Headspace | Motivate
A Tailored Approach to Sustainable Behavior Change
Disclaimer: This case study is entirely independent of Headspace, and was conducted as a student project case study. Research and designs were created in collaboration with Dave Zemsky, Kelly Neuner, and Helen Pan. Headspace branded graphics shown in mockups have been pulled directly from headspace.com.
Feeling lost. it’s something everyone’s gone through, whether for just a day, or an extended time. It’s hard to know where to go from there, let alone where to begin. We know how motivation is supposed to work. We are supposed to dig deep and push past all trivial hurdles. But is that how it really works?
Headspace|Motivate
What we’ve proposed is a motivational app that combines mindfulness techniques that go beyond meditation with actionable tasks to set users up for success each day, by using research-supported strategies.
Case Study Overview
Our Approach ∙ Research ∙ Synthesis ∙ Personas + Competitive Analysis ∙ Our Solution ∙ Design Iterations + Usability Testing ∙ Next Steps
Our Approach
Why This Problem?
We had two weeks for our team of four designers to conduct research, craft our solution, test our designs, and deliver our findings. As a group, we began this project deciding to pursue something in support of the social good, and after discussing a number of possibilities, we found we all shared personal experiences with feeling stuck or unmotivated. We tied those experiences to two recent podcasts we’d heard, “Sad in Silicon Valley” and “The Four Tendencies.”
Research
What motivates people?
First, we determined our research plan and the methods we would use to synthesize our findings.
The Four Motivational Tendencies
The four motivational tendencies is a framework created by Gretchen Rubin identifying four motivational personalities. The most common are Obligers, motivated by external factors such as accountability to others, and Questioners motivated internally by what makes sense to them through an understanding of why they are doing something.
User Interviews
From the 19 responses to our survey, we followed up and conducted a total of 9 user interviews.
Our Objective:
- To better understand the context when users felt stuck.
- How they got out of that state?
- What methods keep themselves motivated.
Key Findings
- Common situations attributed to feeling stuck: losing a job, feeling overloaded with responsibilities.
- Strategies that helped: Turning to friends, focusing on one small task, activities like meditation, journaling, or exercise.
- Ways they stay motivated: accountable to others, maintaining good habits.
Synthesis
To begin honing in on the issue, we used affinity mapping to group quotes and observations from our interviews to discover themes and meaningful insights.
Key Insights
- Users understand that they are capable of achieving their goals, but it’s difficult to recall that feeling while struggling.
- Two main states that users associate with feeling stuck, feeling overwhelmed and feeling underwhelmed.
- Users identify three primary forms of motivation: social motivation, a knowledge of purpose, and by completing small tasks.
Personas and Competitive Analysis
We developed two personas to clarify our users’ problem and the existing opportunities to better serve them.
Primary Persona: “Down in the dumps” Dan
Recently laid off, Dan puts things off and binges on Netflix & takeout. Dan, primarily motivated by others, lives in a new city and has no friends or family nearby to support him or help him get back on track.
Secondary Persona: “Too Busy” Brianne
Brianne gets stressed and overwhelmed by her growing to-do list and feels like she’s too busy to take care of herself. She needs to be reminded that self-care has helped her clarify her priorities and goals in the past.
Dan is our primary user because our research suggests personalities like Dan will be more open and more likely to have the time to try this app than someone like Brianne.
Problem Statement:
People lose motivation when they are overwhelmed or underwhelmed. It’s difficult to recall strategies that work when struggling.
Dan feels lost — he needs a way to get
back on track and feel capable in his everyday life.How might we give Dan actionable tools
to motivate him to get started and feel capable of success?
User Journey: Discovery
Based on Dan’s situation, we took a deeper look at his emotional journey prior to discovery.
Key Things to Note: Dan realizes that he needs to make a change and gain direction. He tries other solutions but he quickly loses momentum which puts him into a very low state. This is where we see an opportunity to make something sustainable for Dan.
Competitive Analysis
Dan did try to take the initiative to download existing apps. Which raised the question: What apps are currently serving our users’ needs? We found three main categories:
- Self-improvement & Motivational Apps — Calm
- Productivity & To-Do List Apps — Asana
- Health & Fitness Accountability Apps — Fitbit
A Proposed Partnership with Headspace
And then there is Headspace, a mindfulness company whose stated goal is to improve the health and happiness of the world. Their focus towards helping users reframe stress and anxiety indicated that our goals and values were well aligned. However, they currently only provide this through guided and unguided meditation, which is where we saw an opportunity.
Headspace has begun to focus on community engagement and customization. They’re expanding beyond meditation — but not yet within the mobile app. This told us we were on target, and in an ideal moment to propose working on this new app with Headspace.
Our Solution
Headspace|Motivate combines mindfulness techniques that go beyond meditation with simple, actionable tasks to set users up for success using research-based strategies.
Four Features
- Personalized track: Customizes users’ experiences.
- Accountability: Users can select buddies from their contacts or be matched with users from the app as accountability partners.
- Simple tasks and explanations: Combine mindful and actionable tasks to build reflection and productivity into each day — and explains to users the importance of these tasks.
- Success chest: Direct response to users inability to recall past achievements in stressful moments.
High-Fidelity Clickable Prototype
Developed task flows include: Onboarding, Adding a team, Completing your first task, Adding an accomplishment to your success chest.
Design Iterations + Usability Testing
How did we come to this solution?
Our design process started with a series of rapid ideation and iteration. We then prioritized our features for our primary user and created our paper prototype. We proceeded with two rounds of usability testing, and design iterations, all while evolving our prototype to a high level of fidelity.
Initial Wireframes
- Initial Onboarding: “I want something that’s for me”
- Teams: “I’m not a competitive person.. But when I see someone’s on my heels… I don’t know it just makes it fun.”
- Homepage: “I like to see where I’m at every day”
- Success Chest: “It really helped me to just kind of look back and reflect.”
Usability Test Round 1
The response to our first round of testing with our paper prototype was mostly positive. Users enjoyed the conversational tone in onboarding, and the flow in completing a task (making your bed, sending a picture to your team). Users found the app to be simple, delightful, and easy to use.
We considered that high ratings in our KPIs were indicative that our tasks were not challenging enough. However, we came to the conclusion that the purpose of Headspace|Motivate is to be simple, easy, and welcoming to someone who already feels challenged enough by everyday life. Therefore, we concluded that our metrics and task scenarios were valid.
Besides the metrics, our other focus for testing was our team feature. They universally liked it but had some trouble understanding it.
First Design Iterations
5. Teammate Preferences: Users wanted to see their teammates before joining a team.
6. In Version 1, users had to enter their accomplishments themselves.
7. In Version 2, we added the option to add an accomplishment from your camera roll.
8. We also added the option to automatically add a completed task.
Usability Test Round 2
The response to our second round of testing was very positive. We noted the same or improved KPIs in all tasks, except for a (-.2) decrease in the usefulness KPI for the check-in notification. Users enjoyed the simplicity of the visuals in the app and the ease of use. Our overall KPIs increased (+.03) in easiness, and (+.10) in usefulness, indicating that our design iterations were on point.
Second Design Iterations
9. Team Support: Added ability to encourage teammates through high-fives on their complete task.
10. Privacy Concerns: Users expressed concern in sharing personal information in an app related to personal well-being, and was not sure what was public. In response, we added a disclosure to “first name”, noting it is visible to other users.
11. Terms & Policies: To address the concerns mentioned in #10, we examined competitors’ onboarding pages and realized we needed a disclosure for Terms and Privacy Policies.
12. Estimated Time: Even though we added a progress bar in Version 2, users still mentioned that they wanted to know the duration of onboarding.
13. Team vs. Users: 80% of users were confused by “Match me with a team” They were unsure if the team was comprised of professionals that would be helping them, so we tried to clarify our phrasing.
14. Teammate Profiles: 60% of users wanted to check out the profiles of their teammates before joining them, so we created an expanded profile view of potential teammates.
User Journey: In-App Experience
To establish where Dan is now, we explored Dan’s User Journey in the app experience.
Key Things to Note: Dan is on steady upward trajectory. Accomplishing simple tasks like cleaning his room and taking walks. He’s applied for his first job in two weeks and is reaching out to make social plans. These may seem small, but we know they’ll lead to bigger things for Dan.
Next Steps
Our immediate next step is testing our hi-fi prototype over the course of 2–4 weeks. This time frame reflects that it takes roughly 4 weeks for people to establish habits and for initial incentives to wear off.
After confirming the partners and platforms we will be working with, we will plan to design paths for additional types of user motivation. Beyond the MVP, we’d like to develop ongoing customization throughout users’ growth and begin to evaluate long-term user retention/effectivity. Additionally, we think it would be advantageous to seek out collaborative partnerships with leading behavioral scientists.
