A gamification healthy lifestyle application

Go from design to site with Framer, the web builder for creative pros.

Learn More

Get Started

Design Process

Follow the design process of the Double Diamond model to ensure a true understanding of the problem and thoroughly test the solution

The design process for this project will utilise the UK Design Council's Double Diamond Model, a framework widely used in the field of design thinking. The model emphasises the concept of user-centred design. It consists of four distinct phases: Discovery, Definition, Development and Delivery, each representing a specific stage in the design process.

Desk research

User research

Affinity diagrams

Discover

Define

Develop

Deliver

Persona
Customer Journey Map

High-fidelity Prototype

Usability testing

Wireframes

Information Architecture
Crazy 8s

Desk Research 01

Establish a basic knowledge of project-related areas by researching background information

While looking at background information on NCDs, we are also looking at key modifiable behavioural risk factors for NCDs as well as current issues and challenges.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death in the world today

The World Health Organisation (2022) states that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death in the world today, mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, which are closely linked to people's lifestyles.

Annual deaths from NCDs

Other causes

74%

41 million

Key modifiable behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases

Key modifiable behavioural risk factors for NCDs include, for example, tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and alcohol abuse.

• Tobacco is responsible for more than 8 million deaths per year (including deaths caused by exposure to second-hand smoke).

• 1.8 million deaths per year can be attributed to excessive salt/sodium intake.

• More than half of the 3 million deaths per year attributable to harmful use of alcohol are due to non-communicable diseases, including cancer.

• There are 830,000 deaths per year attributable to physical inactivity.

Annual deaths from NCD risk factors

Tobacco use

2 million

4 million

6 million

10 million

8 million

Physical inactivity

Excess salt/sodium intake

Harmful alcohol use

Problems and challenges

Prevention through the development of a range of responses will make it possible to reduce premature deaths from NCDs. While we have recognized the impact of these modifiable behavioural factors on NCDs, there are a number of issues and challenges to changing people's unhealthy behaviours.

Insufficient participation

Despite the resources and interventions invested by the Government and the health sector that are in place, low participation and adherence rates are frequently reported.

cognitive deficit

There is a lack of health knowledge and awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how to adopt positive health behaviours.

Lack of motivation

A significant barrier to behavioural change is the lack of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and individuals may struggle to adopt and maintain healthier lifestyles.

sustainability

The process of changing an individual's unhealthy behaviour is one that requires sustained effort. Many people have difficulty staying the course over time.

Desk Research 02

Provide the necessary theoretical support for the project by examining the literature on gamification

An in-depth understanding of the origins, development history, core concepts and key principles of gamification theory provides important theoretical support and guidance for subsequent design.

Gamification

The theory of gamification is widely used in various fields. One of the earliest and most popular definitions is provided by Deterding et al. (2011), who define gamification as ‘the use of game design elements in non-game environments’. This definition emphasises the integration of game elements and mechanics into systems or activities that are not traditionally associated with games. In addition, the definition emphasises that game mechanics are applied to enhance user engagement and user experience.
The most common game element elements elements of gamification include challenges, rewards, competition, hierarchies, achievement systems, role-playing, and more.

Tasks and challenges

achievement

role-playing

ranking

reward

competitiveness

Project Objective

Design a personal healthy lifestyle app and apply gamification design to promote users to improve their unhealthy behaviours and enhance their engagement in healthy lifestyles such as eating habits and physical activity.

User Research

In order to gain a deeper understanding of our target user group and build empathy, we conducted user research to drive our planning phase

In order to gain a deeper understanding of users' needs, pain points, behavioural patterns and expectations, this project adopts user interviews as the core user research methodology.Problems are identified through user research in order to guide the design of subsequent products, which helps to develop products that are more in line with users' expectations.

User interviews are a common user-centred design (UCD) method of user research, in which a purposeful, planned and methodical verbal conversation is used to understand users' needs, experiences and expectations.In this project, semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection method, in which the interviewer had a set of pre-determined questions or themes, but was also given the flexibility to ask follow-up questions and explore new areas of interest that emerged during the interview process in order to explore the respondent's perspectives, experiences, and opinions in greater depth. The questions for the interviews were designed to take into account a number of areas such as past experiences, motivations, behaviours, pain points, expectations and perceptions of feedback and reward mechanisms.

Semi-structured user interview

Participants were recruited primarily on university campuses. Participant inclusion criteria were age 18 years and over.Participants needed to be within the UK. Participants should not have any special health conditions such as disabilities or chronic illnesses. The project is looking for participants who are individuals who are interested in healthy lifestyles and have a diverse background of experience. The study encourages participation from those who already have some knowledge of health and are willing to explore new ways to optimise their lifestyle. At the same time, people who have a strong interest in healthy lifestyles but lack the relevant knowledge and experience are also welcome in the study. After screening, three eligible participants were finally invited to participate in the interviews.

interviewees

Which of the following categories do you fall under?

Have you used any digital services or apps to manage or enhance your healthy lifestyle?

Areyou still consistently using these digital services or apps?

Howwould you rate the experience and efficacy of these digital services or apps?

Whyare you inclined to use a healthy lifestyle app?

Pleasedescribe your process when using such digital services or apps.

In which scenarios do you typically use these digital services or apps?

What challenges or difficulties have you encountered while adoptingor maintaining a healthy lifestyle?

Whatare your expectations from a personal health lifestyle digital app?

What features would you like to see that cater to your health needs?

What are your thoughts on motivational measures, and how do they influence your participation and enthusiasm?

Which feedback mechanisms do you believe assist you inenhancing your healthy lifestyle?

• Beginner (Interested in a healthy lifestyle, but lacks knowledge and experience, might need basic guidance and support to start their health journey)

• Sustainer (Already has adopted some steps of a healthy lifestyle and wishes to maintain it long-term, needs ongoing motivation and feedback to continue)

• Others (Please specify)

Q10

Q11

Q12

Pastexperience or product usage

Motivation

Behavior

Pain Points

Expectations

Perspectives on Feedback & RewardMechanisms

Question No.

Interview questions

Focus

Completed interviews

minutes

Interview duration

The interview took place on Zoom

Affinity Diagram

Following the semi-structured interviews, we analysed the qualitative data using Affinity Diagram, where we extracted key sentences or ideas, grouped similar responses, and presented key insights

The extracted key sentences or ideas are categorised and organised according to relevance, and each group is next analysed to summarise the main findings. This helps to better understand user needs and behaviours and provides guidance for further design and development work.

Expectations and needs

Motivation

Pain points and challenges

Perspectives on feedback and incentives

Past experience with products or services

Usage Scenarios

Hope to get professional guidance

I want to develop good habits

Lack professional knowledge when starting out

Incentive measures are effective and enhance my enthusiasm

Used this type of health management mobile app before

Clear-logic apps offer better user experience

A clean interface makes for a good experience

Smart health plan recommendations enhanced my experience

App is cumbersome and not a good experience

don't have much patience to delve into these apps

Use health apps at home and at the gym

Use it in the office during work hours

Use these apps at home

Social aspects, levels, online leaderboards, and data recording mechanisms help me

Incentive measures have a positive impact on my participation

Encouragement from friends helps me maintain long-term commitment

Incentive mechanisms are crucial for maintaining my motivation

Want continuous positive feedback

Physical rewards can also motivate

Don't know how to start

Hard to stick to it for a long time

Maintaining healthy lifestyles is boring

Feel lost

aware of a healthy lifestyle

Want to stick to it in the long term

Help me develop healthy habits

I need to rectify poor lifestyle choices and behaviors

I have specific goals

Hoping for an interesting experience

The guidance should be scientifically based

Content should be easy to understand and interesting

Clearly see my daily goals

Key Insight

A personalised starter guide is provided to guide users step-by-step through the importance of a healthy lifestyle and advise them to start with simple changes and gradually increase the challenge.

Provides an easy-to-follow healthy lifestyle programme with actionable daily action steps and goals to help users build healthy habits.

Streamline the user interface to make it easy to understand and use, reducing user hesitation and doubt about functionality.

Provide personalised challenges and goals, community support and a reward system that allows users to feel valued for their participation and a sense of belonging, promoting long-term persistence.

Provides real-time progress tracking features, including statistics on health data, goal achievement, etc., as well as regular personalised progress reports and feedback, allowing users to have a clear understanding of their current status.

Problem 01

Solution

Problem 02

Problem 03

Problem 04

Problem 05

Lack of expertise on how to make a plan

Difficult to maintain over time

Unaware of their current progress

Feeling lost, not knowing how to start

Unwilling to take the time to research

Persona

In order to gain a vivid and in-depth understanding of our target users, and to ensure that design decisions are made from the perspective of real users' needs and pain points, we have produced Personas

Based on the results of the analysis of the user study data, two main user groups were identified.

They were beginners, and healthy lifestyle maintainers. After understanding the main characteristics of these two user groups, personas were designed for each type of user.

Customer Journey Map

Another integral step in understanding how users interact with a product or service is mapping the customer journey

Customer Journey Mapping (CJM) provides a holistic view of the user experience from the first contact to the long term. By visualising the various touchpoints users encounter, CJM highlights areas of delight, apathy and friction. This approach ensures that designers and stakeholders can identify opportunities to enhance and address pain points.

Information Architecture

Develop an information architecture to ensure that users have the best possible user experience

At this stage we develop the information architecture (IA) of the product. It is a visual representation of the product's infrastructure, functionality and hierarchy. The IA defines every pathway and route a user can take through the application, it is more than just a site map showing where a page leads.

Crazy 8s

Generate a large number of conceptual solutions quickly with Crazy 8s

During the divergent thinking phase, Crazy 8s was able to generate a lot of ideas quickly, which helped us to think deeply and explore different design directions quickly.

Low-Fidelity Prototypes

After a quick conceptualisation of the Crazy 8, the next step was to create a low-fidelity prototype to further refine the concept.

In order to quickly test design concepts in the early stages of design so that they can be improved in subsequent designs, a low-fidelity prototype is produced. It is a simplified form of design presentation that can be drawn on paper or on a computer and focuses primarily on functionality, interaction and information architecture rather than detail and final visual design. Digital wireframes can provide a quick, cost-effective, and easily modified way to present, test, and iterate on design concepts.

Usability Testing

After completing the design of the low-fidelity prototype, the next stage is to test the low-fidelity prototype to ensure that the prototype has resolved most of the usability issues before moving on to the high-fidelity design stage

At this stage we invited two evaluators with professional backgrounds in service design to conduct a heuristic evaluation of the low-fidelity prototype, which is a cost-effective way of identifying usability issues in the user interface at an early stage so that they can be addressed during the iterative process. This is an expert evaluation method where one or more evaluators independently examine the user interface and identify problems based on recognised usability principles.

Task 1：Login and Registration

Task 2: Experiencing Diet Module

Task 3: Experiencing Physical Activity Module

Task 4: Experiencing the Smoking Cessation Module

Task 5: Experience the Alcohol Control Module

Task 6: Experience Community Module

Task 7: Experience the Points Store

Task 8: Experiencing the ‘Me’ section

Help Users Recognize, Diagnose & Recover from Errors

Help & Documentation

Recognition Rather than Recall

Aesthetic & Minimalist Design

Flexibility & Efficiency of Use

Consistency & Standards

Visibility of System Status

User Control & Freedom

Error Prevention

Match Between System & the Real World

10 Usability Heuristics

Heuristic Evaluation Results

Visibility of system status

Task2: Plus Icons Create Confusion

N/A

No issues identified

Replace with a more appropriate icon

Optimise login and registration page

Add quick login option

Add categories to Points Store

Optimise login and registration page

Add Forgot Password Recovery Button

Add missing back button

Add action buttons to challenge page

Add quick post function

Addhistory of exchange in Points Store

No issues identified

Task6:Posts cannot be categorised

Task1:The login and registration page is cumbersome

Task1:Forgot password cannot be changed

No issues identified

Task5: Welcome page cannot return to previousstep

Task7: Unable to view exchange history

Task1:Cannot go back to previous step in registrationpage

Task2: Unable to edit change challenge

Task1:Lack of back button on login registrationpage

Task2:Questionnaire page can not return to the previous step

Task6:Unable to post

Task7: Unable to view exchange history

Task1:The login and register buttons are notdifferentiated, which is confusing

No issues identified

Task1:There is no option to retrieve forgotten password

No issues identified

Task1:No quick login option

Task7: Points shop can't be filtered by category

Match between system and the real world

User control and freedom

Consistency and standards

Error prevention

Recognition rather than recall

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover fromerrors

Help and documentation

No.

Heuristic Principle

Evaluator 1 Observations

Evaluator 2 Observations

Evaluator 1 Severity

Evaluator 2 Severity

Combined Recommendations

High-fidelity Prototype

Further development of high-fidelity prototypes based on test results and user feedback

High-fidelity prototyping is a further evolution of low-fidelity prototyping, which provides a more refined and realistic representation of the appearance, functionality, and interaction details of the final product. With high-fidelity prototyping, it is possible to get a clearer picture of the product's appearance and functionality, and thus evaluate its experience more intuitively. In this phase, we improve and optimise the issues found in the testing phase.

Users can sign in or register on this page and retrieve their passwords. In order to simplify the registration process, users are provided with the option to sign in quickly using their Google account. New users will be redirected to the guidance and questionnaire page after successful registration, while existing users will be redirected to the homepage after successful login.