Intagrow
Improving Digital Habits Through Idle Gameplay
Industry: Health & Wellness, Time Management
A mobile & desktop game concept to help students manage their time online; grow a virtual garden as you stay off your devices.
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Role:
I led the UX research for INTAGROW, including; user research planning, surveying, synthesis, and presentation of findings.
Deliverable(s)
Mobile mockups
Client-Facing Presentation
Skills:
UX Research, Synthesis, Documentation
Timeline:
April 2021, 3 weeks
Team:
Neharika Sidda (UX Research)
Greta Yu (Visual Design)
Overview
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden shift to online learning, many students were left struggling with managing their online time and motivation.
INTAGROW explores how UX research can be used to design playful, human-centered systems that target demographic-specific pain points.
Research Focus
How can changes made to the interactive technologies used by students, improve focus and reduce distraction?
Goals:
Explore the contradiction of using a digital environment to promote better digital habits
Learn about how students manage time during online learning
Investigate how students interact with time management tools
Find opportunities for game mechanics to improve engagement and task satisfaction
Prioritisation Matrix
Ahead of planning my user research, I created a prioritisation matrix to map out potential research and design tasks.
This streamlined our design process and made it easier to assign roles moving forward.
Methodology
Understanding the "what, why, and who” behind user behavior using mixed methods.
Research Objective:
Explore how students manage time during online learning, and identify opportunities for gamification to foster focus, reduce digital fatigue, and improve task satisfaction.
Quantitative:
Online Survey:
Used to gather the broad insights on students’ productivity, habits, distractions, and openness to using productivity tools
Provided me with measurable data on behavior patterns —> ability to do a mass analysis of provided answers
Qualitative:
Stakeholder Interviews:
Interviewing professors and students to understand pain points and uncover commonalities within them
Think-Aloud Testing (low-fi wireframes):
To uncover usability issues & helping validate early concepts
QAI (Questions, Assumptions, Insights) Framework:
To set a framework for my research direction, make predictions on what I know & then to uncover real insights from collected user data
Insights
The quantitative & qualitative research I conducted helped us narrow down the focus for the direction for our solution.
Uncovering these insights helped understand the user base we were designing for and continue progressing in a direction that was user-focused.
Key Insights:
The biggest pain point for students when working online was:
time management & procrastination (62.5%)
94%
of participants said online learning was less effective than in-person.
Other common struggles faced by students during online learning included:
Self-discipline & independence - being able to make your own schedule (37.5%)
Isolation & not being able to make friends (43.8%)
Working in a confined space (43.8%)
Empathy Map (from interviews & early testing)
I organised all my interview insights, materials, and results from our initial concepts into an empathy map to better understand and refine the pain points of our participants.
Persona & Journey Mapping:
I synthesized both the collected qualitative & quantitative data into a persona and mapped a user journey. This helped better visualize our users which, in turn, helped identify when & where identified pain points occurred in a typical day of online learning.
Gameplay
Bridging research and gameplay mechanics by translating user research into actionable design insights
INTAGROW's gameplay was directly informed by the collected user research. By identifying pain points and when/where they occur, I was able to narrow the main areas of concern to the following 3:
Procrastination
Time-managemnt
Motivation
Using these pain points I was able to brainstorm solutions in the form of gameplay to address them.
Outcome
INTAGROW is a mobile & desktop game in the genre of 'idle-games' it allows users to set a timer for as long as they wish and as they stay off of the app, they have a garden growing in the meantime.
With a simple and relaxing layout we hope to keep our users engaged through rewards while maintaining minimal involvement to allow users to complete their goals.
Our aim is to provide users with a productive and rewarding way of staying on task and a rewarding method of holding themselves accountable for that.
Features
A growing garden —> time spent off of device
Collectible plant types unlocked through time goals
Aesthetically minimal interface to reduce cognitive load
Idle-game elements allow low effort, high satisfaction
As the player completes goals they set for themselves, they are able to advance levels and collect points which they can then redeem for plant variations to beautify their gardens.
Reflections
Learning the importance of UX research and understanding user behaviour through gamification
We were able to turn something that may be seen as contradictory (improving digital habits through digital experiences) through games user research methods, and designed a game experience that rewards focus.
INTAGROW was one of my first academic UX projects, and it shaped much of how I progressed in my understanding of design and game design.
The progression of INTAGROW from a vague concept into a game helped me understand the role gamification plays in being able to contribute to the betterment of digital habits.
By leading the research, synthesis, and testing process, I gained a deep understanding of UX methodology & principles including the importance of:
Asking the right questions
Listening deeply to users' lived experiences
Translating emotional and behavioral insight into tangible design decisions