CLIENT
Self-ideated
FOCUS AREA
Mobile application (onboarding, adding goal, and dashboard)
USER
Busy, easily distracted individuals with a desire to accomplish and try more
METHODS
Deep Dive, Directed Storytelling, Information Architecture Diagramming, Wireframing, Interactive Prototyping, Usability Testing
MY ROLE: Sole researcher and designer for this project: conducted directed storytelling sessions, created digitized wireframes, mapped an information architecture diagram, directed usability tests, and designed an interactive prototype.
OPPORTUNITY SPACE
Examine how people currently track their goals and wishlists
Simplify the process of entering goals, so each step is easy to visualize
Increase the likelihood of users continuing to make progress on their goals
IDEATED SOLUTION
Provide a mobile application for people to log and track their goals
Create a process that is not overwhelming and is helpful to people wanting to accomplish more in life
Develop positive and encouraging tracking of goals, so users have a desire to follow through on their goals
INTRO:
Lots of Lists
107. That is the number of lists I have in the notes app of my phone. Today, there are countless options for each decision a person makes. Technology has inundated people’s lives with the ability to experience and accomplish almost anything. When people feel small spurts of inspiration, they write things down. Bucket lists become buried in dusty notebooks or deep in the archives of a person’s phone. I set out to build a mobile application that helped people keep track and organize these bucket list items.
RESEARCH:
Behind the Bucket List
I wanted to understand what already existed in this space, so I conducted a deep dive into bucket lists. I discovered that most people have one and there are currently dozens of apps available to help people accomplish their bucket list items. These lists are deeply personal and are often filled with things as small as reading a book to something as momentous as traveling to Antarctica.
(Lack of) Success Stories
At this point, I needed to sit down with people and learn what made keeping track of these lists so difficult. Through directed storytelling, I was able to hear people’s approach to organizing their wishlist items, but also people’s approach to accomplishing these items. What I found was people were willingly choosing to avoid their wishlist items. Learning new skills, and engaging in unfamiliarity in general, was exhausting. It was easier for people to do things that were routine than to do something new (even if it was something they had been excited about accomplishing).
After conducting directed storytelling sessions, I synthesized my research into common themes. I was able to understand that people aren’t necessarily struggling to keep track of these lists, they are having a difficult time figuring out how to accomplish the things on the lists.
Making Adjustments to Actions
I shifted the focus of the mobile application to be a place where people could log their goals in a meaningful and customized way. Each goal logged could be tracked from start to finish with positive reminders along the way.
In order to make an app that encourages people act on these goals, I needed to understand what humans are motivated by and how to harness that motivation. I used a Behavioral Economics framework to generate a hypothesis as to why people don’t engage with their wishlists more often and also ideas to nudge people toward accomplishing their goals.
The principles I chose to focus on were:
what-the-hell effect: people give up on their goal once they’ve fallen off
planning fallacy: when planning, people under estimate the resources needed to meet their goal.
implementation intentions: people are more likely to do something when they specify how, when, and where they will do it (specificity is key).
reward substitutions: immediate rewards which appeal to people’s impulsive nature are used to motivate behaviors that are beneficial in the long run.
These are at the core of human’s decision making and by understanding how people work within these principles allowed me to create solutions that pivoted users during points of decision making.
DESIGN:
Drafting the Design
I created a user flow diagram of the key paths and features users would be able to interact with. This allowed me to understand which areas of the app were crucial. I knew it was important for people to break their goals down into smaller steps while also receiving positive encouragement along the entire journey of accomplishing their goal.
Wireframing the Way Out
My wireframes and prototype centered around people feeling supported and not overwhelmed as they moved through many screens prompting them to break their goal down into manageable parts.
Through using the Behavioral Economics principles, I focused on creating the following features:
Positive and personalized reminders, so users would not give up on goals even if they had slipped up on their plan
Visualization of goals in smaller parts, so the individual can be realistic about steps needed to accomplish the goal
Specificity in phases and reminders needed to accomplish goals to provide distinct steps as to how and when steps would be taken
A dashboard where users can see their progress and are motivated to keep going
RESEARCH:
Piloting the Prototype
I tested my prototype with users in order to assess and refine my designs. Users had a positive response and overall enjoyed the clear steps and the engaging dashboard. Only minor adjustments to the flow and the way things were worded were requested.
In the future, the app could be further developed to include a map feature for people to track where they have been and where they would like to go. I would also love to test with users by having them log and track a goal of their own from start to finish to test my hypothesis that adding positivity and specificity to goals provides people with the tools to actually accomplish those goals.
CONCLUSION:
Conjuring Change
What I wasn’t expecting during this project was how deeply tied to human psychology this topic is. Learning a new hobby is not mindless, and an app alone cannot change human behavior. Humans also need to have a desire to take action. The app I created seeks to help people along their journey by asking users to visualize their goal in smaller parts and receive positive rewards and reminders along the way.