MotivateME

UX/UI + App Design

MotivateMe is a time-tracking app designed to help motivate users to stay productive by combining goal-setting, progress analysis, and personalizing self-improvement tips.

In collaboration with Alexis Williams, Anita Zhao, Eman Awadh, & Yiyang Wang

My Roles: Wireframe & Prototype Designer, User Researcher, Journey Map Designer, Presenter

Have you ever struggled with knowing what your day would look like when you wake up?

Problem Discovery

We identified that many students and young working professionals struggle to stay motivated and effectively track their time especially when having to balance life and work/ school schedule. We wanted to create a solution that combines productivity tools with motivational features.

Problem Statement

How do we motivate students and professionals to become organized, manage their time well, and continue to do so without external pressure and reminders?

Research

We discovered through scholar research and experiments that the most efficient way to have proper time management is to: Promoting Ongoing Motivation and Reducing Procrastination

Mounting Psychological Pressure + Avoidance = Increased Procrastination

Then

Self-Awareness through Learning + Application = Less Procrastination

User Research

We conducted interviews and surveys with 10 potential users that ranged from students to professionals to understand the habits, frustrations, and needs of our target audience regarding time management and motivation.

User Research Analysis

From the results of our interview, we illustrated the context behind the lack of motivation and the cause of poor time management. We then formed our intended user and identified common traits between our target audience.

Using the established information we identified the motivation and goals that users may want to achieve when using our product.

We then created a persona based on our user and background research, aiming to encapsulate potential needs and wants.

Journey Mapping

Through our analysis, we discovered the journey that we felt would be most appropriate for users who are looking for ways to improve their organizational skills and time management.

After usability testing and further research, we also developed the journey map for what we believed would be the ideal experience and path for potential users when using our application.

By breaking down the journey into main stages, we identified opportunities to introduce positive reinforcement on areas of the journey that we felt users may be discouraged or confused in order to motivate them to continue using the app and ensure users feel a sense of accomplishment at every step.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

The wireframe focused on illustrating the user flow of assessing different views of the tasks and time management mode based on the customization of the user.

We also implemented aspects that would make our application more enticing to utilize and to be drawn to continuously establish a proper habit of using the tips and tracking time properly.

Evaluation and Usability Testing

Our identity from our mood board and research resulted in a color palette focused on lighter and cooler shades to create a calm visual that encourages users to maintain a peaceful reception of the app.

We also transferred the majority of the app’s focus to the “Add Task” portion of our objective

Final Prototype

Based on our new color palettes, journey map, and new flow in the interface led to the development of our final prototypes.

The final product not only tracks progress but also celebrates milestones through personal analysis pages and tracking analytics.

The app is focused on the “create task” function where aspects such as adding collaborators, syncing with commonly used apps, or separating tasks based on tags and prioritization.

We also aim to foster long-term motivation and a sense of achievement through constant updates and tips and optional lessons that could help users realize their strengths and weaknesses that need to be improved upon.

Reflection and Further Steps

This project taught me how to combine UX/UI functionality with user needs. Through an extensive process of engaging with user feedback and taking the result to continuously iterate on designs, we created a solution that adapts to the user’s need for time tracking and motivation. As a team effort, gathering different perspectives allowed us to understand the audience we were targeting and also figure out the best ways to ensure optimal accessibility. Among the challenges we’ve encountered, some key takeaways included the need to conduct extensive testing of usability and emphasizing the impact of personalization in order to account for different measuring of user satisfaction. We overcame these aspects by inputting as many other perspectives as possible and comparing them with existing apps to identify areas that benefit or drawbacks for users to make our app unique.

While the final prototype met our initial goals, the process also highlighted areas for further exploration, such as implementing integrated community support to build larger networks connected to the usage of the app itself. This way we could help more users coordinate and introduce others to the app.

Looking ahead, the project can benefit from further testing with a larger user base than just students and professionals as it could help potentially expand the scope of the targeted audience. Additionally, exploring further external app integration opportunities can broaden the app’s reach and impact as many people are already using other time-keeping and motivation apps and this could help unify them all. Future iterations will continue refining the design, focusing on accessibility and inclusivity to make the app beneficial for a diverse audience.