Google Fit

Research Goals

Planning

The first action in this project was to define the problem by hearing from patients themselves on what aspect of AD is the most debilitating for them and how they are currently managing their health.

What I needed to investigate:

1. What is top priority for individuals with Atopic Dermatitis?

2. How do health apps help build users habits?

3. What is the most helpful way of tracking eczema flares?

Research Methodology

Strategizing, Conducting

Primary Research:

Research to answer specific questions.

• Customer Interviews: Interviews with patients to understand what it is like to have eczema, what makes it difficult to track, and what features users would be interested in.

  I chose to conduct these interviews because hearing straight from patients was crucial to define the problem correctly and to hear from them on how they use apps.

  Participant Demographic: 3 individuals who have been diagnosed with eczema.

Secondary Research:

Research on available statistics and examples.

• Topic Research: Existing research (articles, medical journals) on Atopic Dermatitis to understand patient challenges.

  I needed to research this condition extensively because there is a wealth of research available on treatments and triggers and it is not a part of my daily experience.

• Competitive Analysis: Research to understand the current market for skincare apps (what competitors have done/are doing).

  I chose to look at other eczema and health tracking apps available on the market in order to learn from what they have tried successfully and unsuccessfully.

Research Findings

Synthesizing, Product Plan

Customer Interviews:

After conducting interviews I gathered the following insights from patients themselves.

Patient’s top priorities:

• Help in building a habit for applying lotion

• Finding out which triggers are setting off eczema flares

Feedback on forming habits:

• Using a spreadsheet is way too hard to keep up with daily tracking

• The battle is fighting a resigned and lazy attitude

• Reminders work more effectively than manual data entry

Tips for eczema flare tracking:

• Timestamp information is helpful for communicating with doctors

• Tracking any time that medications switch can help depict if it is working

Topic Research:

After delving into available research, I found the following triggers and treatments for AD.

Competitive Analysis:

I explored and compared several health tracking apps and eczema specific apps on the market. One commonality I noticed is how fitness apps rely on habit formation.

Similar apps use the following patterns to motivate users:

• clear and beautiful data visibility

• engaging interface

• sensory reward system for logging data consecutively

Wearable Technology:

Manual entry is the most common barrier for users to keep up with a habit-based app. To solve for this, some apps such as FitBit utilize physical sensors for collecting health data.

• PfiRe Labs created a wristband sensor that detects scratching movements for tracking purposes. Though this is only currently available for research, it is likely this will become available to the public. This may be helpful for tracking nighttime itching for eczema patients.

 Research Summary

Through the use of customer interviews, topic research, and competitor analysis I gained the following insights in response to the original research goals:

1. Users primarily need help with forming habits and tracking triggers.

2. Reminders help users stay on track with their daily habits.

3. Visually representing data makes is motivating and useful for users.

Persona

Creating a representative Google Fit Skincare customer profile

This profile was based off customer interviews for the purpose of guiding design decisions and keeping real user needs in mind.

Participants in these interviews voiced how disruptive eczema can be in their lives once they have a flare. They also noted how confusing it can be to find out what is causing their flare. Since treatment for eczema is often a medication taken or applied daily, it is challenging to remember these small daily habits.

Age—26

Location—San Francisco, CA

Occupation—Web Developer

Bio

May was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis 6 years back. She has flares about every 2 weeks and it gets worse in the winter. She started to feel more urgent about finding a treatment plan lately because she feels anxious in the mornings about going in to work. She tried switching treatment, but can’t figure out what causes her flares.

Goals

• To understand what triggers her flares

• To find a treatment plan that works and to keep to it

Frustrations

• Her flares seem to come randomly

• She has difficulty tracking the many triggers that affect her

• It is easy to forget to take her medication

Preliminary Site Map

Originally I approached adding habit tracking as a separate app that would integrate and display its data within Google Fit, sharing Google design guidelines. Many apps operate in this way including Calm, Nike+ Run Club, and Runkeeper.

The site map below illustrates the layout for an independent app linking to the Google Fit home page. Users can view data through skincare card, but they will need to input skincare habits through the independent app. As I was designing, it became clear that it would be a confusing experience to track data in a separate app.

Iterated Site Map

I had first planned to utilize Google Fit UI to provide a more cohesive experience across both apps, but this also would be confusing if the app was a separate entity from Google Fit. Therefore, instead of designing an app to simply send data to Google Fit, I decided to pivot my approach and designed a feature nested within Google Fit itself. This circumvents the unnecessary complications of needing 2 apps to accomplish the similar tasks.

The site map below reflects this shift to show alerts routing straight to the Google Fit home page and a new card named “Skincare”. New functionality has been assigned to the FAB for logging habits in addition to logging activities.

Exploring the task completion process.

Since interview participants all voiced how reminders would be helpful in keeping up with habits, I chose to focus specifically on a users experience starting from receiving a reminder notification on their phone. I chose to explore how Google Fit reflects changes after the user completes that reminder task.

 High Fidelity Screens

Realizing the product

Once the information architecture was established and a UI Kit was developed, these two came together to flesh out original high-fidelity mockups.

Logging Activity

Adding a Habit

Home Dashboard