Design research and Interaction Design
Group 2 (MDes): Arvind, Manasa, Prerna, Roohi, Vivek
Heuristic Evaluation of the App “My Fitness Pal”
Information Architecture of the App
Task FLows
User Research Protocol for MyFitnessPal
What is your view about the current situation of fitness and healthy eating in India? (Has it caught on strongly or only minimally)
Contextual Enquiry (15 Mins.)
Goal To perform a comprehensive evaluation of MyFitnessPal mobile application, including doing user research and then redesign the application architecture to help improve and drive the usage of the same.
Task 1: Goal related: Do you exercise regularly? If yes, do u have any fitness goals in terms of gaining/losing/maintaining weight? How do you keep track of your goals? (Describe them)
Introduction (2 Mins.)
Task 2: Food related: We are (Names), students from Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology.
What is your food routine? Do you keep a track of calories when you have food or buy food items? (Describe how)
get your feedback on an existing
Do you follow a diet chart?
This will ultimately help us to improve the user-experience and overall design of the same application.
Do you follow any specific fitness/health recipes? Task 3: Exercise:
Specifics about the process (3 Mins.) We shall take about an hour of your time to know your views about health, fitness and nutrition.
Do you follow/want to follow a fitness schedule? What kind of fitness activities do you generally do (strength/cardio-vascular)?
You should know that there are no right or wrong answers. You are not being tested Only the design of the application is being tested. So if you have trouble or queries while doing something, let us know so that we can fix it. Please be free to ask any questions.
Do you use any devices or apps to monitor your fitness? (Describe them & for how long)
Finally, any feedback you have during the session is most welcome for our research.
Participant Consent (2 Mins.)
How do you track/monitor your fitness? If yes, do you face any difficulties with your fitness device/app? Do you search web for fitness articles/blogs/videos? Do you prefer to discuss/share your fitness status on social networks? Task 4: Weight Management:
We shall be recording a video of the entire interview and your usage of the application as a back up to the notes we take during the session.
Do you know how nutritious your foods are? (Describe them)
Please be assured that whatever you say as well as your identity will not be shared publicly. It will only be for our own internal reference.
Do you know your current BMI? (Describe them)
This form <show consent form> asks for your official agreement to participate in this data gathering interview session.
Card-Sorting (10 Mins.):
Do you have any questions before we begin?
Based on the context of each of the above task queries place these cards based on how the task can be performed on the application. You would have to gauge whether this flow makes sense to you or whether you would require a change. You are free to interchange the cards
Background Questions - Ice Breaker (5 Mins.)
accordingly. I shall take notes on each of these activities and may ask you some follow-up questions
kground questions. All the answers you provide will remain strictly confidential. If you do not wish to respond to a
What is your name? Who all are part of your immediate family?
for the sake of my research.
Usability Testing (10 Mins.): !Based on your experience and understanding of the app flow, you may take some time to get used to the actual application. I would like you to perform a few tasks on the actual application. You would need to perform these tasks as if you were alone and with no one available for assistance.
Thank you Note
Protocol for User Research
Thank you very much for sharing your time to perform these tasks and also providing your valuable feedback.
User research with 5 Users
Revised Card Sorting done by 5 Users
Calorie calculation issue Too many options to get to the goal Confusing jargons Information hierarchy issue Guest user option Qualification of concept calorie Guidance on food intake; kinda and calories Editing data is not easy. Globalized view not present; servings and language Discoverability of bar code screen Highly textual environment Pre notion about user’s knowledge Intuitive (lack of ) UI Dashboard equation comprehension Irrelevant Labelling Lacking ease of navigation Lack of offline operation; error management
Issues detected with User Research (Design Directions)
Lose weight with MyFitnessPal
Visual - The background, logo and the homescreen gives feel of a food app. the actual logo of the company which is deciving factor for the user when it comes to trust
Informational - Information is misguiding as feeds in your diary/progress get posted on your facebook wall without your consent & Behavioural - No sign in as guest to browse around or explore the app
Behavioral - Navigation issues (doesnt navigate to log in details with email) - No recommendation whether you are supposed to lose, maintain or gain weight. One chooses for a certain task based on her/his perception
Informational
ent country/regions does not ountry
Informational what the app is/does.
Mapping data across usability tests
Informational - Certain vital categories are missing - BMI Index or inputs required for calculating BMI Index Behavioural - No brief pointers/signs as to why the app needs birth-date, height, etc
Visual - Buttons like next, visually appear the same (color) - With options in gender seletion, the user is unclear as to what is getting selected
Behavioural - Should give users a recommendation on what should be their weekly goal, also allowing customization like in the current app
Informational - Heirarchy of information inputs is bizarre and doesnt make sense to the users Behavioural - No user segregation is done . There should be segregation in beginner, intermediate & expert levels - The information, user control, terminologies, etc used should be based on these levels.
Visual - Overall appearance is very dull. The user doesnt feel like intercting with the pplication after a certain point of time
Informational - The user is confused as to how, on what basis are their calories set for a day. Some calculation or an example should be shown.
Spatial The animation on the ‘Add Button’ is interesting, but the
Visual Lack of graphical cues make it challenging for the user to correlate the text to actual goals
Visual Search results are very textual chose the right option quickly
Informational Multiple ways to reach the screen creates a lot of confusion in the user’s mind
Behavioural Lack of standardized methods to add entries also reduces the recall value
Spatial Text entry is time consuming and error prone
Behavioural Some users had a confusion with Used’ and ‘My Exercises’.
Visual notice when the home page is - The hamburger menu indicator is barely visible There is no uniformity in typography
Visual - The color coding isn’t followed - No pictorial representation - Repetition of menu options Informational - No visual cues for getting to Diary - The information architecture is cluttered Behavioural - Timeline selection option too small
Visual - Overall content is highly textual - Graphical representaion is nil - Bar code scanner barely visible
Visual - No prediction of the food that is typed
Visual - The serving measurements are unclear
Behavourial - No consistency and standard between the screens of the app
Behavioural - Multi purpose ways to add food
Informational what the app is/does.
Behavioural - No sign in as guest to browse around or explore the app
Behavioural - No pop outs of success mess ages after the task completion - Brand
Redesigned IA and Task FLows
Kiran - The Mr. Workaholic “Kiran works as a corporate lawyer in Mumbai. As someone who generally works 12-14 hours a day including Saturdays, he spends his free time hanging out with friends but misses out the sports activities that he used to pursue in his college days. His hectic lifestyle has also led to him being irregular with having nutritious food. Recently developed health issues have made him realize that he should improve his fitness and nutrition, but he lacks enough motivation and social connect to do so.”
Persona Scale Technology Affinity Social Dependence Fitness Activity
Foodie
Sedentary Lifestyle
Goals Getting back to healthy fitness and stamina levels
"I don’t have time for fitness"
Pain Points Being able to make time out for fitness Getting rid of unhealthy food habits
Age: 29 Gender: Male
Occasional Jogger
Influences Medical Reasons Social Environment
Personas derived from User Research
Socially Active
Sara - The Ms. Dynamic "Sara works as a graphic designer in Bangalore. As someone who loves her work and believes in living a balanced and active lifestyle, she exercises daily and prefers to work out alone or in the gym. She likes to try new things in her exercise routine to keep her interested and motivated. She loves eating junk food but ensures that her diet is balanced and leans more towards healthier alternatives�
Persona Scale Technology Affinity Social Dependence Fitness Activity
Goals Maintaining and monitoring her fitness levels
"Staying fit is a way of life"
Age: 25 Gender: Female
Pain Points Being dependent on training assistance Keeping track of her diet
Influences Family and friends Personal spirituality
Body Positive Health Conscious
Fitness Enthusiast Independent