HabitHero: helping users monitor progress towards their fitness goals
Most of my course, with the exception of the Employer Project, focused on improving a specific area of a fictional fitness app. The project was split into three phases, covering user research, ideation, prototyping and usability testing. Together, they gave me practical experience of working through the end to end product design process.
The problem statement was:
'Users of HabitHero struggle to effectively track and measure progress towards their goals, leading to a lack of motivation and difficulty in achieving desired outcomes.
The current version of HabitHero fails to adequately provide users with the tools and feedback necessary to accurately monitor their progress towards their goals, resulting in frustration and disengagement.’
PHASE 1
Hypotheses
I developed these hypotheses after analysing the problem statement and existing minimum viable product (MVP). They helped shape my user research and provided an initial direction for potential design solutions.
H1: We believe users want to be shown their progress towards their goals in a visually clear way. Therefore we think that adding graph visuals to show activity high and low points will result in an increase in user retention as they have dynamic progress tracking.
H2: We believe users want to add more information to create a bigger picture of health and goal success. Therefore we think that adding further tools such as e.g. what activity they did and more options of goals when setting up the account will result in an increase in user acquisition and retention.
H3: We believe users want to have further autonomy over their goals and edit as needed, based on their performance and life commitments. Therefore we think that a goal check-in such as a questionnaire, developed from goal performance insights, will result in an increase in user retention.
H4: We believe users may not want to track calories or BPM as it could be damaging to mental health; or, they find steps and distance too similar. Therefore we think that providing more flexibility with and choice of fitness metrics will result in an increase in user retention.
H5: We believe users feel de-motivated and frustrated if they have to figure out what the app is telling them. Therefore we think that improving UI and consistency will result in an increase in user acquisition and retention.
User research
I conducted five user interviews to understand how people use fitness apps, what motivates them and how they track progress towards their goals. I also asked participants to evaluate the existing MVP. Draft questions included:
Do you currently use any fitness apps? If so, please tell me about them. If not, why?
Do you have any fitness goals?
How does setting goals work for you?
What information about your lifestyle do you think is relevant to achieving any fitness goals?
How do you measure your health goals?
Look at this prototype. Please let me know your thoughts.
User persona and user journey map
Using the findings from the interviews, I created a user persona and journey map. The persona represented a health conscious professional who primarily exercised to support their mental wellbeing.
This insight became the basis for the proposed feature.
New problem statement:
HabitHero users struggle to track progress towards their goals in a personalised way that also considers their mental wellbeing. A strong focus on numerical targets can create pressure rather than motivation, making users less likely to engage with their goals.
The existing app also offers limited flexibility when setting goals and choosing metrics, with little feedback to help users understand or adjust their progress. This creates an opportunity for a more personalised and supportive approach to goal tracking.
Phase 2
Visualising a storyboard
User flows
I created happy, alternative and unhappy user flows to explore how users might move through the proposed solution, including where they could encounter problems.
Low-fidelity ideation
I used pen and paper sketches and Figma wireframes to explore potential solutions, including a mental wellbeing check in and emotion based goal setting.
The emotion rating pop up, designed to appear in the morning and evening
An initial concept for the full goal check in process, from reviewing insights to adjusting goals based on the app's suggestions
A simplified alternative for the goal check in process
Mid-fidelity designs for usability testing and improvements
After the ideation process, selected designs were chosen to be used for usability testing. They were then refined based on a simple emotion rating with a clear scale, and a more thorough goal check-in. The designs below are results from usability testing feedback, where main issues arose from wording (goals instead of plans; too much text on homepage); adding more emojis to the pop up scales (as the original three was too reductive); and making UI elements more consistent.
Morning and evening emotion rating pop ups, with the evening check in prompted after the user views an activity later in the day
The goal check in pop up, showing personalised insights and suggestions
Phase 3
I applied the style guide, design principles and findings from my user research to develop the final high fidelity designs.
The first flow shows the morning check in, which appears when the user opens the app. It then moves to Notifications, where the user is reminded to complete their monthly goal check in. From there, they can review insights showing how their goal progress aligns with their emotion ratings.
The second flow shows the evening check in, where the user records how they feel after completing the day's activities.
I chose different daytime and nighttime colourways to create a gentle wake up and wind down experience, supporting the wider mindfulness theme of the project.