QTFit Thesis Process Book

Making Fitness Fun

Thank You To...

Those who greatly supported me during thesis and my college journey overall.

My Professors

Michelle Carpenter

Bryan Delevie

Travis Vermilye

Amara Huslander & CAM Faculty

My Family

Dad, Mom, and Nesha thank you for constantly pushing to be my best and never allowing me to give up on my dreams

My Friends and peers thank you for all the amazing memories I have gotten to create with you.

Exercise isn’t a bore and nor should it be a chore!

Whether it’d be a ten minute workout on Youtube or trendy products you found on Amazon. Exercise is something that has become oversaturated and has been more focused on “trends” than actually creating a sustainable lifestyle. Due to this, many lose interest and see exercise as something negative.

For this thesis project, I wanted to focus on something that I have struggled in my life as well and possibly find a solution for that problem. My relationship with exercise has always been complicated, and I have just now started to be able to find my own ways of enjoying it and incorporating it into my daily life.

In this book, you will see all my thoughts on my thesis project from beginning to end and the evolution of my thesis. Let’s get started!

Problem

Why are people resistant to exercising?

Here are some factors...

01. Enviormental

Where you lived or currently live can play a large role in your social behaviors and the hobbies you pursue. Studies have shown that neighborhoods that had more accessible opportunities for exercise had a higher number of people engaging in exercise. Neighborhoods with more sidewalks, parks, and biking areas had a more positive association with physical activity and better health behaviors overall (Maddison et al., 2009).

Living in a neighborhood that is not “walkable” and that doesn’t support active lifestyles, can make it difficult to engage in exercise and adapt it more to your daily lifestyle.

02. Psychological

Another element that can cause a lack of interest in exercise is psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Socio-cultural pressures can make exercise seem daunting and overwhelming, causing exercise to be seen as more of a chore and not an engaging activity. In a study found by BMC Medicine regarding mental health and exercise, people with lower fitness levels were twice as likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety (Kandola et al., 2020). As well as other common factors like lack of social support, self-motivation, and generally just associating exercise as something stressful (Mama et al, 2015).

Exercising, especially in public spaces can create a stressful environment for some and deter them from exercising.

03. Lack of Knowledge

What constitutes exercise and exercise behaviors can be broad, with a wide array of access to different forms of the activity. This practice of finding new ways to exercise can be filled with all different types of misinformation like proper form, durations of exercise, or even what equipment to use. This can become overwhelming for those with a lack of experience in the subject. In 2018, 615 young adults were interviewed and tested on their knowledge of exercise and were given levels based on what they know. With levels, one through four, going from understanding the common facts around exercise to knowing the specifics about the subject. The study concluded that around 80% of participants failed to know specific physical activity guidelines and fell around level two (Fredriksson, 2018).

Thesis Question

“How can gamification entice young adult women to incorporate exercise into

their daily lives?”

Why?

01. Reframing the Stigma

Exercise is usually associated with something negative and more of a chore. I want to reframe it into something positive.

03. Have some fun

There are so many different ways to exercise and using gamification, I want to help others find an application that they enjoy.

02. Health Benefits

Focusing on the benefits of exercise outside of just physical appearance and such. Such as how it makes you feel and become more confident.

04. Going Deeper

Analyze the other deeper reasons some may struggle with exercise and help with repeating habits.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is described as being something that is not a game and applying game mechanics to increase user engagement and loyalty.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations when exercising

In order to stay consistent with any hobby, there needs to be some form of motivation. The psychological aspect can be a huge driver of how much enjoyment one has when exercising. Intrinsic motivations can be forms of peer engagement and autonomy and are highly focused on one’s self (Buckworth et al, 2007). This could be anything from exercising to relieve stress or wanting to feel stronger. While extrinsic motivation focuses on behaviors outside of one’s and to create something for the future. Wanting to work out to lose weight is one of the most common extrinsic motivators in young adults and can later become intrinsic. These different forms of motivation can be the “will” that some young adults need to enjoy exercise.

Competitive Analysis

What have Pokemon Go and Just Dance done right?

With both of these games, they utilize aspects like rewards systems and goals to create a fun and innovative experience. There is no judgment of any sort, you just get to have a good time.

Personas

SME

Aimee Domingue

Aimee Domingue is a personal trainer with nine years of experience. As well as a worker in Tri-County public health department for two years. Throughout my interview with Aimee, I asked Aimee what she feels are the biggest factors on why some people may feel discouraged when exercising. Coming from her perspective as a person al trainer; she noted that there can be many reasons, but one of the most common is just not knowing where to start. If you didn’t already come from a background of athleticism, exercise can be daunting. Aimee also noted that outside aspects, like social media and bad habits, can make it difficult to want to exercise. Through her experience, social media could be used for promotion, but it can also be a hindrance to someone’s fitness industry. When asked to elaborate further, Aimee said how social media can set unrealistic expectations of exercise and promote unhealthy behaviors. She also noted how many associate exercise with punishment and food as a reward, which can lead to negative connotations overall.

DME

Coburn Hawk

Amara Huslander

Coburn Hawk is the director of product design for NBCUniversal and has been a veteran of the UX industry for fourteen years. Coburn said that empathy, attention to detail, and passion are some of the most important traits a UX designer can have. Coburn then elaborated, “Empathy, remember that you are designing for humans. The more empathy the better the design, think about what is important to them.”

Amara Huslander is a lecturer at CU Denver and a Sr. UX designer at Amazon. When interviewing Amara, she highly focused on making sure that users a feel sense of progress when using gamification. As well as the many different ways of gaming can be defined.

Ideation

Concept and Usability Testing

Concept and Usability Testing

Solution

User Flow Chart

Lo-Fi Wireframes

Hi-Fi Wireframes

Retrospective

Installation Proposal

Retrospective

Throughout this project, I felt what went well was the research aspect and getting to see some differing perspectives from my DMEs and SMEs. Having this help, assisted me greatly with creating my application and the process overall.

In terms of what I think could have gone better, I would have loved to add more to the application and get user interviews of my app. This would have made my testing stage much easier and I could focus more on the smaller details. But I’m excited to work more on these features in the future.

Check out the full prototype here!

Buckworth, J., Lee, R. E., Regan, G., Schneider, L. K., & DiClemente, C. C. (2007). Decomposing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for exercise: Application to stages of motivational readiness. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8(4), 441–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.06.007

Ducharme, J. (2018, June 28). Only 23% of Americans Get Enough Exercise, a New Report Says. Time. https://time.com/5324940/americans-exercise-physical-activity-guidelines/

Fredriksson, S. V., Alley, S. J., Rebar, A. L., Hayman, M., Vandelanotte, C., & Schoeppe, S. (2018). How are different levels of knowledge about physical activity associated with physical activity behaviour in Australian adults? PLOS ONE, 13(11), e0207003. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0207003

Joseph A. Knight. (2012). Physical inactivity: associated diseases and disorders. Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science, 42(3), 320–337. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22964623/

Kandola, A. A., Osborn, D. P. J., Stubbs, B., Choi, K. W., & Hayes, J. F. (2020). Individual and combined associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and grip strength with common mental disorders: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank. BMC Medicine, 18(1). https:/ /doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01782-9

Maddison, R., Hoorn, S., Jiang, Y., Mhurchu, C., Exeter, D., Dorey, E., Bullen, C., Utter, J., Schaaf, D., & Turley, M. (2009). The environment and physical activity: The influence of psychosocial, perceived and built environmental factors. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-6-19

Mama, S. K., McNeill, L. H., McCurdy, S. A., Evans, A. E., Diamond, P. M., Adamus-Leach, H. J., & Lee, R. E. (2015). Psychosocial Factors and Theory in Physical Activity Studies in Minorities. American Journal of Health Behavior, 39(1), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.5993/ajhb.39.1.8

Thank You!