Rapid Prototyping
I set out to develop an app that helps users manage their water-to-caffeine intake ratio without employing negative reinforcements to motivate users. The app tracks how much water a user should strive to drink for every cup of coffee they consume - regardless of how many cups.
My Role
User Research
Prototyping
Wireframing
Empathizing with users
In my research interviews I observed that most users are not willing to discontinue or reduce caffeine consumption to eliminate undesired side effects to caffeine. Users complained of energy crashes, headaches, and dehydration that impacted their daily activities.
Based on these insights I hypothesized that by incentivizing positive self-care habits for coffee drinkers I could achieve reduced energy crashes and improve daily steady-state energy for coffee drinkers. I’ll know this to be true when I see a decrease in crash experience/complaints in coffee drinkers who use the app.
Early Ideation
I first sketched an insulated bottle with two vessles, one for coffee and the other for water. This idea was quickly dismissed during secondary testing as users thought it would be difficult to clean and a keep track of. “I lose my water bottles all the time, there’s no way I would hold on to something as fancy as that for more than a week” one user reported.
“I lose my water bottles all the time, there’s no way I would hold on to something as fancy as that for more than a week”
So I added a solution requirement: convenience. The solution needed to integrate easily into the person’s existing routine and ideally wouldn’t require an in-store purchase.
The solution
I created a low-fidelity paper prototype that progressively displays how much water and caffeine a user drinks throughout the day. When a user drinks water or coffee they can enter the app and, in one tap, update the app.
User Flow
User A
User B
How does it help users?
User A works at a desk and might take a few sips of water or coffee here and there every hour, so she will log her intake in increments of 4oz. Whereas User B is a courier and will down a full water bottle between deliveries. He will track his intake in 16 oz increments. The key takeaway here is that neither user is scolded for their style but simply encouraged to modify their water intake to curb any caffeine side-effects. Users can easily do all they need to do in the app in less than 10 seconds.
Next Steps
I enjoyed being pushed to problem solve with limited resources and time in the 3 days for this project. In future iterations, I’d like to implement some feedback from secondary testing. One of which is to create a push-notification feature that prompts users to update the app so that remembering isn’t an extra task. 3 daily notifications that simply ask “have you had any water or caffeine in the last 4 hours?” can provide a quick call to action that takes 30 seconds or less to resolve.
Information is power. When we can better empower users with information about themselves, they can make better choices in their daily routines. This app is for healthcare companies who want to encourage preventative health habits in their subscribers. This app is for Workplaces who want to improve employee dispositions, reduce friction and increase attendance (less sick days). This app is for Individuals interested in simply bettering themselves.