inTouch

Project to create an iPhone application for Weight Watchers, focusing on interactive, location-based comments and a mentor system connecting newer Weight Watchers members with veteran members.

Collaborators: Susan Coleman-Morse, Gopinaath Kannabiran, Lorelei Kelley, Joseph Yelochan

problem space and primary research

We were tasked with the opportunity to design a mobile application to support the Weight Watchers community on the iPhone. We began by trying to gain a comprehensive sense of what being a member of Weight Watchers entails. We spoke with current and past members of Weight Watchers in structured interviews, and had those participants give us a quick walkthrough of the current, online components of the program. We also questioned them about their experience with the community meetings that happen on a regular basis.

We also spoke with a professor and researcher in the Indiana University School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation about her research into the physical and mental aspects of weight loss and bodily health.

core of the problem

We took our research and began rapidly generating concepts aimed at different aspects of the Weight Watchers community. We finally settled on approaching the community aspect, and trying to support the mental task of keeping a healthy body. Thus, the core of our solution was supporting the feeling of togetherness that keeps people in the program and helps them with the physical barriers they have to pass in order to obtain a healthy weight.

We moved through concepts from chat rooms to recipe databases to GPS marker systems for reviewing restaurants, but we finally landed on the concept of mentors. This iPhone app would be a voluntary way for members to keep in touch with other, veteran members of Weight Watchers. Veterans who had been with Weight Watchers for a certain time could volunteer to help other, newer members with eating and exercising.

Other aspects, such as exercise planning and meal planning, enjoy a strong focus in the current online structure of the Weight Watchers website. The community aspect is somewhat more difficult to handle, though, and physical meetings are the standard for community bonding.

prototyping

We worked through some quick wireframes and information architecture to develop a basic functionality upon which we could explore the details of the application. Next, we quickly prototyped the concept using paper and pens, creating an interactive piece that we could evaluate. We held structured usability evaluations of the prototype and iterated upon the feedback, culminating in a presentation.

task flow, concept model, and mockups (provided below)

	Task Flow model explaining how navingation takes place.		Presentation model explaining how inTouch works alongside the existing Weight Watchers structure.
Mockup of the Comments feature of the application. Mockup of the Mentor feature of the application. Mockup of the Map feature of the application.
wireframes (provided below)

	Maps mode. Displays a searchable map of the local area, with the ability to toggle Spots that have comments associated with them on or off.		Comments mode. Displays location-based comments sorted by either Private Comments, Public Comments, or All Comments.
Mockup of the Mentor feature of the application. Mockup of the Map features of the application.