The document summarizes Anne Everars' presentation on developing a mobile application to help users track personal health metrics for weight loss. It describes conducting research on existing applications, designing prototypes based on literature and evaluating them with users. Prototypes were improved based on feedback, focusing the design on easily adding food/activity items and motivation through goals rather than social/gamification features. The final conclusion was that while the design scored well overall, adding items simply and providing visual feedback could be further improved to help users better track their lifestyle and progress toward weight loss.

1. Quantified Self for
Personal Health
Presentation by Anne Everars
4 september 2014
Promotor: Prof. Erik Duval
Assessors: Dr. ir. Davy Preuveneers and Ir. José Luis Santos
Assistents: Ir. Robin De Croon and Dr. Joris Klerkx
1

2. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
2

3. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
3

4. - Quantified self, self knowledge through numbers. http://quantifiedself.com/
- SWAN, Melanie. The quantified self: Fundamental disruption in big data science and biological discovery. Big Data, 2013, 1.2: 85-99.
- SWAN, Melanie. Sensor mania! the internet of things, wearable computing, objective metrics, and the quantified self 2.0. Journal of
Sensor and Actuator Networks, 2012, 1.3: 217-253. 4

5. Personal health
➲ Focus on a healthy lifestyle
➲ Focus on self-care strategies
~ balance exercise behavior and nutritional intake
!
!
!
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQhuS-OwHGRuWrGYqxbMr3eME7i54JbgO0JqaYafp-bg0d0Qnln-g
Overweight & obesity mainly due to:
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Overconsumption (of foods)
National voedings- en gezondheidsplan voor België.
http://www.health.belgium.be/eportal/Myhealth/Healthylife/Food/index.htm#.Umu0gZROokR. 2005 - 2010.
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6. Research question
!
Gain better lifestyle ➲ lose weight
• Easy adding of elements
• Motivation via gamification and social network
How?
- SIX, Bethany L., et al. Evidence-based development of a mobile telephone food record. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
2010, 110.1: 74-79.
- STEVENS, Susan Hunt. How gamification and behavior science can drive social change one employee at a time. In: Design, User
Experience, and Usability. Health, Learning, Playing, Cultural, and Cross-Cultural User Experience. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013.
p. 597-601.
- HWANG, Kevin O., et al. Social support in an Internet weight loss community. International journal of medical informatics, 2010, 79.1:
5-13. 6

7. Target users
• People with that want/need to lose weight
• From different age categories and social groups
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8. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
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9. Criteria for comparison
1. Food registration
2. Activity registration
3. Setting goals
4. Gamification &
rewards
5. Reports
6. Login options
7. Social character
8. Availability
(platform, online/
offline, languages)
9. Price
https://annespersonalhealth.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/criteria-for-comparing-existing-applications/
9

10. Compared applications
Calories 2 Perfect Diet
https://annespersonalhealth.wordpress.com/category/review/
Tracker
Weight
Watchers
Mobile
Calorie Counter
by FatSecret
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11. Calories 2
Perfect
Diet
Tracker
Weight
Watchers
Mobile
MyFitness
Pal
Calorie
Counter
Food registration
Own recipes
Activity registration
Setting goals
Gamification
Rewards
Progress tracking
Login
Social network
Friendnetwork
Available offline
Platform OS X, iOS
OS X,
Windows,
Linux
All Mobile
iOS,
Android
Languages Limited English Many English Many
Price Free Payed Payed Free Free
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12. Conclusion
• Food and activities always considered together
• Best : Dutch database
• Little automation (mostly only barcode scanners)
• Setting goals & reports = important
challenges = nice
! metabolic resting state (e.g. CalorieCounter)
! pop-ups
12

13. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
13

14. Design criteria
• Consistency
• Simplicity
• Maintaining a caloric diary
• Setting goals
• Gamification
• Social character
- RUBIN, Jeffrey; CHISNELL, Dana. Handbook of usability testing: howto plan, design, and conduct effective tests. John Wiley & Sons,
2008.
- KARAT, John, et al. HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION SERIES VOLUME 8. 2005.
- HELSEL, Diane L.; JAKICIC, John M.; OTTO, Amy D. Comparison of techniques for self-monitoring eating and exercise behaviors on
weight loss in a correspondence-based intervention. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2007, 107.10: 1807-1810.
- CHOE, Eun Kyoung, et al. Understanding quantified-selfers' practices in collecting and exploring personal data. In: Proceedings of the
32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems. ACM, 2014. p. 1143-1152.
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15. Platform selection
➲ iPad!
• Reasonably mobile and carried along
• Screen sufficiently large
• Network connection (+ other sensors)
CONNELLY, Kay H., et al. Mobile applications that empower people to monitor their personal health. e & i Elektrotechnik und
Informationstechnik, 2006, 123.4: 124-128.
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16. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
16

17. First prototype
https://annespersonalhealth.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/prototype-current-status/
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18. Evaluation first prototype
= via EXPERTEVALUATIE
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19. Evaluation - remarks
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20. Evaluation - remarks
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21. Evaluation - remarks
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22. Evaluation - remarks
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23. Evaluation - remarks
23

24. And then ….
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25. Second prototype
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26. Second prototype
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27. Second prototype
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28. Second prototype
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29. Second prototype
29

30. Evaluation - methodology
1. Short introduction
2. Initial questionnaire
➲ personal questions
3. Think-aloud user test
4. SUS-questionnaire
BROOKE, John. SUS-A quick and dirty usability scale. Usability evaluation in industry, 1996, 189: 194.
30

31. Evaluation
• 7 users 21 - 25 years old
• 4/7 with overweight
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32. Evaluation - results
• Adding item(s) seems hard (3/7)
• Consistency between food diary and activity logbook
(7/7)
• Entering data in report view is counterintuitive (2/7)
• Many users (5/7) liked the option of challenging friends
inside the application
• Some users (2/7) would have liked the option to have
more than one goal; or to not have to focus on weight
changes.
32

33. Evaluation - results
SUS - score : 81
http://www.humanfactors.com/images/newsletters/2010/jan/SUS4.jpg
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34. Evaluation - results
SUS - score : 81
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35. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
35

36. Database selection
• (American) English databases
➲ many available:
- FatSecret API
- ItemMaster API
- Esha API
- CalorieKing
- Myfitnesspal
• Nubel & NEVO
• Open Food Facts (http://be-en.openfoodfacts.org/)
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37. Design
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38. Design
https://parse.com/ 38

39. To the digital prototype
39

40. First digital prototype
Adding item(s) seems hard
➲ issue with paper prototype?
➲ Work in progress
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41. First digital prototype
Entering data in report view is counterintuitive
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42. First digital prototype
Users want to define more than one goal
42

43. Evaluation - methodology
1. Short introduction
2. Initial questionnaire
➲ personal questions
3. Think-aloud user test
4. SUS-questionnaire
43

44. Evaluation
• 5 users 21 - 25 years old
• 3/5 with overweight
• Focus on usability-issues
44

45. Evaluation - results
45

46. Evaluation - results
• Adding item(s) seems hard (4/7)
• ‘Vooruitgang’ is a better name (3/7)
• Some users (2/7) forget to indicate a moment when
adding food items
• One user would like to have a better progress
visualization in the images from the food triangle
• One user indicated that it is not possible to see the
contribution of a food item
46

47. Evaluation - results
SUS - score : 90,5
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48. Evaluation - results
SUS - score : 90,5
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49. Second digital prototype
Users forget to indicate a moment
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50. Second digital prototype
Progress in food triangle elements
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51. Second digital prototype
Contribution of an added item?
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!
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52. Second digital prototype
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53. Second digital prototype
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54. Evaluation - methodology
1. Short introduction
2. Initial questionnaire
➲ personal questions
3. Think-aloud user test
4. SUS-questionnaire
Due to lack of time: focus on usability
54

55. Evaluation
• 11 users 21 - 58 years old
• 7/11 with overweight
• 9/11 want to lose weight
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56. Evaluation - results
Relative importance of the features
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57. Evaluation - results
Score (1= not important, 10= very important) of
social features
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58. Evaluation - results
1. Make an account
2. Add food item
3. Log off
4. Add activity
5. Look at badges
6. Register weight &BMI
7. Tips
8. Change goal
9. Personal settings
10.Register waist circumference & ABSI
11.Challenges
12.Setting notifications
13.Caloric monitor
58

59. Evaluation - results
1. Make an account
2. Add food item
3. Log off
4. Add activity
5. Look at badges
6. Register weight &BMI
7. Tips
8. Change goal
9. Personal settings
10.Register waist circumference & ABSI
11.Challenges
12.Setting notifications
13.Caloric monitor
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60. Evaluation - results
SUS - score :79,5
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61. Evaluation - results
SUS - score : 79,5
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62. Content
• About the topic
• Literature study
• Design
• Low-fidelity prototypes
• High-fidelity prototypes
• Conclusion
62

63. Remember:
research question
!
Gain better lifestyle ➲ lose weight
• Easy adding of elements
• Motivation via gamification and social network
How?
63

64. Conclusion
• Design overall received a good score
(e.g. SUS scale)
• Items should be added efficiently & simple
• Feedback are useful
➲ visual tools can help
• Gamification is not perceived as essential
• Social elements appear less relevant
64

65. Questions?
65