Mt. Sante
Personal thesis project at OCADU, 2019
Special thanks to Hector Wen, the App developer I collaborated with for this project.
What Is Mt. Sante?
Mt. Sante is a system made of a smartphone app, a wearable device, and a reward system that aims to motivate the young generation going through their physiotherapy process and raise their compliance for assigned home exercises.
Process Book
I have documented the process of my thesis from September 2018 to April 2019. All my struggles, little thoughts, breakthroughs, and my journey throughout this project have been recorded in this process book.
Please feel free to flip through.
The Problem
Why Do People Quit So Easily?
Thesis Statement
To motivate the young generation going through their physiotherapy process and raise their compliance with home exercises through wearable technology and App design.
The Solution: Mt. Sante
How It Works
Take a quick look at how this system works in a real-life scenario.
The app
Working with an App Developer
As the pillar of my thesis is the App, I chose to push the limit from a framework into a developed beta that would function on an actual smartphone.
So I challenged my time management skills to fit my developer's schedule to finish this App on time.
After countless meetings, phone calls and emails, we finally transported Mt.Sante from the wireframe in my Adobe XD onto my phone.
That was one of the most magical and rewarding moments I've had during my thesis.
FEATURES
Basic information log-in
Mt.Sante starts with a simple, straightforward onboarding for selecting the gender and inputting general health conditions and insurance information.
All about the pain
The user can easily label their painful area on the human character, so they don't have to type in long sentences to describe it.
Another page is for the user to log in more detailed data about the pain so the physiotherapist can have a more unobstructed view and be more prepared before the user's arrival.
Mt.Sante offers the function of booking physiotherapy within the App.
The user can choose from the nearest to the highest-ranked physiotherapy centre, and then, the App will guide them through the booking process.
After an appointment has been made, an auto alarm will remind the user.
Let the journey begin.
After renting out the wearable device from the physiotherapy centre and paired it to the smartphone, the recovery journey can finally begin.
The length and sets of the exercises are assigned by the therapist tailored to the user.
The first few days will start at the bottom of Mt.Sante; as the user continues to exercise every day, they can move toward the peak and unlocking new landscapes along the way.
Working the way up
As the user progresses in their physical health recovery journey, the effort shows in the App with unlocking landscape towards the peak.
The first one is the meadow at the bottom of the mountain; as the user progresses, the desert and the snow valley unlocks.
←Journey Overview
The user can always check on the over progress at the journey overview section. The current streak, the accuracy, and how much rent the user has saved are all displayed on this page to have direct feedback on their progress.
The last day→
When the user finishes the last day's exercise, there will be an animation of their character standing on the top of Mt.Sante, watching the sunrise.
This symbolizes this user has completed the virtual journey and conquered Mt.Sante, and accomplished the physical recovery journey on their own.
←Managing the device
The user can adjust and customize the wearable device "Sante band" at the "Device" function. The user can check the battery and manual on this page.
Also, the user can adjust more features of the Sante Band to feel more comfortable during exercising.
History documented →
All the physiotherapy history will be automatically synced to this page. The user can pull up the e-receipt any time from this page and claim from the insurance company.
This feature also helps the user to organize future visits.
The Sante Band
The Sante band's functions:
Tracks the movement via an accelerometer sensor
Haptic feedback to guide the user for the correct movements
Synced with the tutorial database for accurate feedback
Can be worn on upper arms or calves
Instant pair with Bluetooth with smart devices
Long battery life
Journey Map
The Core User Group
I've narrowed my core user group into the centre of this diagram, and others who fit onto this diagram are my secondary users.
People who fit into this diagram have a higher tendency of quitting their home exercise and have less compliance with the therapist's suggestions.
Therefore, I have developed my thesis targeting motiving my core users to overcome the difficulties during the physiotherapy journey and help them form a healthy lifestyle.
Design process
User research
After handing out surveys on Reddit and to my personal connections, I found six uses that fitted my core user definition. They stayed for the entire project, from the initial interview, shadowing to user testing.
Understanding my users
To fully empathize with my users, I signed up for six-month-long physiotherapy to better understand the system.
My first paper prototype
My first ideas and prototypes were all on paper, so my users can play around with them to feel the flow.
Character and Concept design
The finalized illustrations via Adobe Illustrator
My initial sketches on paper
Prototyping the band
The initial prototypes of the band
3D Printed prototype with read-made circuits
User testing and refining
I designed a series of fun settings to let my users feel the gamified journey and the haptic feedback from the band. I also let my users play around with my first paper prototype to complete the user journey and find the flaws in my App.
Working with a developer
I found a talented App developer to push my prototype into a fully interactive beta. He also helped me with prototyping the band with ready-made circuits. The biggest challenge of working with him was time management since I have to leave him enough time to code; also, I need to meet the deadline at OCAD.
Reflections
I decided to jump right into creating the UI without learning all the guidelines and specifications for IOS due to the tight timeline. Therefore, the UI aspect of my thesis is weaker than the UX part. If I had more time, I would dedicate my time reading and learning Apple's human interface guidelines.
I would also design a portal for the physiotherapist so that this product can be the bridge in between.
The final prototype of the Sante band can be more polished and well designed.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe XD
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effect
SolidWorks
Xcode