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
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
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 popular among young people, but many struggle with consistency. I created a habit-tracking app that uses social interactivity to make habit-building collaborative and enjoyable. By turning habits into shared goals with friends, the process becomes something to look forward to rather than a chore.

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).

58%

The Solution

Leveraging social connection.

Bondit helps users form healthy habits with friends by creating "bonds" - groups based on shared habits where friends take daily photos to maintain streaks. It's an easy way to stay accountable while strengthening friendships without feeling like a chore

Journaling for Flexible Progress Tracking

Daily habit tracking isn't the only way to measure progress, and user interviews showed many people journal alongside or instead of habit tracking. Bondit lets you write, tag, and filter journal entries that can be shared with friends or kept private.

Strengthen Your Bonds with Shared Habits.

The Bonds page is where you and friends build lasting habits together by creating groups, setting shared goals, and tracking progress through photos to maintain streaks. You can view personal and group streak stats at the top for motivation, then explore friends and bond groups below with detailed stats and galleries of captured moments.

Stay Connected with Your Community

Bondit's social features keep you engaged with friends through a Home feed showing bond posts and journal entries where you can like and comment. The Profile page lets you personalize your space with a picture, username, bio, and follower count. Your profile includes a Shared Bonds section so friends can see your groups and celebrate your progress.

The Research

Understanding the Problem Space

Technical Analysis

To gain market insights, I assessed existing habit tracking apps so see their weak points and where my app could improve upon where they lacked focusing mainly on the social aspects

Secondary Research

I did research focusing on the scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of social motivation in developing and maintaining habits that backed my hypothesis of social interactivity being a motivating factor.

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 usability study that provided valuable feedback and confirmed some concerns I had about the design. Participants indicated that certain pages were hard to navigate and felt overwhelming due to too many elements on-screen. I used this feedback to make revisions for my high-fidelity prototype, focusing on reducing clutter and improving navigation.

Primary Research

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

I conducted one-on-one interviews with five participants to understand how people develop and maintain habits, focusing on their motivations, challenges, and consistency strategies. The research revealed recurring themes around social motivation, personal accountability, and the role of habit-tracking tools. These direct conversations provided valuable insights and a more nuanced understanding beyond secondary research.

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

Click to make bigger

Wireframe & Prototype

I tested what was essential and cut the unnecessary.

Click to make bigger

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 usability test feedback, I simplified the app to focus on its core purpose—helping users connect with friends to form habits and journal—by removing complex data-heavy pages that weren't valued by the target audience. I refined the UI to balance familiarity with uniqueness, ensuring it remained intuitive and visually appealing. The final usability test showed 100% task completion rates and 60% improved usability ratings, with participants rating intuitiveness consistently 4-5 out of 5, confirming the design successfully meets user expectations.

Take-aways

Test.Test.Test.Test.

Testing is essential for any project as it provides valuable insights throughout the design process, uncovers users' true needs, identifies incorrect assumptions, and ensures a more user-centered final product that ultimately saves time and money.

Always Iron it out in the wireframe

A well-refined prototype streamlines the transition from low-fidelity to high-fidelity, reducing time spent on major revisions and allowing me to focus on fine-tuning details and building a cohesive, scalable design system that frees up more time for thorough testing.

Always Iron it out in the wireframe

A well-refined prototype streamlines the transition from low-fidelity to high-fidelity, reducing time spent on major revisions later. This allows me to focus on fine-tuning details and building a cohesive, scalable design system. The efficient process then frees up more time for thorough testing after implementation.

Design System