Mobile Adventure Walks is an iPhone app (Android early 2012) that motivates and inspires people by turning the act of walking into an adventure. The app is a cross between a treasure hunt and a daily walk, transforming walking into a game.
Players choose a nearby walk and explore different locations in the area, as they are unveiled during the game. The walking adventure allows players to unlock future stops along the route, one at a time, as clues are solved. Bonus points can be earned by answering the clues correctly or by creating new Walks. The Mobile Adventure Walks experience does not feel like a guided walk, but instead like a treasure hunt, and it is easy to play anywhere at anytime.
Pain Point Addressed: Motivation We are targeting people who would like to move more, but don’t necessarily enjoy “exercise.” Through our research, we have found that our target needs the greatest help in motivation. When our audience thinks of fitness, they typically think of their past failures, drudgery, and boredom. By focusing on fun and avoiding words relating to health, we can reach and engage the largest segment: those who want to stay motivated through enjoyment rather than prescription. Our testing revealed that our target preferred this stealth approach to health behavior change.
Our goal is simple: make regular movement fun so that people will focus on the experience and move more often. We want users to walk more, invite others, and use the experience as a gateway for additional activity.
Early Testing Our team’s background in health, fitness, research, and technology included many years of evaluating the psychology of the unfit and unmotivated. Pre-product tests included quantitative segmentation of 50,000 gym members, group fitness program development and evaluation, design and evaluation of health contests and challenges, one-on-one interventions, and new product concept development and testing (one-on-one, in pairs, and in groups). Distilling the insights of our past research, we designed a concept to meet the needs of our target audience.
For Mobile Adventure Walks, we conducted many rounds of iterative tests starting at the early stage with screen drawings and ending with real-user tests of our live product. Rapid iterations of the design and interaction allowed us to craft the experience over time to be most appealing to our target. By using the most familiar standard mobile design affordances, we allow users to quickly learn and feel comfortable navigating our app. Regular usability testing evaluated the app for simplicity, easy-of-use, and appeal for people of all levels of technical familiarity.
Our testing showed that people like playing the game alone, with friends, with their kids, or as a family. Because people are playing together, not everyone needs a smartphone to play. People enjoy paying attention to their surroundings and feeling connected to their environment, reporting that it makes them “stop and smell the roses.” People are playing in cities and suburbs and when they create their own Walks, they feel naturally inspired to share their Walks with others and get them moving.
Framing of the Product An intervention can never be better than adherence to a healthy, long-term habit. Given the research and the known health advantages of walking, our goal is to motivate people who are not walking enough to simply walk more often. We are applying Positive Psychology research and human-computer interaction (HCI) theories to the design, development, and testing of our app to ensure that the app reframes how people feel about exercise over time. We have conducted several iterative tests to ensure that the language, interaction, and imagery of the app appeal to users and keep them playing over time.
In our tests, we have found that by specifically referring to health, exercise, or fitness, many people shut down, as they think about their prior failures and their lists of “shoulds”. For this reason, we avoid these words in our app and instead emphasize fun to encourage them to return to the app and play. In addition, we provide relevant information tailored to the user such as distance walked and points, veering away from calories and other metrics that impact the experience. Our goal is to allow people to “exercise by accident,” and to conduct continual iterative tests going forward, as well as to test for positive health outcomes in early 2012 (see University partnerships below).
Partnerships, Events, and Research We are currently engaging with universities, events, and organizations to further test and grow our app. Some of them include: • George Washington University (professor and student designing walks and planning product testing) • American Public Health Association (Mobile Adventure Walks was the featured physical activity for over 13,000 attendees at the APHA Annual Meeting) • Shape Up Arizona (partner for their October 2011 event, leading walking groups at the event) • Boston Properties (partner for our Alpha test walk using tenants in five of their buildings) • Meetup Groups (leading walking groups in Adventure Walks Meetups to test ideas and gather data) • Additional research at: University of Bath (UK), Loma Linda University (CA), George Washington University (DC) • Feet First partnership (developing Mobile Adventure Walks along existing safe routes and trails)
We recently participated in two roundtables in Washington DC focused on getting people walking outdoors. We are currently exploring partnership possibilities with organizations and walking groups around the country.
In October 2011, the APHA highlighted our app at their Annual Meeting, replacing their annual 5K Run with Mobile Adventure Walks. An APHA reporter took a Mobile Adventure Walk and blogged about her experience: http://aphaannualmeeting.blogspot.com/2011/10/take-walk-on-wild-side.html.
Overall Goal We intend to inspire the masses to move more and ultimately feel differently about exercise and movement. Our potential reach is vast because walking is accessible to so many people, and because with user-generated Walks, the Walk creators of each region become the designers.
We will be iterating on our app to add additional social and gaming features over 2012 as we build for Android, making the app accessible for a large, and growing, market. We’ll also be expanding our reach with partners and increasing the number of Mobile Adventure Walk events we host throughout the country. Within 2012, we will become a platform for fun walking games that anyone, anywhere could play for free.
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