CREACTIVOS
Is working from home affecting your physical health?
A website to take active and creative guided breaks
THE BACKGROUND
Individualy executed project as part of my internship role at Alimentos Carnicos (food industry company)
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Timeframe: 3 months
Modality: 100% online*
*The internship was carried out 100% online during COVID pandemic.
MY TASKS
[Generative research] - interviews, survey, secondary resources & data analysis
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[Design] - Product identity, wireframing user flow
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[Prototyping] - Low & High fidelity
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[Evaluative research]- usability study
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THE PROBLEM
Alimentos Carnicos administrative employees working from home during COVID-19 pandemic where facing physical and mental discomforts as a result of higher levels of sedentary and global situation of uncertainty during COVID-19​
A 4-STAGES PROJECT
My approach was to encourage the administrative employees working from home to take more active breaks during working hours through a web app with guided activities for the mind and body.
Once it was approved by my manager, I segregated the project into 4 stages: research, ideation & co-creation, prototyping ,and testing & evaluation. Every stage was further sub-divided into activities each of which had a description ,steps, and tools/resources required to complete it within deadlines.
THE RESEARCH PLAN
I focused on solving the following questions:
1. How is the new ¨day at work¨ for the employees who are affected by the lock down?
2. What strategies were implemented before and what impact did they have?
3. How is the overall mental conditon of the employees during the pandemic?
4. How a great active break looks like?
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To solve the first question, and partially the second, I conducted four online interviews with employees from cross functional departments; logistics, IT ,marketing and formation. To schedule the meetings, I was supported by the senior analysts from my department (Research and Development) which had been working longer in the organisation and knew individuals who would be open to be interviewed. For the interviews, I designed a presentation which aided me in guiding the users through the questions and prevented them from being distracted by other things on their screen because they were conducted through Google meet video calls.
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In the following image check the tools used to solve each question in further detail.
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AFTER CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH
THE MAIN INSIGHTS WERE:
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An intentional
break for the mind
and the body
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A solution that feels light (time-wise)
but energizing
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A break that is scheduled & includes a
clear goal
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It is incentived by employees on a power position
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Allows the user to connect with their coworkers
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“(an active break) is like a mexican taco because it has something spicy that heats you up ,wakes up your body and resets you”
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-Anonimus user
Regarding the characteristics and structure of an active break. I created a database of physical exercises based on the expert knowledge of a physiotherapist. The exercises were classified into 2 big groups: large joints and small joints. For each joint, the movements were based on mechanics (e.g. knees allow flexion and extension so there was an exercise focused on both movements). The following illustration summarizes this information and helped me design and structure the active break videos.
Image. Joints and its mechanics for active breaks
IDEATION & COCREATION
INITIAL CONCEPT
The visual design for the web app was simple with a cartoon style character as the logo to increase remembrance and an association with play and fun .The insights from the interviews nourished and polished the first wireframe and I rapidly prototyped it with Adobe Illustrator (graphic elements) and Just in mind (interaction and flow)
INSIGHTS AFTER A PARTICIPATORY DESIGN SESION
1. To Include retro and nostalgic music which enhaces emotinal connection
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2. To guide the creativity exercises by voice in order to allow the participants to focus better and rest their eye​
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3. To have a large variety of exercises to avoid boredom among the participants
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THE TIME CHALLENGE
How the time distribution looked like:
Due to the time and resources available, it was important to leverage by planning strategically on which activities to invest more time in order to achieve the goal of a functional prototype for testing. In this case, I reduced my secondary research and collected most of the technical information needed from experts and invested the extra time validating my initial concept and building a solid final prototype with quality content.
THE SOLUTION
GUIDED ACTIVE AND CREATIVE BREAKS
powered by Google Sites and @Chat
Ready to get active?
click the following link to take your morning /afternoon break..
The user gets an alert message by the @Chat group
IN THE MORNING YOU WILL FIND
5 MINUTES OF GENERAL MOBILITY & 5 MINUTES OF DANCE
IN THE AFTERNON YOU WILL FIND
5 MINUTES OF SPECIFIC MOBILITY OR 5 MINUTES OF CREATIVITY
The users can share their experience through the @Chat group
I feel so renew after that break!
The result of my creative exercise looks ugly
but I enjoyed a lot doing it, let me send a picture :D
TESTING & LEARNINGS
15 administrative
employees
5 consecutive work days
AND THIS IS WHAT I DISCOVERED...
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100% of the participants would like to keep including these breaks on their workday
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@Chat is not the most effective way to send the alert message
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30% of the participants considered the morning break (10 minutes) was too long
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The creative breaks (creative audio-guided activities)
were the favourite activity
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“Feeling very awake and ready to continue with my meetings and To-do list”
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-Anonimus participant
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100% of the participants would like to keep including these breaks on their workday
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