Expertise & Skill
Service Design
Design Research
Data Analysis
Storytelling
Co-design Workshops
Innovation
Design Business Strategist
Location
China
Timeline
Jul. 2022-Aug. 2022
Individual
Opportunity
In China’s urban occupational groups, with their sedentary behaviour and lack of physical activity, there is an increasing rate of illness, obesity and mental problems. How to motivate occupational groups to develop physical activity habits is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.
Solution
A sports information-sharing social platform —— “Activate”
1. It provides users with information on all sports activities. Moreover, users can use the map to locate nearby events, and organisations, participate in physical activities and earn rewards. 2. What’s more, individuals, stadiums, gyms, sports enthusiasts and organisations can post events. 3. In addition, the platform collaborates with various brands to provide coupons, vouchers, and physical rewards to attract users. 4. Lastly, monetization will occur through advertising.Impact
Motivate users by creating short-term, easily attainable goals. Connections through places, physical activities and people foster vibrant sporting communities, to make exercise a part of their lives. Ultimately, it leads to a more active, healthy and resilient society.
Context
The greatest number of people affected by physical inactivity are living in middle-income countries, given the size of their populations. As one of the most populous developing countries, China has a rapidly increasing rate of adult obesity. About 90% of the occupational population has more than 6 hours of sedentary behaviour, and 60% of them lack physical activity. This project will focus on occupational workers in urban China to explore the root causes of their physical inactivity and to design effective measures.
Research
User Researches
To explore the reasons for the lack of physical activity among the target group, I conducted user research with different groups and made a comparative horizontal comparison analysis. Afterwards, I analysed and collated initial insights through 5ws, empathy maps and user journey maps.
Different groups and different research methods:
People who have the habit of physical activity & occasionally exercise:
-
The dairy study to record their pre- and post-exercise behaviour, touchpoints and emotions
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Follow-up interviews.
People who do not have the behaviour of physical activity:
-
Interviews
Changed Methods
Stories with 5ws
I found that the previous method of recording and analyzing data often resulted in data duplication and lacked logical structure. Additionally, I realized that activities are essentially a collection of unique stories involving people influenced by various factors, occurring in different circumstances, and at different times. To gain deeper insights, I conducted semi-open follow-up interviews using storytelling to construct scenarios about physical activities.
Ask why for more
I also tried to ask why to uncover the root factors. Each ‘why’ during the interviews unveiled a new story, resulting in a compilation of narratives from different users, illustrating their reasons for either engaging or not engaging in sports during various periods. Ultimately, it became evident that many of the initial reasons were merely excuses, and that numerous underlying factors were driving each behavior, emotion, and thought. These deeper insights became the key aspects I needed to explore.
Case Study
I conducted a case study of sports products on the market to identify market vacancies and analyse the advantages and disadvantages of different products.
Conclusion:
Wearable devices primarily provide users with exercise tracking and health tracking.
Exercise apps offer professional guidance and motivate users to achieve tasks. However, these products do not attract people who do not have the habit of physical activity to try them out.
Sports games add fun to exercise but usually lose a large number of users after three months because they are not fresh and cannot keep users physically active.
Wearable devices and fitness apps
VR and somatic games
Analysis
Thematic and Affinity Aanlysis
Utilizing the 5Ws as key elements, I conducted thematic and affinity analysis to acquire user insights and categorized each sticker with either a positive or negative factor. It’s crucial to highlight that different combinations of elements yielded further insights. Ultimately, I gained critical insights into the factors influencing people’s physical activity behaviours.
Define
Key Painpoints Scenarios
I illustrated visually three key user stories through scenarios.
1. They usually have intentions but lack motivation after tiring work.
2. If something stops from exercising, it’s hard for them to do it again.
3. People made exercise a part of life with friends during childhood, but they find it hard to exercise now due to the lack of atmosphere.
Force Field Analysis
I summarized and evaluated the factors that influence users in achieving their sporting goals, with the aim of identifying the key driving and restrictive forces.
Persona
I created user personas to show the key user painpoints and needs to guide the design ideation.
Problem Definition
With the heavy workload and fast pace of life,
office workers in China’s big cities,
find it difficult to
translate the exercise intentions
into repetitive physical activity behaviour
due to the lack of self-control
and exercise atmosphere around them.
Key user needs
Short-term and easily achievable goals or rewards.
External motivations while feeling lazy or inactive.
A sports-oriented and active atmosphere.
Sports partners.
Be conveniently access to sports places and activities.
Design Development
Deliver
Our sports information-sharing and social platform
provide services to find people, places and physical activities easily
to motivate occupational workers in China’s big cities who want to develop physical activity habits
through nearby five-minute fitness groups, and easily achievable goals and rewards.
Users Goals
Develop exercise habits
Be healthier
Build up their own exercise community
Business Goals
Provide an efficient, easy-to-use, real-time information social platform
Users and revenue growth
Build a positive and deep-rooted brand image
Develop more exercising products revenue models
Rewards
Engage and motivate users by collaborating with major organisations to provide them with tangible rewards. Users can earn or redeem great rewards by participating, hosting and sharing activities.
Build Up Collaborations
Provide professional guidance to users by collaborating with professional sports coaches.
Moreover, by working with sports stars, we use the celebrity effect as a marketing method to attract users.
In addition, we invite major sports organisations to join our platform and co-organise diverse sports activities.
Activate The City Vitality
People, places and physical activities are connected and form numerous sports groups within the city. Each group will activate each place, thus activating the whole city from point to surface, creating a vibrant urban sporting atmosphere and ultimately integrating sport into people’s daily lives.
Impact
This project aimed to encourage people to get out and do physical activities to improve the physical fitness which could also stimulate consumption and economic growth. More importantly, it can promote the construction of public facilities in cities and encourage people to travel in a more environmentally friendly way.
Future Business Development
