Squash'd

Squash'd

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  Squash’d A conceptualdesign by Reed Matheny and Keith McDaniel Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu Design Challenge To strengthen the habit of eating vegetables among university students Time Limit: 5 hours
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  Squash’d Persuasive PurposeTo strengthen the habit of eating vegetables among university students through competition. Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu Industrial Design
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  User Description Attendsand lives on a University campus. Eats the majority of their meals in a dining hall. Is motivated to eat vegetables, but has not made it a regular habit. Each of the users know the other users, they have established social connections Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  The Story ofSquash’d and Kara Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu She receives an email on her smartphone that night asking her about her vegetable consumption. Kara answers the two simple questions and is ready to send the form off in minutes. The email has a link to the leaderboard – Kara’s friend Becca is the current leader in her group because she’s had 4 vegetarian meals and 12 different vegetables in the last two days! This motivates Kara to keep up with her goals. Kara is a Stanford undergraduate trying to change her eating habits for the better. She wants to improve her fitness and lessen her environmental impact by eating more vegetables so she signs up for a new service called Squash’d that two of her friends already use. She receives an HTML email outlining the program: every night a simple email form will be sent to her smartphone asking her for the number of vegetarian meals she ate that day, as well as the number of different vegetables she ate throughout the day. Kara starts off the next day (her first in the program) feeling confident. She seeks out vegetarian meals at her dining hall for breakfast and lunch, eating 7 different kinds of vegetables in the process. Kara is surprised at how easily she can find all of these vegetables at her dining hall now that she’s actively looking for them. After 4 days with Squash’d Kara is the leader in her friend group, boosting her confidence and strengthening the long-neglected habit of actively seeking vegetables for every meal. She’s on her way to a stronger habit, a healthier diet and a better planet.
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  Prototype of Squash’demail Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Features/Functionality Tracks the# of meals that are vegetarian, and the number of vegetables in each meal. A customized HTML email is sent out to participants, allowing them to enter their stats in an easy way. The system adds up their score. Triggers the choice to eat vegetables The daily email serves as a trigger for the behavior Motivates through competition, using the tracking information and a scoring system. Each vegetarian meal is 2 points Each vegetable that you eat in a meal is 1 point Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Theoretical Justifications Noinformation Emphasis on information absorption is taxing and very often not effective Competition is key Motivation by peers is a very effective tool Peers can act as an additional trigger, and are often more well timed. Personalized triggers are more effective A generalized trigger can easily be ignored, but a personal trigger is more effective Emphasis on increasing the behavior Participants are already eating vegetables, and emphasizing a purple span behavior will be most effective. Vegetarian is easier Putting the emphasis on vegetarianism is easier for participants to track. Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Plan for UserStudy Duration: 10 days Participants: 10 students from the Chi Theta Chi Co-op Protocol: Gather information on participants’ current vegetable habits Explain the details of the intervention, including the scoring system and leader board Send each participant the tracking email at 9pm daily Compile scores and update the leader board by 12pm the following day Conclusion: Debrief participants on how/if their habits have changed. Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Shortcomings of DesignVegetarian meals are not explicitly concentrated on vegetables, but rather anti-meat. Trigger is not timed optimally This is only designed to be used fully by smart phone users Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Expansion - Whatelse is possible? Other form factors or ID possibilities Web Mobile Other features and interactions Geo-based meal suggestions Additional tracking metrics Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Next Steps inDesign Process Add additional scoring criteria, expanding possibilities to eat vegetables and score points Add additional interaction methods: SMS, web, mobile, etc. Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu
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  Summary Fostering competitionamong university students will provide both motivation and trigger. Tracking and scoring is easy, and done through a single HTML-enabled email each day. The intervention aims to create a purple span behavior, increasing what participants are already done some of the time. Stanford University, Spring 2010 CS377v - Creating Health Habits habits.stanford.edu