MylesLaneUX

Hi, I’m Myles
嗨，我是 Myles
Hola, soy Myles
नमस्ते, मैं Myles
مرحبًا، أنا Myles
Salut, je suis Myles
হাই, আমি Myles
Oi, eu sou o Myles
Привет, я Myles
Hallo, ich bin Myles
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Labas, aš esu Myles
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Xin chào, tôi là Myles
Ciao, sono Myles
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Cześć, jestem Myles
Hi, I’m Myles
嗨，我是 Myles
Hola, soy Myles
नमस्ते, मैं Myles
مرحبًا، أنا Myles
Salut, je suis Myles
হাই, আমি Myles
Oi, eu sou o Myles
Привет, я Myles
Hallo, ich bin Myles
こんにちは、Mylesです
안녕, 나는 Myles야
Labas, aš esu Myles
हाय, मी Myles आहे
Xin chào, tôi là Myles
Ciao, sono Myles
Hej, jag är Myles
Cześć, jestem Myles

bondit

Strengthen bonds through sharing habits

Timeline

4 months

Role

UX and UI Designer

Researcher

Tools

Figma

Miro

Project Overview

Self-improvement and habit formation are becoming increasingly popular among young people. However, building and maintaining habits can be challenging; many individuals struggle to remain consistent. My goal was to address this issue by creating a habit-tracking app that leverages social interactivity to make habit-building a collaborative and enjoyable experience. By transforming habits into shared goals with friends, the process becomes something users can genuinely look forward to, rather than a daily or weekly chore to endure.

The Problem

Young adults often are trying to self-improve and form new habits but have trouble keeping themselves consistent and holding their selves accountable with only themselves as motivation.

A report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education found that 58% of young adults reported feeling a lack of meaning or purpose in their lives, impacting their ability to stay consistent with their goals (Harvard GSE, 2023). This sense of uncertainty can make self-improvement efforts, such as habit formation, more challenging without external motivation.

58%

The Solution

Leveraging social connection.

Bondit empowers users to form healthy habits with their friends easily without it feeling like a chore. It let’s you create bonds with your friends, which is a group that is based upon a habit that you and your friends take pictures of yourselves doing daily for a streak. It’s an easy way to keep you and your friends accountable while growing closer.

Journaling for Flexible Progress Tracking

Daily habit tracking isn’t the only way to measure progress, and Bondit supports those who prefer a different approach. User interviews revealed that many people either journal alongside habit tracking or prefer journaling entirely. With Bondit, you can write, tag, and filter your journal entries, share them with friends, or keep them private.

Strengthen Your Bonds with Shared Habits.

The Bonds page is where you and your friends come together to build lasting habits. Create groups, set shared goals, and track progress by snapping photos of yourselves completing each habit to maintain streaks. At the top of the page, you’ll find your personal and group streak stats, keeping motivation high. Below, you can explore your friends and bond groups, diving into individual groups to see detailed stats and a gallery of all the moments you’ve captured along the way.

Stay Connected with Your Community

Bondit’s social features make it easy to stay engaged with friends and their progress. The Home feed brings all your friends’ activity into one place, showing both bond posts and journal entries, where you can like and comment just like on social media. On the Profile page, you can personalize your space with a profile picture, username, and a short bio. Your profile also displays your follower count and a Shared Bonds section, allowing friends to see the groups you’re part of and celebrate your journey together.

The Research

Competitive Analysis

To gain market insights, I conducted a competitive analysis of four popular habit-tracking apps to identify effective features. Here are the insights I gathered.

To gain market insights, I conducted a competitive analysis of four popular habit-tracking apps to identify effective features. Here are the insights I gathered.

Too simple or Too intricate

Habit-tracking apps generally fall into two categories: simple, user-friendly apps with limited features for casual users, and feature-rich apps with complex UIs designed for power users who prioritize detailed data tracking and analytics. So if I was to enter the market I would lean in one of these directions.

Limited Social Features

Both app types had little to no social features. Which showed me there was a gap in the market for a habit app that leveraged friends as the main draw to the app instead some catering to a niche within the market.

Secondary Research

For my secondary research, I focused on the scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of social motivation in developing and maintaining habits. Through that research I found two main studies that backed my hypothesis of social interactivity being a motivating factor.

Belongingness and Goal Internalization

According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, social connectedness can lead individuals to internalize the goals and motivations of others, influencing their behavior in a positive way. This highlights how being part of a social group can help users stay committed to their habit-forming goals by fostering a sense of accountability and motivation.

Self-Determination Theory

Research on self-determination theory suggests that social environments that encourage cooperation and support can enhance intrinsic motivation. When individuals engage in habit-forming activities within a socially supportive framework, they are more likely to persist and enjoy the process, reinforcing the effectiveness of social motivation in habit development.

Primary Research

Social motivation plays a key role in habit formation and consistency.

To gain deeper insights into how individuals develop and maintain habits, I conducted one-on-one interviews with five participants across different areas of habit formation. The goal of this research was to understand the motivations, challenges, and strategies people use to stay consistent with their habits. Through these interviews, I identified recurring themes that highlighted the importance of social motivation, personal accountability, and the role of habit-tracking tools. By engaging with participants directly, I was able to uncover valuable insights that provided a more nuanced understanding beyond secondary research.

Social accountability enhances habit consistency

Participants found that involving friends or social groups in their habits provided a sense of obligation and motivation. Whether it was rock climbing with friends or joining a small group for spiritual practices, social reinforcement played a crucial role in maintaining consistency.

Journaling is an important feature

Most participants used casual journaling as their primary tracking method rather than structured habit tracking. This surprised me, as I had initially planned to make the app more focused on habit tracking. However, after noticing this pattern, I realized the importance of incorporating journaling into the app to better align with the needs of my target user base.

Intuitive & fun

Many of the apps participants had previously tried were unintuitive and failed to engage them long-term. They emphasized that these apps lacked the enjoyment and familiarity needed to sustain their interest and encourage consistent use. Participants expressed a preference for an experience that felt more engaging and aligned with the apps they frequently use, such as BeReal, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

User Needs

From all the insights I gathered these are the main user needs i came away with

Journaling

Users want to be able to journal as their preferred way of keeping track of things, so including that in the design is important.

Social Integration

Users need social integration throughout the app to make habit-forming experience more enjoyable.

Familiar

Users need a familiar UI that is easy to pick up and use similar to other apps that they use daily.

User Flows & Information Architecture

After all that research I got started on planning out the different flows of the app and the labeling of the pages. I then held a remote-monitored tree test study to test the Information Architecture, after taking in feedback I then moved on to the wireframe and prototype phase.

Wireframe & Prototype

I tested what was essential and cut the unnecessary.

After iterating on my wireframe, I conducted a remote-moderated usability study to test the prototype. The feedback I received was valuable and helped solidify some changes I had been considering at this stage of the case study. I had been concerned that I was trying to include too much at once, leading to a lack of focus. Similar feedback from participants indicated that certain pages were hard to navigate and felt overwhelming due to too many elements on-screen. I took this into account when making revisions for my high-fidelity prototype.

Primary Research

Social motivation plays a key role in habit formation and consistency.

Social accountability enhances habit consistency

Journaling is an important feature

Intuitive & fun

User Needs

From all the insights I gathered these are the main user needs i came away with

Journaling

Users want to be able to journal as their preferred way of keeping track of things, so including that in the design is important.

Social Integration

Users need social integration throughout the app to make habit-forming experience more enjoyable.

Familiar

Users need a familiar UI that is easy to pick up and use similar to other apps that they use daily.

User Flows & Information Architecture

Wireframe & Prototype

I tested what was essential and cut the unnecessary.

Design System

Through my research, I identified key themes that I distilled into core insights that shaped Bondit's design. The color palette, ranging from warm neutrals to energetic orange and calming teal, was carefully chosen to create an inviting experience. Each design decision reflects my goal of making habit tracking feel both personal and socially engaging, encouraging users to stay consistent while building meaningful connections.

Hi-fidelity & Final

Simplify, Refine, Focus.

After reviewing the feedback from my usability test, I focused on addressing users' key needs. I simplified the app to align with its core purpose—helping users connect with friends to form habits and journal. I removed most of the complex data-heavy pages, as they were not highly valued by my target audience. Instead, I refined the UI to strike a balance between familiarity and uniqueness, ensuring it remained intuitive and accessible while still being visually appealing.

After finishing the hi-fidelity design, I conducted a final remote-monitored usability test, which resulted in virtually no complaints. All pages were easy to find, and when asked to rate the intuitiveness of certain actions on a scale of 1-5, participants consistently rated them a 4 or 5. Task completion rates reached 100%, and usability ratings improved by 60% after implementing design iterations. This final round of testing validated the design changes, confirming that the app effectively met user expectations by providing a seamless and intuitive experience. With positive feedback and high usability ratings, I am confident that the refined design successfully balances functionality with user-friendly accessibility.

Take-aways

Test.Test.Test.Test.

Testing is an essential component of any project, providing valuable insights throughout the design process. Frequent testing helps uncover users' true needs and preferences while identifying and addressing any incorrect assumptions made during secondary research or competitive analysis. This iterative approach ensures a more user-centered and effective final product which saves time and money for all involved.

Always Iron it out in the wireframe

A well-refined prototype streamlines the transition from low-fidelity to high-fidelity, significantly reducing time spent on major revisions in the later stages. This allows me to focus on fine-tuning details and allocating more attention to building a cohesive and scalable design system. This then can easily be applied to my designs which then allows me to allocate more time for testing after the fact.

Always Iron it out in the wireframe

Design System