TOXY
App for tracking and monitoring of addictive substances
Our task for this Project was to create a native mobile App designed to support Wellness Industry by tracking some of our healthy or in this case unhealthy habits. My partner in crime was fellow student Sarah. We started our journey by conducting short ‘Gorilla interviews’ that gave us good insight in the land of Wellness Apps. Most of the users already use some kind of Fitness, Diet, Meditation, Cycle and Time management Apps, so we decided to take bumpy road and set ourselves on the journey into addictive substances. We did second ‘Gorilla interview’ to check out which kind of “drugs” people would be interested in tracking. We gave them option between conventional medication, recreational drugs or everyday addictive substances. Already in this phase we realised that there are two different type of users. Users that are between 18 and 35 years of age and users that are older than 45 years and using conventional medication on daily basis. For the first group we posed additional question: How would you feel about tracking recreational drugs? We heard many different opinions and realised that although there is widespread interest, tracking recreational drugs would be topic for different App from app that tracks addictive substances that we use on a daily basis (sugar, coffee, tobacco and alcohol).
User Interviews and User Persona
After deciding to stick with the App that tracks addictive substances we use on a daily basis, we went deeper into a subject and conducted User Interviews. We asked our Users following questions: To what extent is your knowledge of the effect of addictive substances on your body? How often do you ingest them? Does your social surrounding influence your substance use? How can awareness on substance intake change your behaviour? Would you like to set limit to your substance use?
We realised that:
92,3% of people interviewed are interested in using this type of App
all of them are interested in monitoring their intake
80% want to have tips that can help them manage their addiction
50% would love to get notifications from the App
Our users were between 18 and 35 years of age and with gathering all of their inputs we created our User Persona — Taylor D.
Additional to it, we defined HMW, Problem and Hypothesis Statement.
How Might We
How might we create an app that offers transparency in the consumption of addictive substances, help monitor and reduce intake if wanted?
Problem Statement
Young hedonists who like to treat themselves and enjoy life need to find a way to obtain transparency in daily consumption of addictive substances because they don’t know how much they take and what could be the healthy minimum.
Hypothesis Statement
We believe that by providing easy input and friendly reminders, young hedonists would have a clear overview of their habits and feel motivated to reduce their intake of addictive substances. We will know we are right if our App gains at least 200 regular users during the first 5 months.
For us it was clear that the our App that we named Toxy, needs to be: simple, easy to use, fun, non-judgemental, supportive and give a clear overview.
Competitive Analysis
After User research and preliminary definition of the App we jumped directly into analysis of the similar products on the market. As we noticed none of the apps available, had a possibility to track all four addictive substances, so we decided to take main competitors based on our research, user reviews and recommendations. On that way we created a list of features that we found important to compare with.
Ideation & Moscow Method
Using a Value proposition Canvas based on our interviews, we realised following Pains, Gains and Jobs to be done.
User pains
- Lack of time
- Not keeping track of intake and having wrong overview
- No support in overcoming addiction
- No friendliness in addressing the individual
Gains
- Required Gains: Easy input of data, clear overview, suggested compensation
- Expected Gains: More insight into habitual intake
- Desired Gains: Progress, support, clear overview, reduction, rewards
- Unexpected Gains: Quitting
Jobs to be done
- Functional Jobs: Track, monitor, change habit, gain health
- Personal/Emotional Jobs: Become less addicted, gain mental stability, gain self confidence
Definition of the Job that App needs to do: Hire the App to make users more aware of their intake and give them positive reinforcement.
Moscow Method
Prioritising the essential features was the main goal of the Moscow Method. For us it was clear that App needs to be simple and aimed to overcome users pain points. In order to do se we identified following features:
Must have:
- Input for four substances — caffein, sugar, nicotine and alcohol
- Personalisation — goal and limit settings
- Reminders and notifications
- Overview
Should have:
- Support
- Security protocol
- Info on substances
- Rewards
Could have:
- Social connection to other users
- Games to distract from bad habits
- Motivational quotes
- Audio input
- Connection to other health apps
Wont’t have:
- Policing and selling of data
- Recreational drugs option
User Journey
For the user journey we defined following steps as necessary: Download & personalisation of the App, Getting started and regular usage, Notification on exceeded limit, Overview and Add Banner.
Mid-fi Wireframing and the MVP
We entered Mid-Fi Wireframing with the main postulates that we conveyed for Toxy app and following the Moscow Method. Because of the time pressure we had, we realised already in this phase that some of the much desired features wouldn’t find space in the MVP. Following one of the most important rules of MVP, that the app should not try to solve all of the user’s problems and desires at the same time, we decided to exclude the reward system and instead integrate motivation quotes, as many of the interviewers expressed need to be motivated during their reduction journey. With this thought in mid we entered Mid-Fi Wireframing.
After first draft we decided to directly jump into evaluation process and test our draft. Users expressed positive feelings toward minimal design, but desired clear and approachable navbar and more space for data input. We found this feedback very valuable and started creating second Mid-Fi draft.
UI Design
As we finished with the first part of User centred design, we moved into a second phase. Defining the look and feel of the App we started off by specification of the Brand attributes. They were:
minimal
affirmative
mindful
friendly
transparent
Based on this attributes each one of us created a mood board and did a survey to validate the style. First moodboard had majority of votes 62,8%.
With this Style Tile we created our Hi-Fi Prototype and unfortunately didn’t have time to test it before our presentation. In feedback people expressed their affinity toward the App itself, the MVP and how easy and clear was it. But they all had expressed critique toward UI Design and had a feeling the Prototype was not done. That is why i decided to work on further.
HI-FI Before & After
After the Course was over, I decided to refine HI-FI according to the UX research and Feedback we got from our teachers and colleagues. Here you can see parallel examples.
In order to put user in the foreground, to implement their needs for functionality and their moodboard preference, I decided to include illustrations that were following the same stile like in chosen moodboard and expand the style on the buttons, features, icons and overall look and feel. Here is HI-FI Prototype outcome:
Key Learnings & Future steps
- Always put Users in the focus of your work and make real User Centered Design
- Test, Test, Test — after you Empathise, Define, Ideate and Prototype do Testing. And yes do Testing and User research as your habit also in between, because more you can test the better is the outcome. Testing is saving not only time but MONEY too.
As future step i would really like to work further on this App and if possible make it reality. I would implement reward system, employ gamification and work on further compensation possibilities for the addictive substances. So if there is any Startup interested please let us talk!
Thank you for taking time and reading :)
