Spending time in nature has been shown to improve physical and mental health. However, 31% of adults report work being the detractor from more time in these healing spaces. For 10 weeks, my Human Computer Interaction Project group worked to create a solution to the following problem:
“How might we design an application to encourage professionals in the US to integrate green spaces into their work day?”
Competitive Analysis
Our first step was to culminate research on other applications encouraging the outdoors. I specifically analyzed Seek, a species identification and cataloging app for families to explore the wildlife around them.
We then each conducted interviews with professionals working full time, around 9am-5pm. We found that participants:
Have a desire to spend more time in green spaces
Have trouble finding engaging outdoor activities that cater to various interests, perceptions, and energy levels
Prefer daytime outdoor experiences, but find that work commitments consume daylight hours and energy, leaving them too fatigued after work hours
Are willing to incorporate technology into these activities, as long as it enhances rather than distracts from their time in green spaces
Are relatively nearby green spaces, therefore distance is not the issue
Are motivated by applications with gamification and social media-esque features
Recommend that organizational culture, including management promoting green spaces as integral to work, and the incorporation of incentives or goals, could encourage individuals with these schedules to prioritize outdoor time
From these insights, we were able to create two personas: the middle-aged parent with familial commitments, and the recent university graduate stepping into the full-time workforce.
User Research
Mockups
Each of us drew up low-fidelity prototypes based on these insights to communicate relevant features that could be included in the design of our app. We then converted these ideas into mid and high-fidelity page mockups.
(1) Home screen: Contains a calendar users can fill out to show when they are available and marks nearby green spaces users can select and view details for.
Selecting a green space on the map display displays a pop-up with info regarding the green space (Screen 1a), activity recommendations, and directions (Screen 1b). Selecting an occupied time slot on the calendar will display the event that occurs at that time (Screen 1c)
(2) Community space: Group feed that allows users within a workplace to share outdoor activities and events, including workplace meetings.
(3) Achievements: Displays a list of badges users can get by fulfilling requirements involving being in green spaces. Acquiring badges shows users’ progress by growing the tree as they attain more.
(4) Profile: Added for our high-fidelity prototypes to provide an overview of a user’s achievements, activity recommendations, and culminated outdoor time. This page has been made to supplement the mid-fidelity and crucial features in our application that address user needs.
Mid-fidelity draft
High-fidelity draft
Final Result
Final NatureWork flow, via Figma
After many iterations, our app, NatureWork, consists of a research-backed application and UI/UX design that integrates green spaces into the workplace. This helps address user needs such as:
Working as the main detractor from time in green spaces by taking up daylight hours
Seeking a developed sense of community and social interaction in green spaces
Gamifying outdoor activity for a sense of achievement and motivation
Special thank you to Zoe Glenn, Nick Valencia Aguilar, Ali-Reza Fakhari Manizani, and Ammar Khan for their work on this project.