Project Timeline	Project Type	Contributor
Jan - Mar 2023	Academic case study	Yuan Yao Joe Tao Nicole Soh Dinglin Peng Huilin Duan Rinako Kanaya Yiru Ma Yiyin Huang Zixi Liu

Motivation

Recent research indicates that as of June 2021, 1.5% of the UK population has been afflicted with long-term COVID-19 infection, resulting in a range of symptoms that continue to impact their daily lives. Among these symptoms, sleep disorders feature prominently, with at least 40% of long-term COVID patients exhibiting moderate to severe sleep disturbances, and significantly higher rates of insomnia compared to those who have not contracted COVID-19.

Sleep problems not only result in fatigue and poor concentration but are also strongly associated with mental health issues such as depression, stress, and anxiety. Such outcomes highlight a need to target sleep problems. The primary design aim thereby was to facilitate relaxation and expedite sleep onset, meeting the needs of users who seek to enhance their sleep quality and return to pre-COVID states of functioning.

Personas

Three target groups were identified through the literature and interview process: white-collar workers, students, and housewives. These formed the following personas - consultant Ben, student Cathy, and housewife Anna - all who suffer from chronic sleep disorders, impeding their ability to focus and perform effectively in their respective areas of work, study, and family responsibilities.

To ensure our prototype design focused on the most relevant user needs, personas were narrowed down into Cathy, a young college student. While she does not belong to the majority impacted by long-covid sleep disorders, young students represented by Cathy are more receptive to digital health interventions, and are more accessible for our usability tests.

User Study

Market research was thereby conducted to further assess how these solutions are applied in existing apps, e.g. Headspace, and Rise Sleep. We found that although such apps were generally effective, some app reviews still show potential issues with customer stickiness. To further explore the reasons behind this, semi-structured interviews with eight participants were conducted, where most interviewees expressed the opinion that they will only use applications if strong incentives were provided, which most sleep disorder applications lacked. They also highlighted a need for sleep applications to have clear and simple functions, to increase app usability and improve their user experience.

"I just lost interest. Just not enough to keep coming back"

Ideation

Two major findings were concluded that the app provides minimum motivation, and the usability of the app is not well justified. Therefore, we did crazy 8 sketches and applied a 2 by 2 matrix with motivation and usability as our measurement conditions.

Low fedility prototype

Usability Test

We then proceeded with usability testing with 8 participants. We employed the “think aloud” method and followed up post-interviews, and an affinity diagram was used to conclude feedback.

Improvements needed:

• Size of “Exit Sleep Button”
• Confusion on Coins/reward system
• Discouraging languages
• Not enough graphs and data

Positive:

• Likeable avatar
• Intuitive to use
• Expandable beyond long-covid

Iterations

Final Design

Onboarding

So, here is Dingo! Upon the first time opening SpeePal, you’ll be presented by an onboarding wizard and meet Dingo. A cute little creature recently recovered from Covid. Just like you, Dingo also struggles to fall asleep. From now on, you are going to be each other’s sleep companion on the journey towards recovery.

Features

We designed the home screen with minimalism and cuteness in mind. An added navigation bar can take you to the sleep statistics and virtual shop. This is thought to enhance progress awareness and emotional attachment hence motivate behavior change.

Phone Locker

When sleep time approaches, the app sends you a push notification. When you click on the sleep button, your phone will be locked from accessing other Apps. But don’t worry, if you can’t fall asleep, Dingo will have some relaxation options for you!

Activities

If you click on Dingo, or swipe up, you are presented with 4 wind down activities to choose from. Doing these activities together with Dingo can help you relax, feel more sleepy, and of course, get coins!

Rewards

Let’s say you decided to do meditation, after finishing, you will get rewarded by coins accordingly. Now after a fantastic sleep, the app will calculate your sleep score and reward you with more coins!