Coach Potato
From Couch to Coach
Overview
Nowadays, a sedentary lifestyle is becoming increasingly common. As a UX designer, I want to help people embrace a healthier lifestyle.
Coach Potato is an app that combines workout and socialization to help people break free from sedentary habits by providing exercise that can be done in 5 minutes or less.
Duration
12 weeks
Tool
Figma, Procreate, Photoshop
Design Role
Branding, UX/UI, Research
Sector
Fitness, social, lifestyle
Prototype
Problem discovery
People are sitting around too much.
Nowadays, people choose a sedentary lifestyle whether due to job demands during workdays or relax preferences during leisure time.
A healthy 24 hours should have 8 hours or less sedentary time:
3 hours or less recreational screen time.
Regularly interrupt prolonged sitting.
However, according to the Government of Canada’s research in 2016-2017:
9.6 hours
Canadian adults averagely spend 9.6 hours of their day sedentary.
3.2 Hours
3.2 hours per day engaging in leisure screen time.
Only
19.1%
of the Canadian adults meet current sedentary behaviour recommendations.
Problem Statement
How might I design an app to reduce the sedentary behaviour of Canadian adults?
Research & Explanation
What UX research methods will I use to find the solutions and why?
UX research method 1
Secondary research
Since the initial study focused on pre-COVID-19 statistics, I wanted to explore the current situation to see the trend of sedentary behaviour.
To know that, I focused on the 2021 ParticipACTION Report Card, and I found the situation became more serious.
Situation now
Compared with respondents’ typical behaviour before the COVID-19 pandemic:
58%
of Canadian adults spending more time sitting per day.
61%
of Canadian adults spending more time in front of the screen.
In general, according to The 2021 ParticipACTION Report Card:
Sedentary behaviours
Grade F
In workdays and leisure time, why do Canadian adults choose a sedentary lifestyle, and what prevents them from doing workouts more frequently?
UX research method 2
User survey & user interview
I conducted a user survey and received 19 responses, here’s what I found.
During the workdays
47%
of the responds spend 6 to 8 or more hours of their workday sedentary.
79%
of the respondents sometimes or rarely interrupt prolonged sitting.
The three reasons prevent people from reducing sitting time
User Interview
Summarizing Research/Takeaways
Insights 1
Heavy workload forces and space limitations are the objective reasons why people choose sedentary lifestyles.
Insights 2
People don't know how to quickly relieve physical and mental fatigue after interrupting their sedentary lifestyle.
During Leisure time
47%
of the respondents engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity 1-2 days per week.
53%
of the respondents spend at least 3 hours of leisure screen time.
The three reasons prevent people from reducing sitting time
User Interview
Summarizing Research/Takeaways
Insights 3
During their leisure time, fatigue and laziness resulting from work and study often lead people to choose a sedentary lifestyle to relax, rather than exercise in their limited free time.
High-level solutions for breaking sedentary behaviours
In tackling the issue of sedentary behaviour, I identified several potential solutions. Here are the top three preferred by respondents:
58%
Personalized goals and progress tracking
58%
Gamification elements, such as challenges and rewards
53%
Reminders and notifications to move
Problem/Opportunity spaces
Problem #1:
During workdays, heavy workloads force people to choose sedentary lifestyles.
Opportunity #1:
Implement short, simple workouts to quickly relieve stress and utilize gamification for motivation.
Problem #2:
During workdays, people don't know how to quickly relieve physical and mental fatigue after breaking their sedentary lifestyle.
Opportunity #2:
Personalized, part-specific activities to guide users effectively alleviate the tiredness of the corresponding part.
Problem #3:
During leisure time, fatigue and laziness from work and study often lead people to choose a sedentary way to relax rather than exercising in their limited free time.
Opportunity #3:
Build relationships with workout partners or friends, and complete the first step of working out using the five-minute principle.
The Solution
Create a gamification app that provides short, personalized activities of no more than five minutes to help people reduce sedentary behaviour.
UX research method 3
Persona & Empathy map
Persona
Empathy map
UX research method 4: Competitive audit
I analyzed three market-leading apps from four perspectives: social network, fun, personalization, and effective fatigue relief. By constructing radar charts, I evaluated their positioning and identified key features for my own product.
Flow
Information hierarchy
User Flow
Design decision
Which patterns should I use to present solutions and why?
Design Decision: Home page layout
Design Decision: Filter selection
How it works: closed-loop point and energy systems
Hi-Fi wireframe
Coach Potato
Key Features
5 minutes
Users can complete all the workouts in just five minutes. The app also employs the five-minute rule to help users overcome laziness and take the first step toward exercising.
Time flexibility
Free to choose the workout duration: 30 seconds or 5 minutes? It's up to you!
5 mins rule
No motivation to exercise? How about starting with just 5 minutes? Use the five-minute rule to help you overcome laziness!
Targeting
Provide more focused workouts to effectively relieve fatigue.
Tailored workouts
A variety of workouts tailored to different body parts and days.
Anytime, Anywhere
Offers training for different body parts, empowering you to effectively combat fatigue anytime, anywhere.
Gamification
A gamified energy system that adds fun to workouts. Use your energy to unlock more enjoyment!
Collecting Characters
Turn your workout into a game! Use the energy you gain to unlock more characters!
Growing with your potatoes
Transform your potato family with new accessories and backgrounds. Say goodbye to being a sedentary couch potato!
Online partners
Use points to post challenges to motivate and monitor online partners together.
Workout together
Receive workout challenges from friends and exercise together.
Random challenges, random fun
Get random challenges and dive into unpredictable fun!
Iteration
After conducting user testing with 6 participants, I made several iterations of the original high-fidelity design to enhance usability. The final screen resulting from these modifications is depicted in the section above. Below, I will outline some of the changes I implemented.
Iteration: Enhancing motivation & Potato companion section
Iteration: Element consistency & Challenges section
Iteration: New challenges section
Things that I learned
Consistency of Elements
Maintaining consistency throughout the app is crucial. By minimizing the use of emojis and integrating more potato-themed elements, I aimed to create a unified user experience.
Attention to Detail
Small details can significantly impact user experience. Throughout the design phase, I pay more attention to the details.
Avoiding Assumptions
Personal preferences and experiences vary widely among users. While I personally benefited from the 5-minute rule, user feedback indicated it wasn't universally effective. Consequently, I implemented additional incentives to better engage and motivate all users.
If I had more time, I would …
More Fun
My next goal is to enhance the connection between workouts and collections beyond just the points and energy system to make the app more enjoyable.
Better reward system
Some users have had trouble with the operation of the reward system. operates. It's important to find ways to clarify the reward system for better efficiency and understanding.
Thank you :)
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