Duration
4 months
Team
CMU 5 member team course project
Role
UX Designer
Task
Design an application that modifies user behaviors
Project Overview
I led our team's user research methodologies and based off our findings, I created mockups for the digital and physical product
Why does time management matter?
Poor schedule management is connected to reports of low self-esteem, poor well-being, and depression.
Initial Problem Discovery
Most college students encounter some form of mental health challenges during their academic journey.
Up to 41% of college students in the U.S. had symptoms of depression in 2023. 36% reported that they had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime.
Why focus on time management?
Procrastination can lead to lower grades, decreased class satisfaction, and higher student dropout rates.
Academic procrastination is caused by motivation toward school tasks and personality orientation.
Students' organization style was the only factor that really improved their ability to have control over time.
Design Goal
How might we help students manage their time in a way that reduces mental stress?
UX Research Method 01: Focus Groups
To understand how current college students feel about their schedules and stress levels, I conducted focus group interviews.
I interviewed 20 students across 9 different majors and 3 different degree categories: undergraduate, master, and Ph.D.These are some of the notable quotes.
"Task management feels like finding the right timing to do multiple things at once."
"Everyday, I need to do something, and if I don't finish, there's more and more things to do tomorrow."
"Once I start procrastinating on small tasks, it eventually leads to being unable to finish entire assignments."
UX Research Method 02: Affinity Diagram
After collecting data from the focus groups , I contextualized them into categories by affinity diagramming to draw insights.
Here’s what I learned.
We need to help students maintain a sustainable balance between work and personal life.
Students need passions and hobbies outside of the classroom to decrease stress and unhappiness.
When a task feels fun or when the student sees value in it, the more approachable it's perceived.
If the task doesn't feel too challenging, unenjoyable, or difficult, it is easier to complete.
Students need to feel motivated to complete everything on their schedule.
To maintain mental well-being, we need to preserve self- motivation.
Defining the Problem
How does poor time management affect students' mental health?
What are students' pain points?
Pain Point 01
Most tasks or assignments don't feel very enjoyable.
Pain Point 02
It's challenging to stay focused for hours to complete one task.
Pain Point 02
Constantly thinking about school and workload leads to more stress and anxiety.
Opportunity Spaces
How can we reimage time management to feel more enjoyable and less daunting?
Let's Check out Gamification
I need to explore gameplay in the opportunity space because:
Along with being motivated, students must find joy in completing their tasks. Mutliple interview participants also mentioned gaming as a stress reliever. Students need to not feel like the task is tedious or overwhelming. For those reasons, we intermix work and play to gamify task management.
Expert Consulting
I interviewed subject matter experts to better understand how to integrate gamificiation into the solution space. I interviewed 4 Carnegie Mellon professors specialized in transformative play and game design research.
Here’s what I learned.
Companionship
Users are more committed to complete tasks when they are accompaning or helping a companion.
Making a Happy Space
Color schemes, character visualizations, and text language help create a more soothing, calm atmosphere.
Progressive Gameplay
Having a course of action with foreseeable goals and rewards let users distance themselves from less appealing tasks.
Design + Iteration
How might we integrate our research findings into design concepts for user testing?
Wireframing Feedback
After gathering insights from the student focus groups and expert consults, I feel ready to brainstorm design iterations. After each iteration, I tested my wireframes with college students for feedback.
Here's what I learned.
Users expressed their confusion about the different components of the application and how they would like to be instructed what to do first.
I discovered that I needed to readjust the focus to fostering self-motivation and empowerment instead of application usability.
Users need flexibility in how they finish their tasks, and they would like the choice to step away from the game progression.
The Solution
Fluffy Focus is a web application that reduces the stress of schedule management by intermixing self-affirmation and gratification gameplay elements.
All about Fluffy Focus
With Fluffy Focus, users can discover and customize new environments by completing their real-life tasks.
After completing a task, users receive experience points (XP) and rewards such as environment decorations and avatar accessories.
With enough XP, users are able to level up and unlock new customizable environments.
View the Prototype
Personalized Companion Guide
Structured guidance and tutorial from a customizable avatar
Positive Self-Talks
Encouraging dialogue that fosters self-encouragement
Pomodoro Structure
Users are able to break longer tasks into intervals, separating periods of work with short breaks
