Myspine
A posture checker that helps individuals to develop healthy posture habits.
Posture Sensing
Every day, Americans sit for over 10 hours. Inadequate sitting position results in both decreased productivity and bodily pain; therefore, it is vital to rectify posture. We redesigned an existing application for posture sensing to correct poor posture.
What did I do?
I was primarily responsible for the design research and user flow. After defining the design direction, I was responsible for user interface design and visual communication.
MySpine is a posture checker that helps individuals to develop a health posture habit.
Research analysis
We tried several existing devices and apps on the market. We could find what differentiates each app, what is working or not, and design opportunities.
We made a competitive analysis to define marketed Strengths / Weaknesses, and Reported Strengths / Weaknesses for each application.
Competitive Analysis
We researched eight existing posture Apps on two main marketing. One is for medical or daily reminders, the another is for sport or health.
After analyzing, we choose to reverse and update based the UPRIGHT.
Upright is a physical device that works in assisting with an app system to correct and train sitting postures.
Marketed Strengths:
- The physical device
- Posture correcting / training
Reported Strengths:
- Slight vibration on the device to remind users to not slouch is super useful
- Different modes to make it not as annoying.
Good customer support (progress report/tips offered)
Marketed Weaknesses:
- Didn’t focus much on original posture sensing data/feedback
- Weak mental model
Reported Weaknesses:
- Unstable connection
- Can’t tell difference between small actions (like standing up and slightly reclining in a chair)
- No meaningful stats or historical data presented
User research
We conducted 5 interviews with representative users. We could have a better understanding of their pain and gain some insights to improve our design.
We decided to aim to In Office Back Support – use bioelectricity data from the back to prevent back strain and potential long-term ailment.
Sam
30-year-old
Programmer
Sam is a programmer who suffered from back pain because of the long-term bad posture. He also works out alone frequently. He is searching for something to remind or even correct his posture to avoid potential harm in the future.
Chris
55-year-old
Fieldworker
Chris is a 55-year-old field worker. Because he spends his day mostly standing, correcting his sitting posture is not effective for him to check the right posture for him.
User testing
During the interview, we conducted a participatory design with participants trying Upright and recorded their feelings and thoughts.
+ Privacy
“I don’t care about other people knowing about my posture, but I don’t want it to track my location.”
+ Awareness
“Sometimes just don’t want to open the app, seldom check back. Hope the app can work as easy as apple watch, which you only need to wear it, without additional attention.”
+App(tool) experience
“ I want minimize additional attention needs and operation on multiple platforms [app/device]. Calibration is still necessary”
+Effort for correcting
“... but when I want to stretch (“wanted” bad posture), the frequent feedback (vibration) is too annoying. I want a distinct differentiation between working & relaxing”
System design
To redesign an existing app, we immerse ourselves in marketing and collect user feedback. Aiming to utilize possible body posture data to help people improve postures in various activities, we decided to target long-time office workers.
HMW Statement
How might we advance the experience of correcting sitting posture in a more intuitive and concise way?
+ Attention Distribution
+ In most apps, information is displayed without much intention to back it up. User can waste their energy reading them or even get confused
+ Remind should be non-distractibility but efficiency
+ DataReliability
+ Formal representation not clear in apps.
+ Focusing on efficient and helpful data and discarding meaningless data to users
+Bespoke Suggestions
+ Small suggestions in addition to analyzing the data can help users trust more of this source more and can substantially help alleviate the pain and build good habits.
+ Individual Calibration
+ Other than sitting up straight, waist and neck support is also important for a good posture.
+Mode Control
+ No differentiation between sitting in the chair and sofa can be annoying since the product is meant to be worn in contact with skin and switching to, from these site don’t involve any mental model exists in the device.
+ Mode change can be useful, and visible.
#1
Long-time desk work makes his back and waist have been hurting.
#2
He searched online, and fond that back pain might cause by bad postures.
#3
The device detected his wrong posture and provided the correct posture suggestions.
#4
The device detected his wrong posture and provided the correct posture suggestions.
Design dive
With insights and directions, understanding the system features and flow is the next step. Experience map and user flow help us to narrow down three main features: Onboarding, Correcting, Suggestion
Experience map
To understand what experience the user will have by using the app, we made an experience map. With data and insights from UPRIGHT users, we analyzed three main action phrases: pre-use, using, and post-use. The experience map helped us to reflect on and prompt three main features we want to improve:
Onboarding
Posture warning
Suggestions
User flow
We investigated each feature based on the experience map's findings. We simplified the structure and logic of onboarding for new users. In addition, we make the shift from working to relaxing smoother and more seamless. Finally, we offered expert recommendations for reducing physical pain.
Final design
With the prototype we made, we had user testing again. With feedback we gain, we refined our design. Here I show three key frames of our final delivery.
# first-time user onboarding experience
- Pairing devices with apps
- Gives a general concept of our product
# in office ambient slouch detector
- Gives gentle reminder on slouch occurrences
- Helps forming a habit with mostly clear directions
In rest mode, user won’t be annoyed by correcting posture
In poor posture, user can correct their to the right posture following with the body animation
User can access even without phone app.
# first-time user onboarding experience
- Gives sustainable advices along with posture insights
- A more informed report at the end of the cycle, includes trend information
Reflection
Redesigning an existing app is more difficult than creating a new one. Numerous applications have been developed over years. However, nothing is perfect, posing a challenge for me to concentrate on greater detail and empathy.
Tension
I am aware that the tension between remaining alert and undistracted will always exist.
Subtle Modes
We need more research on different sitting postures on different chairs to improve the trigger of subtle transitions among different modes.
Micro-interaction
Designing the gsture-correcting pages has taught me the power of micro-interaction. The visual language of each trigger and feedback is essential to responsible and efficient interaction.
