MOTIVATION

It started with creating something Indian and very unique. In the wake of COVID, Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Medicines were getting all the attraction/favours during the pandemic as there was no vaccine at that time. So precautionary measure suggested by Ayurveda and Yoga was our best bet. This sparked the idea why is there no Ayurvedic and Yoga app that helps you with keeping your health in check and not just focus not he medication aspect of it. This thought was the begging of a 5 month long journey of understanding user-experience, research and how design can help an app in setting a mood.

PROBLEM + USER GROUP

The Audience was limited to an age group of 18 to 35 as this age group makes almost 80% of all mobile users in India (as per a report by Pew Research Centre). This gave an opportunity to understand that if given a chance will the health-conscious youth like to switch from western Health practices to Indian healing systems. The initial problem statement that guided my initial thoughts was

How might we Simplify and digitise Ayurveda and Yoga so that it becomes part of a Health-Conscious user’s Daily Life by using Reliable and Verified Information so that they can take charge of their own health?

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

While looking at competition there were two grouping done. One that more direct competitors and others which are indirect. This lead to two direct competitors : Daily Yoga and VedAyur. The former focused on more English Speaking foreign audience catering Yoga exercises in an animated format and had a good download rate. Consumer ratings and comments indicated that they were happy with the variety of Asanas and meditation exercises with option to share your progress but weren’t so happy with the Customer Service as well lack of customisation. The later, VedAyur was focusing on Ayurveda and had a good set of features like Health tips, Diet Plan or food options and even an Ayurvedic Clock but was brought down by very below average UI and relying too much on heavy text.

During the Survey and further research even Secondary Competitors like Cult.fit or healthify.me were considered as they are most popular health Apps.

DESIGN PROCESS

User-Centered design process inspired by UK Design Council’s Double Diamond approach was followed by undertaking the following steps:

A project plan and setting deadlines for various deliverables was made to create as guide to find a solution to the problem at hand.

Healthcare Apps Market to will also see a robust growth of 32% in India in next 10 years

A report published by htfmarketreport.com

‘Global Ayurvedic Market was value US$ 4.5Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 14.9Bn by 2026 at a CAGR of 16.14%’

Valuemarketresearch.com

SECONDARY RESEARCH

After looking at the existing research and going through some articles. Some interesting statics that favoured the case further was founded.

69% of the surveyed audience consume health related Content from Smartphones from health apps, Video Apps like Youtube and even Social Media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Survey Key Finding

A survey was conducted to further understand how daily interactions looks like between a user and their existing health app. How regular that interaction is? What is keeping them happy on their existing platforms and What is not keeping them happy? Also try to understand thier inclinations towards more alternative practices like Ayurveda, Yoga or other wholistic practices. These were some of the findings after surveying 60 people recruited using social media posts, peers, friends etc. from Tier 1 and 2 cities of age group 18-34:-

62% Have downloaded some form of a health app

Only 2% Consumers use these
apps regularly

The last observation really hold the interest and brought questions that needed further exploration.

PRIMARY RESEARCH: User Interview

In order to keep the interview focused and keep the interview more purposeful each interview was kept for about 45-50 minute exploring the Need, Perception, and Fear & Opportunities.

With questions like What factors in for people to to make a shift from their present health system digital or offline, Perception about online health platforms, their mindset about Ayurveda and Yoga along with What encourage and discourage them from Ayurveda and Yoga.

The Survey worked as a scanner where audience with some digital health experience were asked to join us for a small online interview. Understanding the themes using Affinity Mapping In order to understand the themes and stories all of these inputs were again grouped in Need, Perception (further divided in Perception of Health Apps and Perception of Yoga+Ayurveda) and Fear & Opportunities for Health Apps.

• When asked about the need to download the app a lot of interviewee agreed that online form of working out is less intimidating, saves them time, has a variety and versatility

• One advantage some saw in online platform of working out was also it provides them a starting point which is they can start from bare essential and still feel they made some progress on the opposite side fo the spectrum a more ‘hardcore workouters’ weren’t such a huge fan of online workouts but pandemic forced them to make that switch.

• The perception around Health App is pretty mixed while a good number of interviewee agreed that its a easier, less intimidating and helps in educating the user, but there was skepticism around it being too informative at times or these apps asking too much of their time and effort.

Some of the themes and finding of the interview were.

• Even though information provided feels more verified as one can check the source unlike the offline gym-trainers but the omission of an actual person/face is something that kept their hesitation.

• Some of the Apps were offering way too much that information overload was also unappreciated by the user and developed a negative perception.

• Just like Health Apps there were mixed feelings about Ayurveda and Yoga. While a good chunk of audience agreed that Ayurveda and Yoga is safer, more approachable as well as has room to be flexible but what keeps them away from making it a part of their regular life is that is can be Extremely slow, boring and uncool.

• Some of the Fears around Ayurveda and Yoga echoed similar problems with Health apps that were discussed before like Apps being overwhelming and over informative but some additional problems that were revealed were lack of accountability and Personalisation. App having boring UI and not having a proper option to pause and play when in workout mode.

• Some of the opportunities that online health platform has is that it removes the overthinking and distractions, provides variety, is easier to grasp and can be flexible as per one’s schedule and availability.

USER PERSONA + PROBLEM STATEMENT REDEFINED

After taking inputs from interviews I was able to come up with two contrast personalities that got filtered in these two personas.

The problem statement took a bit of a twist and turn and formed a new shape like this

Mahika, a workaholic who wants a very convenient version of Yoga and Ayurveda so that she can enjoy her personal life with a little bit of a conscience. She wants it to be quick and convenient and less disruptive. Something that will make her even stick to the solution if she feels that’s its not boring and she can enjoy it with her friends.

Ansh, an actor by profession know exactly what he wants and wants an extra edge over others and something that provides him longevity. He believes that the way to get his best body, Skin and Mind he has to accept this vast life-science. The only hesitation for him is generalised nature of existing apps. He wants a solution tailored just for him. He has a hustler mentality so his biggest pain point is wasting time.

How might we provide today’s Urban Youth an Ayurvedic and Yoga experience which is Personal, Time-Saving, and Not Overwhelming? So that they can make educated choices to improve their health and mind.

IDEATION: BRAINSTORMING SOLUTIONS

After taking a converging approach to refine and interpret the problem. It was time to go to different nooks and corners to come up with ideas. Some of the ideas explored were Gamifying Ayurveda to Habit formation apps to highly personalised Ayurvedic doctor app.

But each idea had some advantages and some drawbacks. So after some brainstorming sessions the idea of using Voice as the centre of the app and keeping the attention focused to a singular multifaceted concept of Ayurveda ‘Dincharya’ the concept of time and how if we tap the power of sun and nature a lot of our work and effort is reduced. Modern science has also accepted the concept in form of ‘Circadian Rhythm’ so it made all the sense.

This led to drawing some of the initial screens of the app.

The idea was to keep the app a good mix of generalist as well as personalised. It starts with asking you about your goal for downloading the app then goes to suggest you content, recipes as well as exercise based out of your present state and your idea state. It follows your progress in the most non-intrusive way, the idea was to create an app that looks more like an adult friend rather than a coach dictating you. It suggestive in nature. It teaches you about Ayurveda in byte-size audio clips, provides ideas for breakfast, dinner or lunch depending upon what time it is. It also gives you small tasks or exercises you can do through out the day to fully utilise your day. For people looking for a very specific thing like a DIY or a home remedy we also a special tab for them so they can follow some healthy habits but still but bandaid to issues that need more specific attention. This led me to form the first draft of the app UI and its low fidelity framework.

The initial designs were presented to 5 people to understand their thoughts and see what how they see some of the screens created.

Some of the key takeaways of this Guerrilla testing was:-

• The Concept of Ayurvedic clock wasn’t so clear.

• The idea of Dosha and what its doing in the home screen wasn’t explained to the user? These words looked alien to them.

• Some of the titles on the app were too big.

• There were no difference between tasks and some sections were looking similar even though they had similar look and vibe.

• There were long paragraphs that needed to chop down to make it easily accessible.

These inputs along with UI Elements and Brand Identity came together to form the hight fidelity version of the app.

BRAND IDENTITY & UI ELEMENT

Brand Identity of the app was created keeping functionality and minimalism in mind. A mix of transparency, pictures and icons came together along with serif fonts that were inspired by ancient text and usage of images along with icons to avoid any confusion. Some of the guiding principals of the app are

HIGH FIDELITY SCREENS

After developing all the particles separately and fitting it into to the existing bare bone to create a more cohesive and composite version of the app, this is what gave the app the feel of the real app. After numerous hits and trials. This is what was developed.

Usability Testing Round 1

I interviewed five people for usability testing. Nielsen and Norman determined that 85% of the issues are captured by fitting interviews of five people, after which the results begin to decline. Using the high fidelity prototype, I completed two rounds of usability testing with different people. Each test was divided in 3 parts pretesting, testing and post-testing.

The pretesting phase focused on introducing and warming up the user to the designed screens, the testing phase contained a list of tasks that the participants needed to perform using the prototype and a few follow-up questions and their Experience rating were covered in Post-testing.

Findings

After conducting the usability tests, I created a test report that included all of the usability issues observed during testing the prototype. I determined how each of these issues would impact the product's success and assigned a severity designation to them.

Changes to the Login Process

• Create a login experience that educate the user about the App and its terminologies

• Simplify the sliders and tell the user exactly what they are choosing

• Dosha explanation page should have a submit button to avoid accidental taps

Changes to the Home Screen + Cards

• Usage of ‘+’ button wherever its required to add some much required details avoid underlining.

• Timestamp and even the chapter duration needs to change.

• A way to look up your meal in advance should include dinner and lunch options.

• Connection between the explore page and player card needs to be made more obvious

Changes to Gurukul Sessions and Personal Dashboard

• Setting/filter should lead to change of goals also

• Timline needs few adjustments to include the seprate things one does and to make the week more customisable so that going back to a certain date/month is not a problem.

• Simplify the way Doshas are visible also add details to all of the ‘new’ words

Usability Testing Round 2

The results were evident for me to understand how a usability test can affect a product's development. Though I was confident that I addressed the usability issues raised in the earlier round of testing, I still wanted to test these in the second round of usability tests. I kept most of the tasks similar to last time. I was careful not to ask any leading questions.

Results:

The second round of usability testing was gratifying because none of the issues that appeared in the first test resurfaced. It led me to conclude I had adequately solved the problems. In one engaging interview, the user mentioned about using a mail icon in the login page and the need to have an Apple Login as it its compulsory for all new iOS apps.

A question of the need of ‘explore’ page was also discussed by a user as there are two touchpoint to reach the same goal. I did end up taking the small initial suggestions but kept the ‘Explore’ page as that page can use some repetition as it consists of all the major content of the app.

The shoot was used on the innisfree website