Overview

Informal Market Research

To kick off this project, I decided to try and pick up some signals from the universe. Because we were stuck in quarantine though (COVID-19 was going on), I had to send out some signals to get some back. I texted 20 of my friends to fix their posture. Here are some of their responses - my favorite is the one friend who thought I was watching them!

I also enlisted the help of Instagram and put out a poll to see who was slouching. I realized that there was a good amount of data that I could gather from this. In 6 hours, my Instagram story gathered 254 views and 60 responses, of which 75% (45 people) were slouching.

Secondary Research

The informal market data was a green light but my guerilla-style data collection was still very limited in scope, so I looked to the professionals. I took a peek at what the academic literature was saying about back health and posture.

What impact does posture really have on our bodies and our health?

• It can increase your energy.

  “The acts of sitting up straight, looking upward, and performing skipping movements tend to raise subjective energy, as long as the movements are not slouched.” - Peper & Lin, 2012

• It can better your breathing.

  “Adapting a slouched position reduces the ability of the diaphragm to generate appropriate force for contraction. This attributes to restriction imposed by the abdominal cavity.” - Albarrati et al., 2018

• It can give you higher confidence in your thoughts.

  “We found that the effect of the direction of thoughts (positive/negative) on self-related attitudes was significantly greater when participants wrote their thoughts in the confident than in the doubtful posture.” - Briñol et al., 2009

• It can provide you with better recall of positive memories.

  “87% of the students reported that it was easier to recall/access positive images in the erect position than in the collapsed position.” - Peper et al., 2017

But who how many of us have really bad posture?

“65 million Americans report a recent episode of back pain. Some 16 million adults — 8 percent of all adults — experience persistent or chronic back pain, and as a result are limited in certain everyday activities.” - Georgetown Health Policy Institute

Landscape Research

It’s also worthwhile to know what people are doing or using out there. The easiest place to get a quick signal on this was, of course, Amazon’s marketplace. The number of reviews, which kind of represents the number of consumers, gave me insight on how interested the market is in posture correction. Possibly over 19,000 people are walking around with that patented back brace!

I also found a variety of other products on the market, from wearables like UpRight and LumoLift (they shock you into correct posture?!) to posture pillows and other chiropractic tools.

The Trends

As a side note, I wanted to be able to forecast a future for this concept. I wanted to understand where the industry was heading and what sort of medium I should envision the concept through. A lot of the trends I saw mentioned ubiquitous interaction and user autonomy. These pushed me to think about a household item that we use to assess some aspects of our health - can you guess what it is?

• Trends 2020, Frog

  “... with the unbundling of healthcare, patients gain autonomy, simplicity and convenience over their care.” —Renee Chang, Senior Visual Designer, frog New York

• 2020 IIT Institute of Design Report

  “A new phase of technological evolution is dissolving the border between our physical and digital worlds and making the internet disappear into virtually everything we do.”

• Tech Trends 2020, Deloitte

  “As devices become seamless and ubiquitous, they and we are becoming increasingly inseparable. Imagine a future world where tiny, connected, context-aware devices are embedded throughout the office, home, and beyond, functioning as part of the background.”

Contextual Inquiry

Next, I roped in some users that were concerned about their back health and conducted six interviews over Zoom (still in quarantine). The discussion guide I put together was focused on feelings and perceptions of posture correction, with an observation component where I asked users to show me how they adjust and aid their posture. From yoga straps to standing desks and yoga balls to back braces, people were buying the solution but they still felt like there was something missing. I transcribed the interviews and conducted open coding to pull out some of the themes (seen below in the Affinity Diagrams).

Aggregated Empathy Map

To sort the raw data from the interviews, I made use of an Empathy Map. This part really helped me in forming a well-rounded view of potential users. One participant said they’d “undergo invasive surgery honestly,” highlighting a possible desperation with this topic. Another said they noticed a lot of posture pillows and back braces at work, products that promised change. There was also a lot of talk about finding a holistic solution overall, one that would answer other health challenges as well.

More secondary research… but on mirrors!

From reading through the trends report and listening to the users, I saw the need for the concept to be ubiquitous somehow, so I did some further digging to see what sort of smart devices have been successfully integrated into a user’s environment. My inklings of a concept were realized - MIRRORS! Mirrors jumped out as something that was particularly useful for those looking to improve their health, for checking form while exercising or providing psychological validation. Here’s what the academic literature says:

• It can be used to treat body image disturbance.

  “The Mirror Exposure group showed significantly greater improvement than the Non-Directive group in body checking, body image avoidance, concerns about weight and shape, depression, and self-esteem.” - Delinsky & Wilson, 2006

• Its use can decrease negative emotional and cognitive responses.

  “Body exposure is a promising technique to overcome negative body-related emotions, but additional cognitive techniques are necessary.” - Vocks et al., 2007

• It can also decrease judgement in users.

  “When the mirror was revealed, rather than concealed, participants considered stereotyping to be less appropriate.” - Macrae et al., 1998

• The mirror increased the soothing effects of self-compassion.

  “Participants generated four phrases they would use to soothe and encourage their best friend… repeat[ed] the four phrases to themselves while looking at the mirror… The mirror enhances the efficacy of this self-compassion manipulation in activating the soothing affect system connected with parasympathetic nervous system activity.” - Petrocchi et al., 2016

Participatory Design Workshop

With mirrors decided upon, I gathered the same participants again and had them conceptualize a solution for themselves. I pushed them to imagine a product that might not yet exist but would meet and exceed their needs. Some of their designs can be seen below, with two designs showing a tri-fold mirror. All of the designs included posture analysis but the participants also added various features that would be helpful to their day-to-day life, such as weather reports, alerts, music, and a weighing scale.

Sketches & Mock-Ups

From the storyboard, an application was imagined and I sketched it out before wireframing it in Figma. I also gave it a name at this point - nuSoma (nu for new and Soma, as in the Ancient Greek word for body). I quickly tested this app for usability and found that it was pretty intuitive in terms of user flow.

Final Prototype

Here it is in high-fidelity! The look and feel are pretty neutral because I wanted to focus on the visualization of the solution rather than the actual visual design. In testing it with some users, I got pretty good feedback! Now I just need to build that smart mirror…

Prototype Link: Figma