how to use desktop wallpaper to create a veggie eating habit
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
VeggiTopA conceptual design by
Kristy Allenby & Marcus Catsouphes
Design ChallengeEncourage vegetable eating business school grad
students to eat more of them over 5 days
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
VeggiTop
Persuasive Purpose Increase graduate business school students’ vegetable
consumption by changing their computers’ desktop background for 5 days
Industrial Design
+ =
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Our Users Are
• Business school grad students who…
• Already like vegetables
• Want to increase consumption of vegetables
• Own personal computers
• Have habits of doing work every day at their desks
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
How it works…
Flexing His Behavior: Every time Matt sees the desktop image during the week, he eats a vegetable from his bowl.
Tracking Behavior: Each night for 5 days, Matt receives a text asking how many extra veggies he ate. He replies back to the text message.
Setting Up the Cue: He sets the photo as his computer’s desktop background.
Increasing Ability: Matt makes sure he has his favorite veggies on hand. He keeps a bowl of his favorite veggie on his desk next to his computer.
Following Up: One week later, Matt receives an email survey asking him some questions about the intervention’s effectiveness
Signing Up: Matt, a grad student, receives an email on Monday morning with a picture attached. The email explains that he should eat a vegetable each time he sees the picture on his desktop for the next 5 days.
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Prototype of VeggiTop
We provide participants a chance to choose the desktop photos they like best. Some examples:
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Features/Functionality
• Participants choose the image they feel will best motivate them, and they set it as their desktop
• Participants place a bowl of vegetables next to their computers, so they are easily accessible
• Progress is reported nightly via text message
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Theoretical Justifications
• Our main research question is to find the simplest behavior that matters. Since these are flex behaviors, we are hypothesizing that a very small cue may encourage the desired result
• This design attempts to “piggy back” an increased vegetable consumption habit on business school students’ extensive daily computer usage
• Because business school students sees their computers’ desktop background multiple times per day, the cue can be repeated a lot
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Results of User Testing
1 2 3 4 5
37.5%
50.0%
62.5%
75.0%
62.5%
Respondents Eating More Veggies
1 2 3 4 5
3.0
1.8 1.8
2.3
1.3
Serving Increase Among Participants
Day # Day#
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Shortcomings of Design
• Unclear if the desktop will become “stale” after the 5 days are up (i.e. was the dip in performance we observed on day 5 indicative of decreasing returns)
• Will users continue eating more veggies after the intervention has completed?
• Sending follow-up emails & tracking participation becomes tiring
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Expansion - What else is possible?
• This project helped us to show…
• A very small behavior change can lead to formation of a new health habit
• The viability of a “low touch” solution that can be easily expanded (e.g. it’s easy to allow many people to download backgrounds)
• Desktop wallpaper might be an overlooked intervention opportunity
Stanford University, Spring 2010CS377v - Creating Health Habitshabits.stanford.edu
Next Steps in Design Process
• Explore ways to automate the “check-in” emails and tracking process
• Identify other health habits that could be motivated using desktop background changes
• Collect longitudinal information to see if participants continued new habits after the intervention ended