Goals made reachable
A goal management tool that brings you closer one step at a time
A goal management tool that brings you closer one step at a time
Having goals can enrich life in many ways. They provide a purpose in life, keep us motivated, and control our future, just to name a few. However, achieving them may not come naturally to everyone. To some, a goal is just another dream. Our client saw the value of having goals in life. He came to us for a solution to help people achieve their goals through technology.
MY ROLE
I led product strategy, visual design, UI, and owned the style guide. I collaborated with another designer on research, usability testing, and color scheme.
I led product strategy, visual design, UI, and owned the style guide. I collaborated with another designer on research, usability testing, and color scheme.
PROBLEM
“It’s overwhelming. Where do I start?”
“It’s overwhelming. Where do I start?”
Setting goals is more common than not. However, only a small percentage of people stay committed and achieve their goals. This is mainly due to a lack of understanding about goal-setting, failing to plan, having too many goals, or lack of commitment.
SOLUTION
“It starts here. Take one step at a time."
“It starts here. Take one step at a time."
Goal Oasis provides guidance throughout the goal-setting process. It encourages users to plan by allowing them to break down their goals into milestones and reflect on their strategy. It also provides a task list to keep user motivated by empowering every step they make.
KEY FEATURES
The essentials
1 Provide a tool to manage, track, and adjust plans for achieving goals
2 Limit the amount of goals to help user stay focused
3 Encourage planning by allowing them to break goals into manageable milestones
4 Keep them motivated by making every step count
5 A timeline to let them visualize how everything comes together
2 Limit the amount of goals to help user stay focused
3 Encourage planning by allowing them to break goals into manageable milestones
4 Keep them motivated by making every step count
5 A timeline to let them visualize how everything comes together
Visual decisions for onboarding
Since Goal Oasis is the name for the app, I picked a desert theme to reflect the brand identity. I wanted to relate archiving a goal to a journey through the desert. Every screen is presented with a different illustration and color to bring the user on a journey and create a sense of anticipation on what’s up next.
• Looking at the desert dune is like looking at your goal in the beginning of a journey
• An oasis is like a milestone during the journey
•. Each task is a step toward a milestone
•. Multiple deserts symbolize the timeline. It’s a grand view of all your goals
• An oasis is like a milestone during the journey
•. Each task is a step toward a milestone
•. Multiple deserts symbolize the timeline. It’s a grand view of all your goals
Micro-copy
Onboarding is an introduction; it’s the first impression a user receives. I wanted to talk to the user in a friendly tone and empower them. Since onboarding is commonly skipped, I made it bite-sized and scannable to encourage users to go through the process.
Setting up for success
To ensure users are set up for a good start, I broke the goal-setting process into three simple steps.
1 Have them create specific and achievable goals so they have a clear vision of what they want and build momentum.
2 Make it meaningful by having them dig deep into their self to understand why this goal is important to them.
3 Setting a target date make it time-bound; then the goal becomes measurable. To release the user from overthinking, they can always readjust later.
Design decisions for goal-setting
• Each screen is dedicated to one step to help user focus on that particular task.
• The next button is greyed-out until the user inputs their answer to ensure no step is missed.
• Each step is highlighted and scannable. If the user is unsure, a friendly micro-copy is there to guide them. It’s written in a way that the app is talking to the user. It’s like a friend is guiding them through the process.
• The next button is greyed-out until the user inputs their answer to ensure no step is missed.
• Each step is highlighted and scannable. If the user is unsure, a friendly micro-copy is there to guide them. It’s written in a way that the app is talking to the user. It’s like a friend is guiding them through the process.
Every step counts
Achieving a goal requires massive action, focus, and many baby steps. The task list is designed to help user focus on one step at a time, by allowing them to view only the task that is due the current day. The satisfaction of completing one baby step will help motivate them to compete the next one. However, life is unpredictable. It’s forgiving when things happens. If the user is unable to complete a task, they have the option to snooze it to the following day.
Tutorial
Since the app is highly dependent on motion gestures I wanted to encourage users to go through the tutorial without skipping it. To do so, I made the tutorial visually pleasing and made it engaging by using animation. I also made it scannable by highlighting words and keeping the micro-copy short.
See how everything comes together
With multiple goals to achieve, it’s easy to lose sight of things. The timeline provides a comprehensive view of one’s goals, milestones, and tasks. It allows the user to visualize how everything comes together and make adjustment if needed.
PROCESS
Kick off with a bird’s eye view
Without preexisting insights, we started off with secondary research to learn what studies have already discovered in this space.
What methods do people use?
To learn more about the common practices people use to achieve their goals, we conducted a survey of 32 participants who had successfully achieved a goal. We discovered the common methods were making plans, setting deadlines, and tracking progress.
What keeps them motivated?
To gain a deeper insight we interviewed 4 participants from the survey. We learned their top motivators are meeting deadlines and scratching tasks off their lists. We found that by having a deadline, the task becomes a priority. We also found that scratching tasks off a list provides a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction; it motivate them to tackle the next task.
Who are we designing for and how can we help?
To better shape our solution, we identified four archetypes to help us understand our target user and how we target their pain-points. For the aimless, we wanted to provide guidance on the goal-setting process and encourage them to make plans. We also wanted to keep the demotivated motivated by empowering them and make it easy and convenient for go-getters. As for the non-starters, we decided not to focus on them during the early stages of the product.
Only the essentials
To ensure we are all on the same page we invited the client along to shape the MVP. Using the MaSCow method, we identified the must-have features.
Validate along the way
After we defined our solution we validated at every step, from low-fidelity wireframes to high-fidelity mockups.
Homescreen
The main design decision on the home screen was having no navigation bar to avoid any distraction. However, this presented a challenge to navigation.
Tutorial mode
My initial design decision on the tutorial mode was to have the user interact with the tutorial to help them remember the motion gestures and to keep them engaged. During the usability testing, participants were engaged but they put their focus on completing the task instead of remembering the motion gestures.
Instead of having the user go through the actions themselves, I decided to show the motion gestures via animation. The result was a success: all 4 participants were able to remember what they learned from the tutorial.
Result
We did 5 rounds of usability-testing on the entire app with a total of 20 participants. After the final round, my work was finally ready to hand off for development.
SUMMARY
Next steps
Gather feedback from real users after product is launched and improve product based on that feedback. Continue to find ways to empower users and increase their motivation.