Milestone 4.0
System concept and high level architecture
After conducting our own research and also going through existing research our team finally settled on one concept out of the many that we had discussed. From our user enactments and diary study our biggest finding was that people like social motivation while working out and also do not want to buy new devices to work out. We also noticed through existing research that there was a high drop off percentage when it came to using new devices such as wearables while working out.
The concept behind our product Journeyfit was that it motivates fitness users who are already interested in working out, but may struggle with taking the steps needed to exercise regularly. It finds openings throughout the day to promote small bursts of activity in addition to the traditional exercise model. It utilizes pervasive techniques and background fitness data collection syncing.
Fitness activity is tracked using phone and wearable sensor data. Data is pushed to users’ phones and laptops to challenge them throughout the day to exercise and workout. The main concept of our design was to have a gamified experience. We wanted it be less competitive but more collaborative. We felt competition increased negativity reinforcement. The concept was to have each user in the team to control an avatar. They would then use this avatar to complete challenges and earn points to buy new things for it so as to keep users engaged.
The architecture of the design revolves primarily around a mobile app on popular smartphone platforms such as android and iOS. There are also desktop and mobile notifications that pop up to remind the user to workout or complete challenges to help the team progress. The app also uses gesture recognition as part of the camera software to help record the users activity and see if they are doing their exercise correctly. It also uses phone sensors and wearables to gather fitness data. It also syncs with users’ calendars to provide customized, pervasive information.
Goals for the demo
For the purpose of the demo we recorded a video showing how our design works and in what scenarios it was best used. Our goal of this video was to help communicate our idea and design to those who weren’t very familiar with our design. We used an actor in the video to enact use case scenarios as there would be in real life. In this way it would help those watching the video to have a more immersive experience and could actually put themselves in those situations and imagine them using our design. We wanted them to see how easy our system was to use and how efficient it was. Through the use of clever challenges we wanted the viewers to feel the social and collaborative aspect of the design.
The demo: a high-level description of the script and the materials used.
Our script started with an introduction of some of the existing problems with working out. Users often get distracted, are unsure of what to do, and can feel unmotivated when working out alone. We then introduce JourneyFit and how it works at the home, the office, and gym environments. We show how JourneyFit is a social application that provides our users with clear actionable challenges that is tailored to their location and schedule.
An explanation of how the demo did or did not capture key elements of the intended experience.
The demo did capture how JourneyFit can be used in a home, office, and gym environment as well as the types of gameplay that can be expected from the application. We showed how the application syncs with the calendar and uses location information to find opportunities for exercise throughout the day instead of the traditional model of exercise at the gym.
We did not capture the pre-questionnaire that would be used to create a fitness plan and suitable challenges for our user. The demo also did not capture the potential social interactions between team members including: messaging, poking, or providing encouraging messages to get others to keep up. We would have also liked to shown how teams could have been made through social media and/or by creating a random team.
Any feedback or insights that came out of giving the demo.
The main insight that came out of this demo was how social interactions would be used and how team members would be able to communicate and motivate each other. This was not displayed in our demo; however, would be a necessary feature if it were to be developed. Team members should be able to message and motivate each other if they are falling behind.
It was also not clear how people of different levels would be able to still work together as a team. This would be done through the pre-questionnaire, where the application would learn about their current routines and types of exercise that they like to do as well as set more long term goals. By doing so, the application would be able to set easier or more difficult challenges based on the users fitness levels.
After conducting our own research and also going through existing research our team finally settled on one concept out of the many that we had discussed. From our user enactments and diary study our biggest finding was that people like social motivation while working out and also do not want to buy new devices to work out. We also noticed through existing research that there was a high drop off percentage when it came to using new devices such as wearables while working out.
The concept behind our product Journeyfit was that it motivates fitness users who are already interested in working out, but may struggle with taking the steps needed to exercise regularly. It finds openings throughout the day to promote small bursts of activity in addition to the traditional exercise model. It utilizes pervasive techniques and background fitness data collection syncing.
Fitness activity is tracked using phone and wearable sensor data. Data is pushed to users’ phones and laptops to challenge them throughout the day to exercise and workout. The main concept of our design was to have a gamified experience. We wanted it be less competitive but more collaborative. We felt competition increased negativity reinforcement. The concept was to have each user in the team to control an avatar. They would then use this avatar to complete challenges and earn points to buy new things for it so as to keep users engaged.
The architecture of the design revolves primarily around a mobile app on popular smartphone platforms such as android and iOS. There are also desktop and mobile notifications that pop up to remind the user to workout or complete challenges to help the team progress. The app also uses gesture recognition as part of the camera software to help record the users activity and see if they are doing their exercise correctly. It also uses phone sensors and wearables to gather fitness data. It also syncs with users’ calendars to provide customized, pervasive information.
Goals for the demo
For the purpose of the demo we recorded a video showing how our design works and in what scenarios it was best used. Our goal of this video was to help communicate our idea and design to those who weren’t very familiar with our design. We used an actor in the video to enact use case scenarios as there would be in real life. In this way it would help those watching the video to have a more immersive experience and could actually put themselves in those situations and imagine them using our design. We wanted them to see how easy our system was to use and how efficient it was. Through the use of clever challenges we wanted the viewers to feel the social and collaborative aspect of the design.
The demo: a high-level description of the script and the materials used.
Our script started with an introduction of some of the existing problems with working out. Users often get distracted, are unsure of what to do, and can feel unmotivated when working out alone. We then introduce JourneyFit and how it works at the home, the office, and gym environments. We show how JourneyFit is a social application that provides our users with clear actionable challenges that is tailored to their location and schedule.
An explanation of how the demo did or did not capture key elements of the intended experience.
The demo did capture how JourneyFit can be used in a home, office, and gym environment as well as the types of gameplay that can be expected from the application. We showed how the application syncs with the calendar and uses location information to find opportunities for exercise throughout the day instead of the traditional model of exercise at the gym.
We did not capture the pre-questionnaire that would be used to create a fitness plan and suitable challenges for our user. The demo also did not capture the potential social interactions between team members including: messaging, poking, or providing encouraging messages to get others to keep up. We would have also liked to shown how teams could have been made through social media and/or by creating a random team.
Any feedback or insights that came out of giving the demo.
The main insight that came out of this demo was how social interactions would be used and how team members would be able to communicate and motivate each other. This was not displayed in our demo; however, would be a necessary feature if it were to be developed. Team members should be able to message and motivate each other if they are falling behind.
It was also not clear how people of different levels would be able to still work together as a team. This would be done through the pre-questionnaire, where the application would learn about their current routines and types of exercise that they like to do as well as set more long term goals. By doing so, the application would be able to set easier or more difficult challenges based on the users fitness levels.