Elevating the Sauna Experience
Team
1 Project Manager
2 Frontend Developers
2 Backend Developers
1 UX/UI Designer
Role
UX/UI Designer
Deliverables
Design Documentation
Working Product MVP
Timing
Spring 2024
Summary
Ikune's Sauna Sage is an app that utilizes sensors to track the user's sauna's temperature and other statistics. These sensors are used then to improve the user's sauna experience by utilizing temperature notifications and introducing meaningful sauna health benefits with the help of positive feedback loops and light gamification.
The problem
Ikune had a working prototype of a sauna app, but it was missing critical features, such as the ability to add a sensor to track sauna statistics. The client wanted features that would improve the user's experience of using the sauna, and integrate sauna's health benefits better into the app's flow.
The solution
Designed and developed features, such as:
- the ability to add sensors and select between them
- temperature notifications
- light gamification (levels & streaks)
Background
Ikune had a working prototype of a sauna app, but it was missing critical features, such as the ability to add a sensor to track sauna statistics. The client wanted features that would improve the user's experience of using the sauna, and integrate sauna's health benefits better into the app's flow.
Researching further
As we were short on time, our team decided to utilize mostly secondary research as a way of gaining insight into our potential users. Luckily for us, sauna is something that most people are experts at in Finland, so we would have access to high quality literature and personal experience.
Researching sauna bathers' motivations revealed that a lot of people use sauna for both physical and psychological benefits. These findings were further supported by literature, showcasing the benefits that the sauna can have for both the mind and the body.
Clarifying the core challenge
Both as a team and with the client we went through the common pain points that the previous version of the app had. Some of these issues were more functional (such as sensors not working properly), while others were more UX and UI related. This helped set the initial direction for both design and development.
Understanding how the user moves through the app
It had become clear that the health aspects of the sauna are a signifcant, motivating factor for a lot of our client's potential users. However, the app was also missing some of it's core features, such as the ability to add sensors. Potential solutions were explored with the help of paper prototypes and user flow mapping.
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Fine tuning the main user flow
Evaluating user flows on an abstract level helped streamline and reduce unnessecary user actions within the app. Understanding the user's main goal is a vital part of designing an user friendly flow.
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Exploring potential gamification options
Mapping out the gamification flows helped both the clients and developers better understand the user's progression and gamification functionality.
Iterating on the design with feedback
With the help of low- and mid-fidelity prototypes, it was possible to receive feedback on the designs from various stakeholders.
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Communicating the designs to developers
Communicating design decisions effectively was important in order to translate designs into a functional product as seamlessly as possible.
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A simplified component library
A component library was designed from scratch to ensure consistent, easily implementable designs. Developers have access to these components in Figma, where they can inspect them closer.
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Navigation maps
Navigation maps were utilized to keep track and communicate the holistic structure of the application.
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Introducing meaningful features for our users
Integrating the sauna's physical benefits
Existing research was largely based on the amount of sauna bathing a week. User can progress through levels based on how much they sauna bathe, unlock health benefits and learn more about them.
Paying attention to how the user feels
A lot of sauna's features can be individual, and based on it's perceived benefit. Allowing the user to track their own benefits creates a feedback loop, where they're more likely to sauna the more they notice the good.
Usability testing and reflections
Usability tests were conducted using a Figma prototype. We were able to conduct only one test due to time constraints. However, this test did produce some valuable insights for future consideration.
Results
Overall, the user experience was deemed good. Recording a session user flow had no issues, and neither did adding a device. Temperature notifications were not tested for. However, the progression view could use some work. The user had slight difficulties assessing what levels were unlocked and the game loop / progression (e.g. what happens after the week ends). Navigating between levels was intuitive otherwise.
Lessons learned, reflecting on the project
More time should be reserved for usability tests, and testing should beging earlier with low- / mid-fidelity prototypes. Overall, including the user's in the design process was quite a challenge, especially due to time constraints and project scope.
Research should generally comprise mostly of primary research (such as interviews) instead of secondary, that allows the designer to more accurately emphasize with and understand the user. In general, spending more time in the discovery and define phases would've been beneficial. Luckily the app was about sauna bathing, so personal experience and discussions with team mates lead to some great solutions that would surely benefit users in the real world.
Collaborating with developers proved to be quite challenging, especially since we tend to pay attention to different things. This challenge also a motivation for the topic of my bachelor's thesis: UX Designer and Software Developer Collaboration in Agile Software Development.