Due OctOBER 21, 2009

Method

After completing our affinity diagram we came to the conclusion that we needed to move our project scope in a slightly different direction. We found that users were looking for:

• Structure
• Motivation
• Convenience
• Ways to compare their progress with others

So our design focus shifted to creating an app that helps users build and keep track of their workouts. We quickly went to work interviewing an additional set of users, and added this data to our affinity wall.

After walking our updated wall we created an ideation board for building our personas. We were able to settle on 4 unique personas that capture the goals and behaviors of the many users that we interviewed. We gave each persona a “fitness level,” a set of goals, a possible usage scenario, and “featured technology” that our product would provide to help them accomplish their goals.

Persona A – Allison Dayheart

Persona B – Darrell Hoffman

Persona C – Jason Shephard

Persona D – George Doyle

Allison Dayheart

“Now that I’m older, I need to make better lifestyle habits. I need an easy way to stay motivated and interested in working out.”

Profile

• Age: 38 years old
• Hometown: Scottsdale, AZ
• Martial Status: Married to Teddy Dayheart, mother of Ava, 4, Lucas, 7
• Profession: Allison works part-time at a local Scottsdale clothing boutique while her children are in school

Technology Use

• Light technology user
• Avid texter and emailer
• Loves her new Android phone and wants to stay current on the latest apps

Goals

• To get rid of this wretched baby weight
• To learn a variety of exercises that she can do at home without getting bored
• To be accessible to her children while working out
• To establish healthier lifestyle habits

Background

Before Allison had children, she was naturally thin and appeared to be in good health. She exercised in college, but only because it was a social thing to do. Allison would go to the gym only when her girlfriends dragged her along, but ultimately she found it intimidating and too “competitive” for her taste. Growing up, Allison never participated in competitive sports and still avoids this type of activity because she feels that although she is a healthy person, she wasn’t “built” for athletics. After graduating from college, Allison moved to New York City, where she didn’t find the need to workout because she remained in shape without much effort. Living in New York, Allison walked everywhere, and she believes that this must have kept her in shape.

Allison then met Teddy and moved to Arizona. Although she did not gain weight after the move, Allison began to notice a lack of energy and she felt that her body was getting weaker. Once, she attempted to join a Pilates class at her local Scottsdale gym because her friend mentioned how much she enjoyed the class. Although Allison liked the low-impact, core-strengthening workout, she found the gym environment to be much too intense, and therefore uncomfortable.

Everything changed when she married Teddy and had their two children, Lucas and Ava. Allison has put on 65 pounds because of the two pregnancies, and she feels very bad about herself. No longer can she fit into the fashionable clothing at her store, and this depresses her dramatically. She has tried to lose the weight various ways, but has found it very difficult to find time and motivation to go to the gym. Allison is upset that she didn’t form healthy living habits when she was younger and more impressionable, for she now lacks the motivation required to accomplish such a daunting task. However, she doesn’t want to give up, and wants to lose this baby weight once and for all. Allison does realize that she needs to find a workout plan that she can stick with, however, or she will eventually gain the weight right back.

Goals

Allison wants to find a workout that she can do at home. She must be accessible to her children while she’s working out, and she has learned that she hates the gym, so home seems to be the best option for her. However, she doesn’t know where to start! She enjoys low impact workouts in which she won’t sweat a lot, but will feel her muscles strengthening. Allison wants to lose “this wretched baby weight” and keep it off. Ultimately, Allison wants to establish healthier lifestyle choices that she can adhere to and that she can teach her children as well.

Scenario

It is 2 o’clock in the afternoon and Allison’s daughter, Ava, is currently down for a nap. Her son, Lucas, will be at school for another hour. Allison realizes that this may be the only time today that she will have to work out. Allison only has about 45 minutes to exercise before she must leave to pick up Lucas, and wants to do something that won’t require her to shower afterwards. Allison grabs her Android phone and goes to her ActiveIM application. She selects a Pilates workout, and chooses a new routine by shaking the phone a couple times. Doing this, Allison will have a unique routine that was different from the one she did last, and she finds that this variety helps to keep her attention. Allison also likes this application because she is able to select a “beginner’s” workout, one that she feels will fit her level of physical fitness. Allison puts on her favorite relaxing audio mix and lays down on her pilates mat on the living room floor.

The ActiveIM application then tells her to start with a certain pilates pose: she must lay on her back, feeling herself sink into the floor, and practice pilates breathing for 10 counts. Allison is familiar with all of these key phrases, so she puts down her phone, follows the instruction and begins her routine. Allison then signals she is finished with this pose by advancing to the next exercise. The application then tells her to do the “cat back”. Allison has never done this exercise before, and she wants to learn the proper movements, so she plays in informational video clip that explains the exercise. This video clip lasts 8 seconds and shows her the proper way to perform the exercise while also giving her basic instructions to complete the task. Once the video finishes, the key phrases are provided, so she can repeat them if needed. The application reads, on hands and knees, arch back, sink back, repeat. Allison also repeats these key phrases aloud to herself in order to remember the correct body position. Allison continues her workout by advancing through the Pilates poses. When she is familiar with a pose, she will do the exercise to the specifications on the application. When she is unfamiliar with a pose, Allison will play the instructional video clip as many times as she needs to feel comfortable.

As each pose is completed, the application informs Allison how many poses remain, and an estimated amount of time that is left for the workout. Allison feels a sense of accomplishment after finishing each pose, and likes that her phone keeps a record of the tasks she has accomplished. Allison also knows that the ActiveIM application has other record keeping technologies, but she is comfortable using it at a beginner’s level right now. Allison especially likes the variety of workouts she can learn all in one place, right on her phone!

Featured Technology

• Instructional videos
• Randomized routines
• Time remaining / countdown
• User level selector

View the Allison Dayheart PDF.

Darrell Hoffman

“I already know how to workout, what I need is something to help me record and analyze my progress.”

Profile

• Age: 31 years old
• Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
• Marital Status: Single
• Profession: Police Officer

Technology Use

• Not particularly tech savvy
• Work gave him an Android phone but he barely knows how to use any apps
• New to smart phones, but has it with him wherever he goes, even the gym

Goals

• To keep track of his progression by recording a number of workout statistics including muscle size and how much weight he is able to lift.
• To keep track of these statistics in a central place.
• To see his progress in the form of weekly and monthly totals for stats such as bodyweight/strength ratio and weight maximums.

Background

Darrel graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in psychology. While in school he played football and gained a passion for physical fitness that carried with him into his career as a police officer in his hometown of Detroit. For him, staying strong and healthy is important not only for catching bad guys, but also to maintain his strong and powerful appearance. “I want to intimidate anyone who wants to mess with me.”

Darrel is a very competitive lifter who trains 4-5 times a week. He enjoys lifting weight because he can feel and see progression everyday. “If I miss a day of lifting, I just feel ‘blah’.” He has a membership at the local Powerhouse gym where he goes to lift. He prefers going there over working out at home because the gym provides specialized equipment and so he is able to perform the routines he wants. He also prefers the gym atmosphere and can easily find a workout partner there to help spot him during difficult lifts. “A good lifting partner pushes me to go the extra mile on my lifts.”

Darrel is by nature very self disciplined and rarely misses a day at the gym. “The gym is like a second home to me in a lot of ways.” Because of his background as a football player, he is also very knowledgeable about which exercises to do, how to perform them, and when and how often to train. He has a very detailed workout plan that he establishes well before he even gets to the gym.

Goals

Darrel keeps track of a number of statistics that help him measure the progress that he makes in his physical conditioning. For instance muscle size, strength/weight ratio, mile run time, and weight maximums on each of what he considers core exercises. Being able to watch himself progress is very important and he looks to these stats to help him build his workouts. If he is lacking in one specific muscle group, he may engineer his workouts to help him hit that muscle more often and harder. Darrel would also like to track progress over time and see how quickly he is getting stronger. Fast, steady progression is important to him, and so he wants to monitor his progress over time to see if he is improving at an optimal rate.

Scenario

After a long day on patrol, Darrel is heading to the gym to get in his workout. He recently found out about [ActiveIM] from one of his more tech savvy fellow officers, Pete, who also works out at his gym. Pete told him he could easily start tracking the stats that he wants today, and down the road will be able to view his progression. So today Darrel decides to give it a try. After warming up and doing some initial stretching, he starts his workout with a bench press routine. After completing the exercise he opens [ActiveIM] on his Android phone and it immediately gives him the option to “Start a Workout” where he can begin entering in data about his routines. The navigation lets him easily select the bench press exercise, where he has the option to view a video about how to perform the bench press, or enter in his usage statistics. Darrel is a pro with this exercise so he just goes right to entering his numbers. He is able to enter his number of reps, amount of weight, and number of total sets, along with a number of other optional stats for that routine. After entering in his data, he moves to another routine and repeats.

At the end of the workout [ActiveIM] provides Darrel the option “Workout Finished” which he presses. It is here that Darrel can decide whether he wants to keep his usage stats stored locally on his phone, or if he wants to sign up with [ActiveIM]’s main website and upload his data daily to be viewed online. Darrel has a computer so he decides to give it a try. Later that evening he logs into the site and can immediately see the stats recorded today at the gym. His friend Pete is also registered on the site and has made his statistics public, so he can compare his numbers and progression with his buddy. The site allows him to keep track of as many statistics about his workout as he wants, and provides graphs and detailed analysis of each of them.

A month later Darrel has noticed that he has rapidly progressed with his upper back, however he hasn’t made very much progress with his biceps. He knows this by comparing his progression to others and can see where he should be. Based on this data, he knows he needs to change up his workout to focus more on his arms. So that day Darrel throws in another arm exercise but also makes variations on the arm exercises that he is currently doing. “I knew I wasn’t workin’ my arms enough. I think it’s time to change up my workout a bit.”

Featured Technology

• Workout Tracker and Log
• Usage Graphs and Charts
• Comparison tools

View the Darrell Hoffman PDF.

Jason Shephard

“I am very competitive with my friends and we use that to motivate our progress in the gym and on the field, so I would like some way to compare with others.”

Profile

• Age: 20 years old
• Hometown: College Station, Texas
• Marital Status: Single
• Profession: Texas A&M Undergraduate, 3rd year Physics Major

Technology Proficiency

• Net Generation Student
• Highly acclimated to existing technologies
• Early adopter of new technology when feasible
• Acquired a Motorola Droid out of nerd lust

Goals

• To maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• To be reminded of workouts and games.
• To keep a record of his progress via statistical information.

Background

Jason is a third year physics major at Texas A&M University at College Station. He is physically fit and loves to play ultimate frisbee and soccer with his friends in between classes and his research assistant work in the University Physics department. His primary area of interest is particle physics with a focus on complex systems. Jason is also addicted to novel technology, particularly mobile, and is known as an “early adopter” of a number of gadgets. Although quite busy, Jason always makes time for a good workout be it through a rousing game or a quick, intense gym session, he likes to stay fit and healthy. In his high school days, Jason was a varsity track and field runner and likes to run to maintain his cardiovascular strength.

As a junior, he is quite familiar with the campus and has a large cohort of friends and acquaintances. Physics majors are perhaps not well known for being sociable, but Jason curbs stereotypes and tries to maintain contact with people especially those willing to join in recreational activities. Team sports, like soccer and frisbee, strengthen friendly relations and this allows Jason and his friends to spend time with one another. But team sports often are supplemented with work outs at the University gym and the competitive spirit that fueled them on the field also permeates into the gumption of gym workouts. He and his friends love to push and motivate each other no matter what the endeavor and their competition begets performance.

However, the constraints of time and a limited amount of energy eventually take their tolls at some point in a week and people will miss games or work out sessions. Even for something as simple as running, Jason and his friends may not always be able to coordinate their schedules to get together. Jason likes to compare his performance with that of his friends and even of strangers, but it is not always trivial to remember this information, especially when you miss an event. Scores and goals in games are not difficult to recall, but keeping track of gym progress is difficult for Jason due to the volume of numbers involved.

Goals

Jason would like to use technology to keep a record of his performance and compare it against his friends and even strangers. He just needs to know, for example, the number of reps and sets completed previously on a given machine. He would like to access this information quickly, and be able to represent it visually so as to quickly compare it with someone else. Showing improvement over time is also desirable and will help motivate him. If he could also keep track of game scores and/or times, that would help him to better manage his time as well.

Scenario

Tuesday afternoons are the pinnacle of the week, at least for now, Jason thought to himself, lost in the quagmire of particle physics calculations in the physics lab. Eager to leave the lab and see the sun once more, he watched impatiently at the overhead clock as it creepily marched towards 2:00 PM. His Android phone buzzed, he twitched suddenly, forgetting momentarily of the alarm he had set on the [ActiveIM] application on his phone to preempt his escape to the gym.

“Just two more minutes,” he muttered in hushed tones so that his supervisor would be unaware of his intentions. It is difficult to work in a lab for six hours straight, especially for such an active young man.

Finally, the clock strikes 2:00 PM and, in an instant, Jason closes his laptop, leaps out of his chair, and storms out the door leaving only his vanishing “I’ll see you on Thursday, Ms. Cortez!” and the imminent silence of a nearly empty lab room behind. His steps tearing the through the halls, Jason breaches the doors of the building, the grass outside torn asunder his urgent ambulation.

In the glory of a Texas spring afternoon, Jason revels in the hot but refreshing atmosphere. Amidst the buzz of shuffling students and faculty around him, Jason’s phone rings and his friend, Adam, chimes in,

“Hey, Jason, you going to make it the gym today? I got here little early…”

“I’ll be there in 5 minutes,” Jason said, relieved to be outside and equally thrilled was he at the thought of the workout to ensue. But his lab work is arduous, often pushing nearly everything else out of Jason’s mind. He couldn’t remember what he had done last time at the gym with Adam nor his performance at the time. Of course, he remembered his running times yesterday but could not recall if he had improved from the last week.

Walking quickly to the gym, Jason whips out his Android phone and activates the [ActiveIM] application to check his statistics. He can quickly see his stats represented as graphs and compares them to Adam’s stats as well. Grinning, Jason now remembers how hard he had pushed himself last week. He notices that his running times have improved by about 15 seconds from month-to-month for the last few months. Looking at the paths traced during Adam’s run and the pace/speed information shown in [ActiveIM] he also realizes that Adam is catching up to his own six minute mile.

“Confident,” he thinks aloud scanning over Adam’s recent progress and performance not only in the gym but also on the field. ‘I’ll have to out do him today,’ Jason decided quietly to himself as the heady scent of the University gym assailed his nostrils. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Jason smiled at the gym attendant and gave her his ID card. Jason glanced at the [ActiveIM] application on his phone and immediately decided, using his sharp intuition, what he will do today and how he will accomplish his goal of exceeding Adam’s performance.

Featured Technology

• Workout Reminders
• Path-Tracing for Running/Walking
• Record Keeper
• Statistical Comparator

View the Jason Shephard PDF.

George Doyle

“I don’t exercise regularly but need to start for the sake of my health.”

Profile

• Age: 55 years old
• Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
• Martial Status: Married to Carolyn Doyle, Father of Jessica 17, David 21
• Profession: CEO and Founder of Doyle Technology Inc.

Technology Use

• Tech savvy
• Proficient in Java, C, C++, Fortran, COBOL
• Enjoys purchasing new tech gadgets
• Worked as a developer for 15 years before starting his own company

Goals

• To learn new exercises that he can do on a regular basis in the comfort of his home and neighborhood.
• To lose weight to improve his physical health.

Background

George was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He worked as a programmer for 15 years before he started his own technology consulting company in 1999. He no longer works as a programmer but finds that he enjoys the relational aspect of his new job as an executive manager. He currently runs a mid-size company of 50 employees. Over the past 10 years, George has dedicated many nights to working late hours, and has indulged in unhealthy eating habits, which has caused him to gain excess weight. In a recent visit to the doctor’s office for an annual checkup, his doctor firmly advised him to watch his caloric intake and to increase his level of physical activity to lose weight if he wants to fight against his chances of developing cancer and heart disease.

George has been happily married for the past 27 years and has two children ages 17 and 21. His wife and children always encourage him to exercise but he claims that his busy work schedule keep him from working out at the gym. When he comes home after a long day in the office, George wants to be able to enjoy a meal with his family at home. He has tried various diet and workout plans but has never been successful in maintaining healthy eating habits or a regular exercise routine. Even when he sees progress from exercising and eating right, he is not able to keep the weight off due to his lack of self-discipline.

His children chipped in to buy him an annual gym membership for his birthday but he has hardly used it. “I hate going to the gym.” He tried going to the gym a few times after work and during the mornings on weekends but is frustrated that the gym is always packed during the peak hours when he is available. George does not like the idea of having to fight with others to use the gym equipment when he is paying for membership. In addition to his negative attitude toward the gym, being older and overweight makes him self-conscious of exercising alongside fit, young kids who are the same age as his children.

Goals

George needs to record his weight so that he can keep track of his progress over time. Being able to quantify his progress allows him to monitor his improvement when he doesn’t see immediate results. He would like to learn new stretches and exercises that he can do at work or in the comfort of his home and neighborhood without having to go to the gym. He wants to learn the proper technique and how many reps he should do to see results. He needs help setting realistic goals for himself and would like to know what exercises are appropriate for a man of his size, age and current fitness level.

Scenario

After eating dinner, George and his wife decide to go on an evening stroll around the neighborhood to enjoy the autumn weather and to walk the dog. Before leaving the house, George grabs his Android phone. He opens the [ActiveIM] application and sets the pedometer to start counting his steps. He slips his phone into his pocket and proceeds on his walk. During his stroll, George receives an exercise reminder that notifies him that he has not fulfilled his exercise requirement for the day. The notification provides him with a short check-list of exercises that he should do to reach his target fitness goals based on his age and health. Knowing that he usually doesn’t have time to exercise in the morning, George set his preference so that the application sends him alerts at certain times of the day to remind him to exercise. Arriving back at home, George stops his pedometer while the application automatically logs his step-count for the day.

Mindful of the notification he has just received, George decides to do some exercises in his living room. He reads through his daily exercise list and selects the first exercise. The application navigates to an interface that explains the exercise. It provides him with information about which target muscle groups will be exercised, and information about the proper technique he needs to have to properly execute the exercise. George watches a quick 30-second video clip of the exercise and attempts the exercise himself. Once he has completed the exercise he indicates that he has done so by checking the exercise off his list and moves on to the next suggested workout. In the middle of his workout, he receives a phone call from his son, David, who is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University. George stops his workout to have a 30-minute conversation with David about school and college football, then resumes his last few exercises for the day.

At the end of the evening before bed, George weighs himself on a bathroom scale and records his weight. Having used the application for 3 weeks, he sees that he has been losing an average 2 pounds per week. He sees that he is on his way to being an average healthy weight for someone his age. “I can see results.” Encouraged by his improvement, George immediately shares the good news with his wife and calls it a night.

Featured Technology

• Exercise Reminders
• “Set Your Goal” feature
• Workout List
• Pedometer
• Record Tracker
• Exercise description and training video

View the George Doyle PDF.