phrasing survey questions to obtain valuable data.
Figma and User-Centric Design
I was able to expand my skills in Figma beyond basic wireframing. While collaborating with more experienced designers, I sought their guidance and observed their work to improve my design skills.