Case Study Olive App
Project for UX/UI Design Course from CareerFoundry
Introduction
Challenge
To design a mobile app that motivates people to live more healthy.
Project Brief
The brief was, to design an inclusive web app that provides health and wellness information, as well as a way for users to store health and medical information and appointments. The basic app requirements were an onboarding page, sign-up and log in, a dashboard, a menu, a feature to store medical and health information and an education and training feature. A gamified component involving points, badges or rewards was optional.
Process
By means of a competitive analysis, positive and negative approaches were examined by comparing three fitness / mental wellbeing / sleep apps. The resulting questions were used to survey potential users. Two user personas were created from their answers. An information architecture was created taking into account the wishes and needs of the user persona. On this basis, the first wireframes and prototypes were created, which in turn were iterated after a usability test.
Goal
To create an easy-to-use, comprehensive well-being app for both a younger target audience with some experience in healthy lifestyle and for an older target audience with no knowledge in how to live healthy.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Project Scale
9 Months
Stakeholder
CareerFoundry UI/UX Course
Used Tools
- Figma
- Photoshop
Competitive Analysis
Two existing apps were analyzed to better understand the market and to get an idea of what's state of the art in the wellbeing app segment : BetterMe and Lifesum. They were very intuitive in structure, but had different functionalities and content. These different approaches are of course also due to the target group. After analysis (and the user interviews), I decided to focus more on an easy usability and design an app that elderly people and would understand and user with no experience in a healthy lifestyle utilize too.
Target group
- young fitness enthusiasts, 25–45 years old, experience with apps & a healthy lifestyle
Functions
- Exercise Plans
- Training Videos
- Recipes
- Health tracking with own tracker
- Body Data insights
- Personal Health Coach
- Community
- Comprehensive Statistics
Target group
- young fitness enthusiasts, 25–45 years old, experience with apps & a healthy lifestyle
Functions
- Database for food
- Recipes
- Nutrition Plans
- Tracking of food
- Rating of food
- Barcode scanner for food
SWOT Analysis
I created a SWOT Analysis for both BetterMe and Lifesum to summarize Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in comparison with the Olive App I'll develop. From the SWOT Analysis, I can deduce insights for the target group, content and features of the Olive App.
User Interviews
The user research phase was about finding out what prevents or motivates people to live a healthy lifestyle. When selecting the interviewees, people with different ages, user behavior and fitness level (experience in a healthy lifestyle) were chosen who want to be healthier.
Interview Questions
- What do you do for a healthy lifestyle?
- What kind of apps do you use to track information about your health?
- What content and functionalities did you enjoy when using these apps?
- What type of content and functionalities do you expect from an app like this? Why?
- What motivates you to start using a well-being app?
- What could you prevent from using a well-being app?
- What do you think of uploading and using your health data in a well-being app?
- Would you use the help of a health expert through an app? If yes, why?
- What could you motivate to use advice from a health expert you don’t know?
- How would you like to communicate with this expert (email, chat, video call)?
- What can help to keep you motivated to use this app?
Key Takeaways
- Statistics, that show progress and motivate, are important
- The app should be easy to use and offer easy to understand content
- Some interviewees have concerns when uploading personal health data
- The upload should guarantee, that data is stored safely and is not sold to other companies
- Interviewees like to get advice from a health expert
- Interviewees like to speak with them through video
- The expertise of the experts should be proven (certificates, CV, reviews)
- The experts should be likable (nice photos, maybe videos of them)
- Some interviewees like statistics that show progress
- Gamification elements like points, rankings and rewards are important to some interviewees
User Personas
Chris
About
- 40 years old
- Developer
- Married, 2 kids
- Lives in Berlin, Germany
Needs & Goals
- wants all information for a healthy lifestyle in one app
- wants proven expert that helps to be healthier
- likes statistics and gamification features
- wants an app that motivates with rewards & rankings
Behaviors
- likes to work out in the gym and run outside
- tries to sleep 7 hours a day
- tries to and eat less meat and sugar
- tries to eat more vegetables
Motivations
- keep in shape, feel healthy
- wants individual consultation
- wants to see progress in the app
Frustrations
- looses motivation to do sports
- schedule is too packed
- research everything for a healthy lifestyle is tiring
Hildegard
About
- 70 years old
- Housewife
- Married, 2 kids, 3 grandkids
- Lives in Witten, Germany
Needs & Goals
- want personal information based on health & lifestyle
- Explanations from proven expert
- Easy to use video function through the app
- she would use an app, if most functionalities are free
Behaviors
- spends much time with her husband and grandkids
- spends time in her garden
- likes to decorate her house
- searches information on her desktop computer
Motivations
- age more healthy
- be more fit to do longer trips with her new bicycle
- be more active with her grandkids
Frustrations
- she does not know how to start a healthier life
- she does not know what’s important to life healthier
- she is not very familiar with smartphone and apps
User Flows
Based on Chris' and Hildegard's user stories, user flows with two tasks were developed to define the structure and content of the app. An additional digital card sorting survey helped to find the correct main and subcategories.
Pen-and-Paper Sketches
Based on research and analysis, I created rough sketches to visualize my first ideas. These sketches were edited or drawn again and again for improvement. Some sketches have been changed significantly when developing lo-fi and hi-fi mockups.
Wireframes & Prototyping
From the first sketches, I finally create lo-fi wireframes and finally a clickable prototype. All was built in Figma.
The numbers below show the order in which the user tab through the app (e.g. he tabs the "Find Expert" link in the main menu, then he tabs the filer and sets his criteria, then he taps on the toggle "Show top-rated only" and then he clicks on a profile in the overview).
Usability Testing
In order to guarantee comparability, the framework conditions were defined with the help of a test script. So all six participants got the same tasks. The observations and statements made during the test were then listed in a test report, sorted in an affinity maps and according to a rainbow spreadsheet to get an overview of all issues participants had, and provided with possible solutions. This led to the first iteration of the prototype.
3 main issues that most participants had with the prototype:
Key findings
A large part of the observations is related to the lo-fi implementation - e.g. points that will be corrected in a higher development stage anyway. Next time I would test the prototype at a higher stage of development.
Preference Testing
In order to validate some of the important designs, I conducted preference tests with 10 participants. Two versions of designs were compared.
Mood board for visual direction
I created a mood board for visual direction. Its colors and images are supposed to give a "healthy" look & feel. I used 2 soft green colors tones, that are associated with health food (salad, avocado), health professionals (clothes of doctors and nurses) and an active life outside (wood, grass).
Design Language System
Emotional Design
I utilized some of the principles of emotional design to evoke positive emotions and to increase customer retention.
Final Layouts
Layouts of some most important pages with improved colors (buttons) and images for the dashboard
The Conclusion
This was my first UX project. It was great to experience how the exchange with potential users revealed new perspectives that made the project more relevant.
After many years of working on computers, it felt odd at first to pull out pen and paper and sketch out simple wireframes, but it helped get into the iterative process. However, next time I would build the prototype for user testing on the computer to minimize comments on the development status. I also look forward to learning new skills in 3D tools or animation software.
My biggest personal challenge at the moment is getting an overview of established solutions for digital products in general - such as suitable layouts, useful assets, intelligent navigation and extensive accessibility. Only when I master these standards and know how to use them can I really develop new approaches.
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