App Prototype
CLASS: Intro to New Media & Digital Design
ASSIGNMENT: Think of a problem and design a prototype for your solution to the problem.
1. Problem
Time management and productivity are two skills that students of all education levels often struggle with. These can be especially difficult for college students, though, since they are given the most freedom and responsibility. Whether living on campus or taking classes from home, as many have decided to do this year, it can often be difficult for students to balance their personal and academic lives. They must make time for their classes and subsequent workload while also making time for club meetings, internships, and basic life necessities like eating and sleeping. On top of this, technology presents students with the opportunity for constant distraction. Smartphones, in particular, pose a real threat to students’ productivity as they are the primary source of distractions like social media and text messaging. These struggles have become even more prevalent with increased participation in remote learning, which makes it even harder to balance academics with personal responsibility.
The consequence of an overwhelming amount of responsibility is poor time management. Students are required to juggle so many tasks that it can be hard to organize it all, consequently affecting their academic performance, which has its own repercussions. However, even when students do find the time to focus on schoolwork, it can be difficult for them to avoid distraction, especially from their phones, causing a decrease in motivation and productivity. My project will work to address this problem that many students face.
2. Research
According to a well-known study commissioned by FileMaker, Inc., 87 percent of college students believe that better time management and organization skills would help improve their grades. In the same study, 48.4 percent of students said that they lack the time to complete their course work. These statistics support my problem because they reveal students’ awareness that good time management is beneficial, but they lack the ability to productively organize their time. My app will hopefully give students an easy yet effective way to solve this issue.
My decision to make my app resemble a fish tank was also the result of secondary research. According to MentalHelp.net, a major resource for mental health and wellness education, “there are health and emotional benefits that come from having a fish tank or aquarium.” The sound of running water has been proven to be very soothing, and studies have also shown that watching fish swim in a tank can reduce blood pressure and emotional distress. Although not an official term, many have referred to this relaxing effect of fish tanks as “aquarium therapy.” By incorporating these auditory and visual aspects of a fish tank, my app will allow students to feel less stressed while still getting their work done.
3. Solution
​My solution to the problem I proposed was to create an app that allows students to both manage their time effectively and increase their productivity when trying to complete their schoolwork. I have seen and tried using, apps that seek to tackle this issue, but I would always end up deleting them because they never held my attention and became more of a nuisance than a helpful studying tool. Therefore, I wanted to design an app that students would not only need to use but want to use. To accomplish this, I decided to make productivity feel like a game. To make it more engaging, the app is meant to resemble a fish tank, and the more time that students spend studying, the more fish they can add to their tank. This rewards system will help students with productivity by making work feel like less of a chore and more like a fun activity.
2. Prototype
My prototype represents all of the pages that would be found on my app, “Focus.” Starting from the left, the first tile is the app’s loading page. This is the first page a person will see when they open the app, and it will only be visible for a few seconds. It originally only included the title of the app, but I received feedback from my presentation to include some fish as well. After adding this detail, I really liked the way that the page looked. I think that the fish also help the user have a sooner understanding of what the app entails.
The app’s homepage includes the user’s fish tank and the fish they have collected. The page also includes a progress bar, located on the top left, which shows the user how close they are to their next reward. Across from the progress bar is a list of icons that bring you to different pages.
The first icon brings you to the timer page, which is represented in the third tile. Users are still able to see their fish swimming around, continuing the relaxing and therapeutic aspect of the app. On this page, users can set a timer for how long they wish to spend on an assignment. After they start the timer, the progress bar will steadily rise. Once students have completed a certain amount of study time, the bar reaches the top and a new fish is unlocked. Then, the bar returns to the bottom and the time needed to earn the next fish increases. The timer can be paused or stopped, but if the user closes the app while it is still running, the timer automatically stops and the user loses the progress that they have been earning. This page specifically improves time management because it helps students concentrate on their work and avoid the temptation of opening other apps on their phones. Giving themselves a set amount of time to complete an assignment also improves productivity.
The next icon on the homepage brings you to the calendar page, which helps students keep track of their course work in an organized format. Students can navigate through different months and input the assignments that they have due on different days. Each assignment can be color-coded so that they know which course it belongs to. The “Remind Me” button also allows students to receive reminders for their work so that they do not forget to do it. They can choose to receive reminders as frequently as every day before the assignment is due, or as little as just the day before the due date. Students can then mark an assignment as completed by pressing the checkmark.
The third icon represents the app’s rewards page, where users can view all of the fish they have unlocked. To add a personal aspect, users are able to name each fish. The last icon does not bring you to a page, but it allows you to mute the sound from the app that resembles the bubbling water in a fish tank. Many students enjoy listening to their own music when studying, so this feature would allow them to continue to do that.