Elevate Smart Mirror
Smart mirror for self-love.
TL;DR
In my human-centered design class at UW MS Human-Centered Design & Engieering, I collaborated with my amazing teammates Anita and Trushaa to design this smart fitness mirror!
Elevate is a smart mirror for private spaces in campus gyms. It offers personalized mindfulness, fitness tracking, and body-positive tools. With touch and voice activation, it's easy for anyone to use.
MY ROLE
During 10 weeks, I collaborated with my teammates to research, ideate, design, and prototype the smart mirror.
IMPACT
Duration
10 weeks
(Sep. 2024 - Dec. 2024)
Design Link
FigmaRole & Team
UX Researcher & Designer -
Anita Nwude Chenge
Ralph Chang
Trushaa Ramanan
BACKGROUND
Body Image Solutions via Design
This project was our final deliverable for HCDE 518: User-Centered Design in our Master's program in Human-Centered Design and Engineering at University of Washington.
We focused on real-world challenges and were inspired by personal experiences and the widespread issue of negative body image in college fitness. Our goal was to create a solution to address these challenges.
USER RESEARCH
Survey Insights:
To dive deeper into our problem space, we conducted surveys, receiving over 30 valid responses, and interviewed 10 members of our target audience.
USER RESEARCH
User Inverview:
After getting some directions from the survey, we conducted interviews with 10 members of our target audience. I spearheaded in creating the interview guide and conducting the interviews.
PROCESS
Wrapping it all Together — Affinity Diagramming
Based on our research findings, the key themes we found to help guide our solution were positive impact of physical activity, barriers to addressing body image concerns, resources and support, and strategies for managing body image concerns.
Arriving at Our Problem Statement
How might we develop a solution for college students engaged in fitness activities that minimizes the effects of negative body image perceptions and promotes self-acceptance?
Meet Logan and Melissa!
To better empathize with our user base, we created two user personas who represent our target users.
Sketching and Ideation
Using the persona's as a guide, we each generated 5–6 sketches of what our "solution" would be. We filtered out our ideas by discussing the strengths, weaknesses, feasibility, and originality of each of each person's ideas. We also sorted out our sketches using affinity diagramming to group ideas that go together.
By the end of the critique session, we decided to move forward with the smart mirror idea. Not only was it the most feasible idea but it was one all three of us had sketched out and were confident designing and prototyping
Feature Prioritization
- We finalized designing 4 user flows we wanted the mirror to have.
- Those 4 flows were:
- 1. Mirror Exposure Therapy
- 2. Mindful Recovery — Post workout Meditation
- 3. Mindful Recovery — Post workout Logs
- 4. Personalized Affirmations
Storyboard and User Flow
After finalizing our solution, we further explored the user flows by detailing the user experience features included in each flow:
Low Fidelity Prototypes - My Flow
To visualize the user interface, we created low-fidelity prototypes, as there wasn't enough time to develop a wireframe beforehand. So here are key screens from my responsible flow:
Usability Testing
To gain insights into the usability and user experience of our smart mirror, I conducted 2 rounds of usability testing for my flow with the same group of participants we conducted user interviews with.
Final Solution
For the final solution, Elevate is an interactive smart mirror placed in private locations on campus gyms, providing personalized mindfulness practices, fitness tracking, and body-positive tools. The mirror is designed to be touch- and voice-activated, making it easy to use for everyone.
Mirror Exposure Therapy
A feature can help the user be positive and mindful about their conception towards their body image.
Post-workout Meditation
A feature allows the user to be mindful after each workout session, making exercise more meaningful.
Personalized Affirmations
As for the feature I was in charge of, it allows the user to set up personalized affirmations on the mirror, helping the user become more positive and mindful every time they look at the mirror.
SHOWCASE
8 students reported positive attitude changes to their body image.
During out final week, we showcased our physical prototype to over 150 people. 8 Students who tried out prototype reported positive attitude changes to their body image.
Context matters in design: Since mirrors are used in personal spaces, privacy and intuitive interactions (e.g., gesture controls, quick toggles) were prioritized to build trust and ease of use.
User Research is the Foundation of Good UX
- If we had more time, we would have conducted more comprehensive user research. This would include allocating additional time for each user interview and conducting more interviews throughout the development process.
Given our ten-week timeframe for topic selection, research, ideation, and prototyping, time constraints were a major challenge, especially during the research phase. More extensive research would have provided deeper insights, leading to more user-centered design decisions and a better overall product experience.