As a beginner athlete, people often want to be part of an experienced group to learn. Inspired by the network of tree roots, we present a network of learner-expert community to grow and engage others.
Challenge Owners
24-26 Sep 2021
Smartwatch
Mobile App
UX Design
Video Creator
Health affects every area of our lives – when we are healthy, life is better. Therefore, health should be a priority for people. Our challenge was to help individuals rebalance their nutrition, ways that they exercise, and reconnect with others doing the same. Maybe it’s as easy as a few simple exchanges in their fridge for healthier meals; perhaps it’s showing people where and when to exercise or just providing some motivational tips. We will have data from recipes to help people make simple adjustments to their diets and from sports watches showing how people are exercising now.
I was in charge of the design, user experience design and development of this project from end to end. I collaborated with one software developer (Deepjyoti) during the early ideation stage and the challenge owner’s representatives (James, Simge, and Lorena) throughout the entire project. In addition, I recorded and created an unboxing and user promo video for Garmin (Garmin Venu® sq) and the demo video (Rootnet).
The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that lifestyle-related conditions – heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, some cancers and other diseases – are responsible for over 70% of global deaths. [1]
Something must change. Now is the time for a new approach.
Well-being requires significant effort to maintain and does not potentially evoke people’s interest. [2]
The decrease in physical activity and rise of unhealthy dietary habits have increased the likelihood of contemporary well-being concerns, ranging from Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases (NCDs) to mental health. [3]
Many wearables, especially wrist-held trackers and smartwatches, aim to increase the activity of users’ behaviour. However, the changes are not often permanent.
The inspiration comes from a natural phenomenon that happens in forests among the trees.
The trees have an extensive underground network of roots to communicate. If there is a weaker tree in the network and needs some vitamin or mineral supplements to survive, it can ask for it from the grown-up trees via the network.
As beginner runners or cyclists, people often find it challenging to get involved in a group of experienced athletes. Also, this may cause a lack of motivation after some time. With the Rootnet app, we are trying to find an appropriate group for beginners considering the level of expertise and type of activity (running/cycling). In addition, we give the user several ways to engage in the community and stay motivated while being fit both physically and holistically.
New normal, new paradigm
Social & organizational community
Care for all
Data-driven recommendations
Digital, physical, and psychological connection
In this project, we focused on three aspects of the human-technology interaction: (1) humans as a whole, (2) the context of use, and (3) user tasks and activities. Basically, we tried to follow the triple diamond principle, but our design process was minimised for the sake of the short scope of this hackathon.
We kicked off a design and development sprint with two Garmin representatives in the first 6 hours (after the opening ceremony to midnight of Friday).
Using FigJam as a remote collaboration tool, we inspired how the current Garmin application crafted its user experience and shared what we could employ and improve in our solutions.
Initially, our target users were family members, especially caring for elders. However, the challenge owners required us to find a new group of users to expand their business in the industry and have impactful solutions for that group. Therefore, we changed our focus on the B2B direction, and our target users were employees in companies and organisations.
Then, we established four product visions for the solution to make sure we design and develop based on these principles. The principles are centred around our stakeholders – how to promote the healthiest version of the users and keep the solution’s engagement. In addition, we also focused on business scalability based on the business goals.
After a quick meeting with the challenge ower’s representatives, we started sketching some ideas on our minds and added them on FigJam. Our focus at this stage is to diverge first, converge later.
Based on the above goals, we had our early wireframes, which would be changed just a little in the visual because we were a small team, and I did not have enough time to polish the design pixel perfect. In detail, we mapped out the purpose of each screen, aligning with our product visions and given data. The primary goal was to keep the users motivated and engaged in the long term.
Regarding user journey, our solution utilised the current journey of the Garmin application, which was demonstrated in our demo video. To manage requirements, we prioritised four features (social alarm, recommendation by group, quick meet with group, my position) to help key stakeholders understand the significance of initiatives in this specific release.
On the second day, I spent most of the time creating the demo video and sometimes double-checking the wireframes with the screens developed by Deepjyoti. During that day, we also had some meetings with the challenge owner’s representatives to get feedbacks and polish our solutions. In the end, most of the deliverables like videos, image galleries, and the presentation were designed and made by me with support from Deep.
I once read about the root network of forests in a research paper. Also, as a regular runner and cyclist, I sometimes feel the requirement to be in the group and engage in the community for mutual engagements. So combining the requirement and inspiration, we came up with this engaging and social learning app. We used React Native, Redux and Fitrockr Public API.
One unique way to keep the user motivated. The group leader(Pro) can set a standard alarm for every member, for example, at 5 AM. Each user's phone will ring the alarm bell at 5 AM together, and while waking up, users can see if all the other users are awake and have started exercising nearby. This boosts the user's motivation and creates a strong will to join others immediately.
Members of the group, if nearby, can organize a quick break from work/study and meet for 15 minutes, engage in talks. This helps refresh the brain and move muscles and helps improve mental health and engage in more group activities.
The user can visualize the progress for the last seven days in a radar chart synced from the wearable. Also, the members can comment on the measures of each day about what is necessary to achieve the target. If the user is burning more calories and not getting enough sleep or water, other members can suggest some carbs in the diet and add 2 litres of water to balance the metrics. Members can also offer some recommended exercises post-run to help ease the muscles.
Users can see all the recommended activities by the group members. LiveWell can also get involved and suggest online/offline classes, a yoga course or a timed step climb practice. Also, the user can see if other group members are nearby joining in a class.
There is a natural phenomenon in forests, where trees form a network via their underground roots. There are significant and healthy trees in a network and weaker or smaller trees. These more vulnerable trees can communicate to the more giant trees that they need some minerals or vitamins; the more giant trees transfer these supplements via the network for a healthier community.
Above all, ROOTNET is designed to encourage and motivate people to keep healthy and connected. We want to create a solution that can boost our stakeholders' digital, physical, and psychological health.
Initially, some technical difficulties were with using the Fitrockr API, but with the prompt response of the LiveWell and Zurich Insurance team, we could solve them quickly.
We learned how we can make a strong community and engage both experts and beginners in the same group and learn mutually and grow together. As the beginner gradually grows his skills, he can be the next pro in the group.
We could use the Fitrockr API and integrate it into the app. We also got valuable inputs from the Zurich Insurance and LiveWell team and could make necessary changes to the app.
There are many scopes for RootNet to grow into the mainstream sports community/engagement world. We can involve mentoring sessions from world-class athletes. We can include brands promoting their products to users personalized by the metrics and growing into more community-based growth rather than individual growth. The possibilities are endless, and with the help of Garmin wearable devices, the scope extends even more with connected communities across the world.
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