Signal Towel
Signal Towel is a product that encourages people to initiate conversations when necessary to provide a socially comfortable fitness experience.
User research, Interaction design, Product design
Period
Sep.2020 – Jan.2021
Contribution
UX research, concept development, UX/UI design, prototyping, user testing
Gym anxiety
Gym exercise helps more people meet different needs easily and quickly, including for a healthier and more fit body or even for eliminating anxiety. However, the context of gyms (people, behaviour, environment) creates a unique vibe and interaction between people, which can also be intimidating.
Gym anxiety or Workout worries is a phenomenon that describes anxiety and discomfort that some individuals experience when visiting a gym or engaging in physical activity in public. The project aims to explore the factors behind the problem at an interactive level and create solutions to help people overcome these barriers and feel more comfortable and confident when exercising in a gym.
RESEARCH
Several research activities were conducted to better understand the issue, including field observation to explore the environment, user behaviours, and the interactions between them in the gym. In addition, I conducted 5 in-depth user interviews with three levels of exercisers, including novices, experienced and those who had previously tried working out in the gym.
User insights
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People avoid interactions
“I think gym exercise does not pursue interaction or entertainment with others.”
" Even if I find that someone has done something wrong, I will not take the initiative to correct him, but if someone asks for help, I will be willing to...”
As gym exercise is a results-oriented personal activity, most people avoid interacting with others in the gym. For example, most users wear their headphones to avoid interacting with others, apart from listening to music.
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Dilemma of being watched or not
“If I make a mistake, I don’t want other people to see it, it’s so embarrassing.”
“I would want people to walk around who know what they are doing and correct me when I’m doing something very stupid that could injure me.”
Novice users are often worried about being ridiculed or criticised by others for improper equipment use. However, they worried about injuring themselves by misusing the device. This leads to a dilemma for users regarding whether they want to be watched.
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Magnified observation between people
The open spaces, mirrors and the interaction of users taking turns sharing equipment all increase the opportunities for users to observe each other and therefore magnify the problem of gym anxiety.
Who should take the initiative?
Overall, inadequate communication between individuals may contribute to gym anxiety, and this seems to be addressed by establishing proper interaction. As both novice and experienced exercisers are reluctant to initiate conversations, the key to breaking the ice may be creating a trigger between people that stimulates dialogue.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Design goal
To make gyms a more welcoming and accessible place for people of all fitness levels and backgrounds, and to help individuals feel more confident and comfortable initiating a conversation with others when needed.
Concept
Passively but actively initiate the conversation
The proposed concept is to lower the threshold to establish conversation by visualising the willingness between gym users. The idea was inspired by dining etiquette—the position of cutleries. Instead of actively starting a conversation, send signals to invite others to take action. Turn ”observation”, the key factor causing negative experiences, into an advantage to create opportunities for people to connect.
Establish purpose-oriented conversation
The main purpose of this concept is not to turn gym exercise into a social activity. The point is to establish a purpose-oriented connection based on the essence of “fitness is an individual exercise”.
Interaction vision
The interaction(s) with the concept should be like dancing in a silent disco party with strangers.
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Autonomous
People can freely switch, control and stop at any time.
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Connected
Having own space while still being connected to others.
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Obvious(observable)
Different types of signals allow users to identify other people’s status(music channel), enabling them to choose whom to interact with.
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Inviting
People's participation and interaction create an infectious atmosphere, which can influence, stimulate, and motivate each other.
PROTOTYPING
In this stage, low-fidelity prototypes were used to test with users rapidly to iterate the proposed ideas. The development of the prototype is in response to the following three main questions:
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How should the signal be delivered?
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What should the delivered signal represent?
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How would users want to be part of the experience?
1. What to deliver?
Providing appropriate and sufficient information at the point of signalling to others is vital in generating expected effects. Therefore, role-playing was used in the tests with the users to explore what information should be delivered. For example, how experienced the exerciser is or whether they are willing to communicate.
2. How to deliver?
Based on the proposed concept, the observability and clarity of different signals were tested with users through low-fidelity models. Reachable objects in the gym were used, and labelled in different ways, such as colours, graphics, text and lighting.
3. How to involve users?
Previous research found that exercisers in the gym mostly avoid (actively) interacting with others. Therefore, the biggest challenge is attracting or enticing users to engage in this experience.
A nudge may be a solution. By default, users will participate, and those who do not want to will have to pay extra effort. This part of the test is to see if the default options affect the user's willingness to engage in the activity.
RESULTS
Signal Towel
Signal Towel comes in a ring shape with two different colours inside and out. Show others what state you are in by turning the towel over. A bright blue face outward opens up the willingness to establish a conversation (whether you need help or are willing to help), while a white face closes it.
The interaction design is to lower the threshold for establishing conversations. In addition to providing a trigger to open a conversation, it also avoids unnecessary disturbance through appropriate use.
Default option
When users walk into the gym, they will get the towel with the blue side facing outwards, encouraging people to participate in this interaction.
The advantage of the default option is that, even if the user is unaware of the purpose of the towel, it is possible for others to initiate a conversation with them when they receive the signal.
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
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