Designing for Motivation

Designing for motivation is a key challenge I faced at LifeBEAM. Many Vi users are trying to start running to get into shape, and need support to create and maintain healthy life habits. Realizing that motivation would be key to the success of Vi, I initiated a number of research projects into different motivation strategies.

Creating motivation Typologies

I started by interviewing people with a variety of different running habits, from people who made regular plans to run but seldom actually ran, to people who have run marathons and ultramarathons. Breaking them down into different motivation typologies, I looked at their specific needs and pain-points, creating guidelines for developers, engineers and designers.

This typology was used to prioritize the product roadmap, to ensure we were developing features which would be beneficial to all of our users. 

Desk research on motivation

I also researched behavior change and cultivating healthy habits in psychology, and public health journals; as well as sports psychology studies on motivation and the subjective perception of effort in exercise.

Working with the content team, I developed guidelines for giving users feedback on their workouts, and structuring the user experience around short, medium and long term goals; design the structure of product onboarding for beginning runners; and create a framework of structuring workouts to increase users’ feelings of accomplishment and improvement.

Prototyping Motivation Exercises

Based on clinical research, I created a series of daily tasks for new runners to complete for the week before their first run. It was designed to get new runners invested in their first run by making small, easy to complete steps, which would increase the likelihood of them successfully running. 
I recruited 10 aspiring runners who reported consistently failing to follow through on their running plans. I emailed them their tasks, and had them fill out a diary study as they progressed. At the end of the week, 60% of them went on their first run, and 50% completed their second run as planned.