CHALLENGE
Create a design which support social runners to maintain their sportive intentions
RESULT
Loop, a tangible visualisation fo you and your running partner's activity
BACKGROUND
Runners motivated by social factors have significant risks to quite if they can not run together
SEMESTER
M11
TYPE PROJECT
Design
FELLOW DESIGNERS
Maarten Marks and Melvin Sterk
PROJECT INFO
LOOP
LOOP stimulates this through social contact and makes them aware of a proper training schedule. LOOP informs the user when it is the optimal time for the next run however this gives also insights on how active your running partner is. Unlike many existing mobile apps, it emphasizes the importance of keeping your running schedule going for a longer period and makes you aware when you fail in doing this. The physical form allows a richer form of interaction when you have gone for a run.
The design process
Through an iterative design process of four iterations and a longitudinal user test of six weeks, we created LOOP. The starting point of LOOP was frictional feedback and physicalisation of you and your running mate's training activities, without taking intensity and distance into account. We deployed loop in a house where multiple people lived together. Users were provided with diaries and we exectuded a semi-structured interview afterwards to evaluate the concept.This revealed the prototype increased awareness but no increasement in activity level was noted. The third iteration focused running mates who lived apart from each other. This resulted in a connected prototype which was presented on DemoDay.
The fourth iteration focused on improvement of the design and provided suggestions for future work. No prototype was developed.
