Within, Self-Love Coaching
a Wellness App
Role
UX Designer
Team
Individual
Time
2 weeks
Tools
Adobe XD
Useberry
Brief
Create a Wellness App connecting professionals with their clients, partnering with the National Wellness Institute.
I chose to focus on the practice of Self-Love with a coach.
My process will follow the Double Diamond of the Design Thinking method.
DISCOVER
Secondary Research
Business Analysis
Market Research
User Research
DEFINE
Research Synthesis
Problem Statements
How Might We’s
DEVELOP
Ideation
Prioritization
Jobs to be Done
MVP
Information Architecture
DELIVER
Prototyping
Brand Building
User Testing
Metrics
Takeaways
DISCOVER
Business Analysis & Market Research
Using a Lean UX Canvas, I uncovered the following information:
Business Problem
lack of tools & resources
lack of accountability
lack of human interaction
Outcomes
more consistent app use (loyalty)
positive reviews
growth in download numbers
Users
self-love coach-seekers/clients
people with low and/or inconsistent self-love
Benefits
keep themselves accountable and motivated
overall rise in self-love
improvement in quality of life
Through a competition feature analysis, and by looking at both direct and indirect competitors on the market such as self-care and organization apps, as well as actual self-love coaches, I realized two important features were lacking: the possibility to customize your experience and to set goals and track your progress.
The market positioning chart, allowed to uncover the blue ocean areas of the market, where I could place my app in order to have the least direct competition possible.
Here, if we only look at direct competitors such as Remente and Fabulous, they both have goal setting and progress tracking options, however, there is still room for improvement in the level of personalization of the process, which will be our opportunity area.
User Research
I also created a survey in order to collect quantitative data.
It revealed that:
80%
believe Self-Love is important
50.3%
don’t practice Self-Love
62%
wish they had access to more Self-Love resources
Finally, the most sought-after features on such apps are:
habit settings
goals setting and progress tracking
mental coaching
concrete exercises
extra resources
Additionally, in order to gather deeper insights on my users, as qualitative data, I conducted interviews, from which I picked out the following quotes:
“People have to understand, before helping others, you need to help yourself.”
« It’s easy to get lost in the routine of daily life and neglect small but necessary acts of care. »
DEFINE
Research Synthesis
I created this affinity map to regroup my findings under common themes.
I was able to identify the recurring patterns of my users such as a lack of efficient tools and motivations; and the potential gains like opportunities for self-discovery, putting their happiness first, and creating long-term healthy habits.
I also used a Value Proposition Canvas as a mental model of the customer, to recognize the functional emotional and social jobs our users are hiring similar life coaching apps for, which also helps highlighting additional pain points, such as a feeling of “made-up” positivity, a lack of efficient tools and explanations, and a shallow approach.
Thanks to the previous research conducted, I was able to create a user persona.
Confident Cara is based on accurate data and represents the primary user.
She wants to be more confident and to establish routines that help her be more focused and motivated in her daily life while making time for herself.
This tool allowed to emphasize continuously throughout the process with the targeted customers.
Going even further, I used an empathy map.
I was able to emphasize even further with the users, really analyzing their motivations, next to their goals, and other contextual factors.
I uncovered that they might be reluctant to use such apps because they believe they might be too “shallow,” spreading “made-up” positivity while not really helping them reach their goal and only focusing on the money they make.
They also feel guilty for wanting to enhance their self-love, believing it might be egotistical, and/or narcissistic of them, because of society’s beliefs on this concept.
Finally, I created an As-Is scenario, looking at what users do, think, and feel at each stage of their experience.
This tool allows for a deeper understanding of the motives of the user, as well as the potential impacts our product could have on their experience, going all the way to the emotional level of it.
Here, I decided to look at a typical day of a potential user with the following phases: morning routine, trip to work, at work, after activities, and night routine.
Additionally, using a user journey map, I looked at the specific experience of my user persona, taking them through that daily journey, which allowed me to uncover the opportunity areas associated with their pain points when they do not have access to an app like mine.
The opportunities for design laid in the morning routine phase, the trip to work, and the night routine.
Problem Statements
Our potential users are having a hard time being active and establishing a healthy routine because they do not have enough motivation.
Our potential users are having a hard time staying positive throughout the day because they do not have access to the necessary tools/resources.
Our potential users are having a hard time finding time for themselves because they don’t prioritize and/or organize their activities efficiently.
How Might We’s
How might we help users establish healthy and invigorating daily routines?
How might we help users stay positive and motivated throughout the day?
How might we help users allow time for themselves and for self-discovery?
DEVELOP
With these in mind, I was able to go on to the developing stage, starting with a brainstorming session, coming up with a total of 45 potential features and solutions.
Ideas Prioritization
I created a MoSCoW and Value vs Effort matrix, classifying the ideas into four categories and only focusing on the ones that landed into the “must-have” and “should-have” for the rest of my process.
Indeed, the one falling into the “could-have” and “won’t-have” categories either required too much effort to implement or did not bring enough value to the user and/or the company for now.
The next step was to complete the product side of the value proposition canvas which uncovers how/if our product will alleviate customer’s pains, as well as the gains they get out from it.
In this case, I looked at the features that I previously classified as “Must Haves” and “Should Haves.”
The main pain relievers were avoiding frustrations along the user’s personal growth journey and avoiding losing motivation.
The main gains creators were for them to feel proud of and realize their progress, as well as to building healthier habits and have constant access to helpful tools.
Main Job Story
When in an optic of enhancing their overall life and mental health quality, users want to have access to self-love tools and resources, so that they can further structure their process and acknowledge their advancements, which makes them feel more successful in their quest.
Product Job Story
When using self-love coaching apps, users want to be able to customize their experience, so that they can set their own goals, track their process, and build a program that works for them, which makes them feel motivated, supported, and well accompanied.
MVP
A wellness app connecting clients to their self-love coach, allowing for goal setting, feedback, reviews, self-check-ins, and access to numerous tools and resources.
It also carries reminders to stay on track and motivated.
Information Architecture
The user flow has three leading happy paths.
1. First-time users logging onto the app, setting up reminders, preferences, a goal, and making an appointment with their coach.
2. Users simply writing their daily journal entry
3. Users completing their daily exercise, issued by their coach.
In order to help structure the app, I created an open card sorting test, which I then presented to three people, with the following results:
Finally, with that information in mind, I made a sitemap.
It mainly just helped decide on the organization of my navigation and the information that would live on the landing page.
DELIVER
Low Fidelity Prototype
Going onto the delivering stage, I first drew my lo-fi prototypes, which I then presented to five people. They had three different tasks to complete, according to the previously mentioned happy paths.
On this screen, testers were confused as to why they had to input a time.
I deduced that either the wording on this page was not clear enough, or the flow did not make sense to the users.
This screen was also somewhat confusing to testers, but mainly because of the lack of possible interactions.
2/5 users also went to look for the “profile” tab at the top right of the page, but agreed it also made sense to have it at the bottom.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Going on to my mid-fi, I made a few tweaks following the previous feedback I got. Although I thought most issues would be resolved with higher-quality prototypes.
This screen received a high number of misclicks because testers expected more interaction opportunities.
2/5 testers did not finish the first mission, which was because they found themselves stuck after taking a wrong path, or because they did not understand the second part of the task.
5/5 testers finished the 2 other missions without any apparent troubles.
They agreed to say the flows were easy to navigate and instinctive.
Brand Building
In order to start styling my product, I defined the brand attributes
Wholesome
Truthful
Honest
Reliable
Friendly
The mood board gave a fitting visual direction to my design.
Desirability testing uncovered that it represented well the brand attributes.
People said it made them feel optimistic and positive.
“I see a story here, with a girl crying, getting help and information, then achieving her goal and practicing self-love.”
-Ari
For the style tile & atomic design, I chose to use hand-drawn icons and fun illustrations to reinforce the brand attributes.
High Fidelity Prototype
Going on to my mid-fi, I made a few tweaks following the previous feedback I got. Although I thought most issues would be resolved with higher-quality prototypes.
In order to assess if the product has hit its objectives, as well as to gain more insight on users’ behaviors, and in order to make informed future decisions for both designers and stakeholders, I determined the following success metrics and failure metrics.
Success Metrics
Positive reviews
Increase in downloading rates
High number of consistent users
High NPS (Net Promotion Score)
Coach’s positive feedback
High task completion rates
High app ratings
Positive progress for users towards their goals
Failure Metrics
Negative reviews
Low or non-increasing downloading rates
Low NPS
Low completion rates
Low ratings
Users don’t progress
Low number of consistent users
Key Takeaways
My learnings from this project were that it is primary to come back to your research, especially when feeling you’re deviating from your jobs to be done. That was reinforced by the fact that it was a two weeks sprint. Being used to four days projects, I felt a little disconnected to my research at times.
I also had to take a few steps back during my hi-fi building process to notice that I was not fully satisfied with the design direction I was taking. I did some more bench benchmarking before starting over.
Finally, I learned a lot by doing especially for micro-interactions in my prototype, and it was extremely satisfying to see it all come to life.