Chasing Colours
A hand wearable and a companion app to encourage outdoor exercise in kids
A hand wearable and a companion app to encourage outdoor exercise in kids
Designing an ecosystem (physical + digital) to encourage physical exercise in kids in Amsterdam. The project was done in partnership with a Dutch research group named Simba.
Feb - June 2018
6 Sprints of 3 weeks each
User research, Secondary research, Conceptualisation, Wireframes, User testing and Visual design. I also worked on a promotional video for the project with the other designers in the team.
1 Mentor
2 Designers
2 Developers
How might we encourage outdoor physical exercise in kids between age group of 8 to 12 years.
The project started with a thorough reading of different motivation theories to understand key drivers that influence behaviour and bring change in habits. Since the proposed design intervention was to motivate kids to exercise, we paid special emphasis on understanding factors that influence their behaviour.
An overview of the existing exer-gaming digital products landscape helped in the understanding of the prevalent interaction patterns and their adoption by people.
PARENTS
"I want to be able to see if my kids are exercising enough, they are on the ipads all the time and often on hours at end"
• Knowing that the kids are engaging in physical activity.
• Reducing screen time of the kids.
• Reward positive behaviour to encourage them to move!
KIDS
"I like to play games on mom's phone and ipad with friends, and go to playground in the neighbourhood too once in a while"
• Hard for children to stay motivated for a long period.
• Adaptive game, adjustable to the possibilities.
• Enjoy time spent on ipad games.
• Feedback about the movement behaviour.
• Reward positive movement behaviour.
• Setting achievable goals.
• Enjoy sharing and playing with friends.
The hand wearable gives feedback on the child’s movement progress and the bright hues motivate the kids to want more. The app connects to the wearable and makes use of the collected colours for pleasant in-app interactions, which can only evolve with continuous physical activity.
Physical movement activates colours and the movement data is collected and playfully displayed to the child who owns the bracelet. A companion app in the digital world adds secondary meaning to the collected colors through level based game play.
The hand wearable acts like a bright mediator in this delightful interaction between the digital and the physical world—run for colors, share and play. Parents take part in the system, since data can be shared from inside the app.
1. The hand wearable gives visual feedback on physical movement by displaying bright hues, motivating kids in want of more!
2. With physical movement, the wearable gains colours from the VIBGYOR spectrum
and provides visual and haptic feedback.
3. The wearable intends to become a part of a kid’s everyday life, adding meaning, awareness and richness to his movement.
1.The app connects to the wearable, making use of the collected colours for pleasant interactions. The purpose of the app is to act as an extended motivation to collect colours and encourage a continous physical movement cycle.
2. The digital app resembles a digital painting where-in the colours collected through physical movement are employed to colour the fantasy landscape—A multiple level based game-play. The content, to be coloured, for the digital universe can be shaped from the school curriculum of the kids, encouraging learning by gamification.
3. The affinity with the digital app is increased by adding sounds from nature, growing in richness with new discoveries and levels.
4. Movement data is collected and playfully displayed to the child who owns the bracelet.
5. Parents take part in the system, since data can be shared from inside the app and keep a track of the child's physical movements.
VIBGYOR SCALE
The colours both present in the child’s bracelet and the digital world (app) are inspired by rainbows, spanning a continuous spectrum of colours, a smooth gradation of intensity to a maximum.This colour gradation can be translated into a pattern of movement, from moderate to vigorous physical activity, adjusted to the child’s specificities.
Feedback and app interactions
Well performed aerobic exercises trigger haptic feedback on the bracelet (vibration) as well as new app interactions and elements (like stars, bubbles or leaves).
1. Walking [or xSteps] Activates colours on the cold spectrum on the bracelet which become available in the digital world.
2. Running [or ySteps] Activates colours on the warm spectrum on the bracelet which become available in the digital world.
3. 4. and 5. Aerobics Jumping jacks, squatting or twisting give haptic feedback on the bracelet and activate special rewards within the app (graphic elements from nature, like stars, bubbles or leaves).
6. Tagging Bracelet turns white. Birth to life happens on the digital world—such as new animals.
The app environment for kids is a level based fantasy game play. The digital painting starts with outlines and the colours collected on the wearable through physical movement gets translated in the app when the wearable is synced.
Challenges
Exploring the illustrations and getting to know which movements are required to unlock new colors and interactions—movement awareness.
Progression
Day-by-day progression on the digital world to be take cared of; unlocking new worlds (levels) to be gazed, with higher demands for physical activity—movement commitment.
Semantics
A coherent visual and verbal language for children avoiding physical activity jargon and pressure.
Sound
Increasing affinity with the digital world by adding sounds from nature, growing in richness with new discoveries and levels.
The in app environment was inspired by the outdoor surroundings of The Netherlands. The elements in the surroundings which the kid would see outside while playing were illustrated to create a surreal and whimsical representation of the same with bright vivid colours.
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The app environement serves as a place to oversee and regulate the progress of the kids with movement data specfics—nature and kind of movement patterns. The parents can see the movement progress of the kids & regulate the rate and intensity of the same.
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The bracelet takes the physical movement and translates this movement into data. This data is then turned into colours of the rainbow and displayed on the wearable, giving real time feedback—visual and haptic
Cross Cultural Team
The project team consisted of people from 4 different nationalities. It was an amazing experience to learn from each other and align to each other's ways of communication and understanding.
Sprint Methodology
The entire project was done in 6 sprints of 3 weeks each. The team sat down together at the start of each sprint to plan and schedule. Retrospectives were done at the end of each sprint which helped us constantly improve the process.
Future Scope
The kids collect colour in the hand wearable by physical movement and the collected colours are used in the iPad app for interaction with the digital world. For the present scope of the project, the digital world - game play, was inspired by the outdoor environment of The Netherlands. The digital world can be tied to and inspired by the school curriculum. For example, if the kids are being taught history in school, the digital world can have visual narratives from the same. The kids will collect colours with physical movement and the context of the digital world (iPad app) can be adapted based on the learnings in the school.
As a part of an academic enquiry at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands in 2018. Under the guidance of Tamara, Suvani Suri and Jignesh Khakhar with the project team consisting of Joao, Lisa and Dylan.
