remotefit
Remote workers encounter difficulties in managing mental fatigue and stress as remote work continues to redefine the workplace in the post-pandemic world.
Our Work-From-Home Wellness App addresses these challenges by providing solutions that enhance work-life balance and support overall well-being.
Our team, consisting of Ashitosh Hiremath, Mahsa Rad, and myself, embarked on this project during a three-day design hackathon event where we secured first place among 20 groups.
Inspired by the book “Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days“, we applied its methodology to our three-day designathon project.
design sprint process
Although we didn’t have five days, we divided our three-day design sprint into five stages to fit the traditional sprint format: Understand, Ideate, Decide, Prototype, and Test.
We started by defining the problem and pinpointing our focus area, then sketched out competing solutions. We made decisions to form a testable hypothesis, created a realistic prototype, and collected feedback from real users.
phase 1: research
In the first phase of our design sprint, I conducted user research and led interviews with users. Ashitosh facilitated the process by guiding the team through problem identification, maintaining a clear focus on remote workers’ pain points. Mahsa acted as the note taker for all the interviews and organized the user research, distilling it into key insights.
Research methodology
For our primary research, we utilized Google Forms, Instagram polls/surveys, and conducted phone interviews with remote workers to gain a deeper understanding and empathy for our target users.
For our secondary research, we reviewed several online articles, including “The Impact of Remote Work on Mental Health: An In-depth Analysis,” “Is Remote Work Worse for Well-being Than People Think?” and “5 Common Problems Plaguing Remote Workers and What to Do About Them.”
Research goals and objectives:
- Understand Remote Workers’ Lifestyle: Gain insights into the daily routines and work habits of remote workers.
- Identify Work-Related Frustrations: Pinpoint specific issues and challenges faced by remote workers in their work environment.
- Assess Social and Mental Well-Being: Explore the impact of remote work on social interactions and mental health.
- Gather User Preferences: Identify desired features and solutions that could enhance their work-life balance and overall well-being.
Key insights from our research
- Work-Life Separation: Remote workers struggle to disconnect from work, impacting their personal life.
- Burnout Risk: Constant work leads to mental and physical exhaustion.
- Activity and Mental Health Support: There is a lack of motivation and guidance for physical activity and mental well-being.
- Low Productivity: Home distractions hinder organization and task management.
phase 2: ideation and concept development
During this phase, I actively participated in brainstorming and sketching sessions, contributing ideas and helping to refine concepts. I collaborated with the team to explore various approaches and ensure our ideas aligned with the project’s goals.
In the ideation phase, we rapidly sketched different app concepts to generate a variety of ideas. We encouraged quick, creative thinking by pushing ourselves to explore multiple approaches within a short timeframe. This process helped us come up with a wide range of potential features and layouts.
What our ideation phase looked like:
- Idea Generation: Using methods like Crazy 8’s and drawing inspiration from existing apps, we quickly generated a variety of ideas and features for the app.
- Paper Prototyping: I helped create simple sketches to visualize and develop concepts.
- Divide and Conquer: Through individual brainstorming, we highlighted essential features such as a mental well-being score and stress meter.
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- My Crazy 8s
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- Ashitosh Crazy 8s
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- Mahsa Crazy 8s
phase 3: finalizing the solution
During this phase, Ashitosh led the team in prioritizing features using structured dot voting. Mahsa and I collaborated on detailed solution sketches and developed a storyboard to map the user journey and app flow.
Key tasks for phase 3:
Dot Voting: With a total of 7 dot votes each, 5 participants (3 team members and 2 anonymous users who work from home) voted on 12 proposed ideas. This process helped us identify the features with the highest impact and feasibility.
Storyboarding: Create a storyboard to outline the app’s user journey and flow.
Solution Sketches: Develop detailed sketches of the top ideas to visualize and refine potential solutions.
Through our dot voting process, we identified the top four features to include in our app:
- Mental Well-Being Score: This feature will allow users to track and monitor their mental health over time.
- Stress Meter: A real-time stress level tracker with suggestions for relief, helping users manage their stress effectively.
- Mindfulness Exercises: A library of guided meditation and mindfulness activities to support mental relaxation and focus.
- Calendar to Track Work: A calendar feature to help users manage their work schedule and track their activities.
User journey storyboard
In our storyboard for John, we mapped out his experience with the RemoteFit App to visualize his interactions and emotional journey.
We illustrated key moments, from John’s initial app setup and daily use of wellness features, to how he manages stress and tracks his productivity. This storyboard captures John’s transition from curiosity and engagement to long-term satisfaction, helping us understand his needs and refine the app’s user flow.
Low-Fidelity Sketch
Following the completion of our user journey storyboard, we moved on to creating low-fidelity sketches to bring our ideas to life. These sketches served as a preliminary visual representation of our app’s core features and user interactions. By focusing on basic layouts and key functionalities, we were able to quickly iterate and refine our design concepts.
phase 4: building a prototype
In the prototyping phase, we turned our ideas and sketches into a realistic, functional prototype. This involved developing the onboarding experience, home screen, internal chat, profile screen and navigation for the mobile experience using Figma, preparing the app for user testing.
While Mahsa and I worked on the UI design, Ashitosh concentrated on developing the prototype and linking all screens, ensuring a seamless flow based on the user journey mapped out in the storyboarding stage.
Choosing the color palette and typography:
- Color Choice: We selected a calming color palette to enhance the app’s focus on well-being and relaxation. The colors were chosen to create a serene and visually pleasant experience.
Typography Choice: We opted for clear and easy-to-read fonts to ensure accessibility and complement the app’s calming design. The typefaces were selected to enhance readability and reduce user strain.
- Rationale: Both the color palette and typography were chosen to support the app’s objective of promoting mental well-being and creating a visually comfortable experience.
- Design Constraints: Due to time constraints, we did not develop a full design system. Instead, we focused on finalizing the color palette and typography.
High fidelity designs
The screens were designed to seamlessly integrate the key features identified earlier, ensuring they were functional and aesthetically aligned with the app’s purpose.
Prototype development
After designing the screens, we compiled them into a high-fidelity prototype. Ashitosh linked the screens to accurately reflect the intended user flow and interactions, ensuring a seamless and cohesive experience.
phase 5: test with target users
The final phase involved testing the prototype with real users to gather feedback and validate our design, while also preparing presentation materials for the final pitch to summarize our findings and proposed next steps. Ashitosh and I conducted the usability testing interviews, and Mahsa organized the Figma file and created the presentation.
Usability testing
We conducted one round of usability testing (3 users) due to shortage of time. Feedback was incorporated to refine the design, ensuring the app effectively met user needs and preferences.
More feedback from the users:
Flexibility and Customization: Users appreciated customizable work hour reminders but requested even greater flexibility and more options for dashboard customization, including color schemes.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication: While internal chat features were praised for their simplicity, users suggested improvements such as threaded conversations and enhanced collaborative features in task management tools.
solution and outcome
1. Mental Health Metrics
Track and monitor your mental well-being with real-time insights and personalized recommendations
2. Scoring System
Evaluate your overall wellness with a comprehensive scoring system that reflects your progress and areas for improvement.
3. Mindfulness Resources
Access a curated library of mindfulness exercises and techniques to help you stay calm and focused.
RemoteFit provides a comprehensive solution to improve remote work by tackling major challenges and boosting well-being, productivity, and work-life balance. Our presentation and design, which received high praise from the panelists, highlighted RemoteFit’s potential to transform remote work practices. As a result, we achieved first place and demonstrated the app’s impactful vision for the future of remote work.
what we would do differently
Allocate More Time for User Testing: We would dedicate additional time to conducting user tests to gather deeper insights and validate our design decisions more thoroughly.
Adopt a Design System: Implementing a design system would streamline our process, ensuring consistency and saving time during prototyping.
