IMPERIUM
Project Brief
IMPERIUM is a cessation device that gives the power back to the user. IMPERIUM utilizes the user’s historical data to generate a personalized plan to control or quit vaping. The characteristic features of IMPERIUM are a physical electronic cigarette that measures the users vaping habits and a human-first interface that displays historical data and allows family/friends to join in to support the journey.
In the physical model, the button connection that closes the electrical current will be utilized to measure the time the user spends inhaling and displays this data in the home-screen of the app. The goal is for the app to collect enough information to utilize habitual behavior learning algorithms to assess and develop a personalized vaping “control plan” or a “quitting plan”, depending on the user’s goal. This data makes the sessation process work with a higher rate of success for the health of the user and provide a human-first plan to combat the addictive traits of vaping’.
Team
Liyi Lin(me), Nina Nash
My Role
Team student UI/UX design project
Tool
Figma, Balsamiq, Protopie, Adobe Creative Suites, Fusion 360, Keyshot
Type and Timeline
UI/UX Design, Product Design
3 months
Challenge
A 2019 study indicates that 80% of cigarette smokers that switch to e-cigarettes as a cessation method will continue to vape a year later.
Due to the high levels of nicotine found in e-cigarettes, the belief that vapes are a better alternative to smoking regular cigarettes is misguiding and inaccurate. The introduction of affordable and disposable vaping pods have made it a popular accessory for teenagers to wear -- more so with the addition of fruity and tropical flavors. Even with the knowledge that nicotine is bad for your health, this presents a challenging problem because the “cool” image vapes can give to young adults can lead to a lifetime of nicotine addiction.
Solution
After going through some introduction of IMPERIUM and some registration, users are able to select either they want control their vaping or quitting vaping
Helping different types of vaping people groups
Dashboard where users can check their progress in various presentation including how far along they are in their control or quitting plan. Users can also access their vaping historical habitual data collected in this section.
Counting users’ vaping amount to customize their plans
Users are able to set their own plan when choosing their desired goal. Users who choose to control can set the length of their plan and restrict hours of day when their vape will be locked. Users who choose to quit vaping can restrict the days and/or hours when they are allowed to vape.
Setting up working/vaping plans based on desired goals
Users have access to see other user’s stories or experience in their journey. Users can also initiate private conversations with others.
Learning from other people’s stories
Physical Product
Overall Design Process
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Research
1
Competitive Analysis,
User Interview
-
Define
2
Affinity map, User classification, User journey map, Problem define
-
Ideation
3
Design goal, Brainstorm, physical solution, Information architecture, user flow, wireframe
-
Prototype
4
Design system,
Hi-fi prototype
-
Test
5
Think aloud
Research
Research
Competitive Analysis
User Interview
Then I conducted the user interview with several people that get involved with vaping, some of interview contents are documented as below.
Define
Define
Research Analysis - Affinity map
User Classification & User Journey Map
Interviewing current e-cigarette users, it was discovered that many young users will reach out to their e-cigarettes without thinking of their actions. Based on users behavior classification, two personas were identified as the type of users to focus on based on their goals: the regular user who wants to quit vaping and the regular user who wants to control their vaping consumption.
Design goals & Solution
After brainstorming, we came up with 6 design objectives, which are thought-less, data collection, planning, puff counting, community and reminders. Based on those, we narrow down our solutions in three features, which are puff counting, planning and community, conducted by the physical vape product and the digital application. Besides, the inclusiveness of both vape controller and vape quitter will be ensured in the three features.
Ideation
Ideation
Physical vape product
In the physical model, the button connection that closes the electrical current will be utilized to measure the time the user spends inhaling and displays this data in the home-screen of the app. The app will collect enough information to utilize habitual behavior learning algorithms to assess and develop a personalized vaping “control plan” or a “quitting plan”, depending on the user’s goal.
Taking advantage of the electronics already in the market, the physical structure of IMPERIUM is designed with microchips and sensors easily accessible to users. All electronics are compatible with each other and connect to the app via Bluetooth.
App Ideate & prototype
According to the features of puff counting, planning and community, we came up with the information architecture and low-fi prototype of the IMPERUIM app, which are illustrated as below.
In Puff Counting section, users tries to use the app to help him to control his vape, when entering in to the app, he could see how much he has been vaping these days by either time consumption or electricity consumption, which better motivates him to control his smoke. Then he could just for the vaping plan after checking the amount of vaping
Before entering into the My Plan section, Users are asked to answer the questions like if he wants quit vaping or control the vaping. After entering into the plan, Users that need to control the vape are able to check his current working plan and add some new plan, as long as the working plan is set, the vape will be locked during the working time. For users that need to quit the vape are able to check his vaping available time slot and add new vaping available time slot ( maximum 2 time slots a day), as long as the available vaping time is set, the vape will be locked in other times.
In community Section, users are able to check other people’s article to go through their experience of controlling or quitting vape, they can also talk to them to share their vision about vaping.
Prototype
Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
From there, we condensed and combined the ideas I generated into 3 features which I took to Adobe XD and Protopie to create higher fidelity, as explained below
Design System
To have a better visual demonstration and communication, the design system, which includes typography, color palette and UI components , is defined based on the readability and features of the brand of IMPERIUM
“Introduction” Section
“Puff Counting” Section
“My plan” Section
“Community” Section
Overall
Final User Scenario
Test
Test
Users’ Test & Feedback
Users: Yuda
He is also a students that likes to vaping in his daily life, but he vape that much and he has thought about controlling his vape. He is 80% fit the persona
Feedback:
There are some extra features at the page which is useless, they can be deleted.
At the Details page from today’s vaping, some connections between the trend chart and cards are missing, maybe the cards could be conducted from tapping particular points at the trend chart.
Maybe the Details page and History Vaping page could combine together since they demonstrates similar user tasks.
At the Details page, the drag interaction is not that natural, maybe can use some inertia effect while dragging the card.
Reflection
From this project, we learnt that the inclusiveness of users is always one of the most important thing that designers should think about, which should be generated from users classification in user research phase of design.