Goal achievement app with focus on accountability partner confirmation and progress tracking
DesignLab student project
14 weeks Nov 2022 - Mar 2023
UX/UI Design
Branding
Webflow Development
Research
Goals are an ever-present part of our lives. Whether we feel accomplishment as we check our goals off, or try to push away guilt as we put off or just simply skip our goals, they can take up a portion of not only our schedules but also our mental load.
University of Scranton research conducted in 2018 even suggests that only 8% of people who make New Years goals actually achieve them. So what is it that hinders our progress? Let’s take a look...
While people have motivation in setting goals, it appears that keeping that motivation is much more challenging.
Determine what causes users to take consistent action to reach goals
Understand user blockers and pain points in goal acquisition
Understand how users can prioritize their goals in daily rituals
To start, I went with qualitative research in one-on-one user interviews in order to gain deeper understanding of the real experiences and challenges of users. Participants were recruited based on current or recently achieved goals
First, user Interviews were conducted with 5 participants of diverse backgrounds who are currently a part of or involved in the disabled and special needs community
Time - Users expressed that between work, domestic duties, and familial/social obligations, they felt that they had to choose between “me” time and tackling their goals. This usually lead to users putting some goals on the backburner.
Accountability - Users had trouble staying motivated and accountable to themselves after the initial excitement wore off in contrast to being reliable and accountable with goals and deadlines in regards to obligations to friends and at work.
White paper research also revealed that according to Gail Matthews Goal Research,
those who set actionable tasks for their goals and initiate weekly progress reporting to their supportive peers tend to achieve 40% more than those who did not.
Following user interviews, I conducted competitive analysis in order to flesh out competition. I knew that there would be a relatively saturated market in regard to goal setting and motivation so I wanted to get a good grasp on current market gaps as well as successful products.
For example, the Fabulous App gives users digestible ways to gradually change their habits while the Forest App is created for the simple task of focusing without using your device for other purposes. But there is no resource for users to pick their own goals to work on and report their progress to a partner.
Moving on to personas, users were divided into:
Based off of research, it was time to start tackling how to best meet the needs and address the pain points of the users in making focus points, starting off with Point of View Statements and How Might We Statements
I’d like to explore ways to motivate busy people implement goals, and habit building routines that work with their current routines with the little time they have because people find it hard to find time for their goals and selves in their busy schedules.
I’d like to explore how to give people easy to use and low-risk daily external motivation to reach their goals because external pressure and community motivates people more to reach goals and deadlines.
I’d like to explore how to display user progress in a motivating and non-threatening way to help people see the bigger picture of their learning journeys and see habits as a means to an end because people feel dejected and self-critical when they miss days or feel like they’ve slipped in their goals.
How might we entice users to keep up with goals when they have a lot of obligations and little free time?
How might we encourage and motivate users externally so that they can take better accountability for their goals?
How might we allow users to visualize their progress in a way that is motivating in both seeing their daily work as well as seeing the bigger picture of their progress on harder days?
Point of View and How Might We Statements
With users in mind, I listed the key design ideas and opportunities discovered from all previous research
Include accountability/goal partners to check off on progress for external motivation.
Have users upload images for partners to verify both as proof of action as well as for progress tracking. This can include a goal time countdown or time frame that users must adhere to based on a schedule they create.
Create a space for users to practice self-care and relaxation as a reward for their hard work and going after their goals.
Include encouraging copy and UI to combat users' shame and disappointment they may feel for missed days or loss of motivation. Aim for a anti-hustle culture approach and aim to be more of a cheerleader role.
I ended up focusing on these six opportunities not only because they were the most prominent pain points to users, and also because implementation was feasible based on feature prioritization.
User flows were created based off of key opportunities and chosen features with the following flows:
1. Onboarding
2.Upload a goal image
3. Make a goal
Task flows were then created for the same actions.
The sitemap for this application had multiple layers but also was fairly straightforward since with uploading images, design conventions of social media photo adding were used.
With these features in mind, I worked on some sketches to understand how to best incorporate features into the app. A focus was made on displaying images, tracking progress, and allowing users to access images to see their improvement.
In addition to making an accessible color palette, the following additional steps were to ensure accessibility for all abilities:
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I wanted to pick bright, vibrant colors that were energizing and inviting and would immediately draw the user in. One big consideration taken when creating the color palette was accessibility. Another factor was presenting branding values which are: inviting, a safe space, encouraging, motivating etc.
The logo design was focused on an inviting and motivating space with energizing, warm colors. A gradient was also added in order to add interest and depth.
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Text was chosen for legibility and functionality as well as visual interest.
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With my interface designing I wanted to evoke a more flat, paper-like feel to mimic the act of writing down goals in a journal. Icons were made to imitate stickers you might find on a journal with pops of color to mimic highlighter marks.
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Users can access their goals, progress images based on relation to the current date, and browse rewards that they are able to access via their accrued points.
Users can add accountability partners, view recent goal posts by themselves or partners, and verify goal posts.
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This is where users can see their progress with the shades of color on past dates indicating the amount of goals they have achieved, as well as check dates to see what their scheduled goals are and edit their schedules if needed.
This is where users upload their goal post and are able to make the post private or public as well as post to socials.
This is the notification users receive when it is time for their goal.
Onboarding is for users to input personal information, receive information about the app, and generally set up their account.
Adding an image in the form of a "goal post" follows social media posting design conventions for an intuitive experience.
Goal verification is where accountability partners come in. The goal was to make this action as simple, seamless, and quick as possible so the process is not invasive to the users' time especially since they voiced their lack of time and wanting to not spend as much time on their phones or apps that eat into their personal and goal time.
Creating a goal mainly focuses on detailed scheduling as well as categorizing goals.
Adding an accountability partner to a goal can allow partners to verify goals, as well as be a participant in the goal as well.
Users can track their overall goal keeping in the calendar by seeing how many goals they achieved per day as well as where their current day's progress is.
The profile screen is where users can see their progress in the form of photos with all photos divided according to the goal.
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Determine if users can complete core tasks with ease on the prototype and navigate through flows within the designated time frame with as little frustration and failure as possible. Find the gaps in clarity, convention, and design that cause faltering and fill those gaps with intuitive and concise design.
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Participants had trouble with verifying a goal both in finding where the new goal post was as well as knowing how to verify a goal. This was remedied by including notification indicators on the goal section in question as well as with an instructional bubble on a goal post for first time users.
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When creating a goal, a step in creating it was picking an icon to label and organize the goal in a users' profile. But after receiving feedback that the icon step felt like the lengthy process of creating and scheduling a goal feel even more long, I opted to remove it and instead have the goal name be the way users could check their goal posts on their profile for progress tracking.
With scheduling a new goal, most of the flow went smoothly but one point that tripped participants up was the "every day" toggle. They expressed confusion at the wording a function, so I ended up replacing this with a "repeat" section where users can pick which days of the week or how often to repeat their goal similar to how scheduling works in iOS.
Designing for the simple but often difficult task of working towards goals was a great learning experience and was a lesson in the impact and effect that UX design can have. Creating an experience that is entirely empathetic of the user was both insightful and gratifying.
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