Mindful Munch

1. Prototype link (Please submit a link to a playable prototype, not a link to your design file) Link

2. Describe your project (max 150 words)

Undergraduate students are constantly faced with a multitude of tasks ranging from class assignments to work responsibilities and household chores. Amidst the overwhelming to-do lists, the pursuit of personal hobbies and growth always takes a back seat, and in the long run, students lose motivation. How can students maintain their well-being and sustain motivation amidst repeated routines?

Mindful Munch is designed to help students prioritize their goals for the day by focusing on two manageable daily tasks. Through engaging prompts and gentle encouragement, students can find fulfillment in accomplishing these objectives, fostering a sense of achievement and motivation. Mindful Munch cherishes every progress's significance and recognizes each small step's meaning.

3. Describe your research process and findings. If you conducted any surveys or interviews, please include the survey form and/or interview questions here. If you conducted secondary research by pulling from online sources, please include a link to your sources. (Max 500 words)

We conducted a Google form survey collecting information regarding undergraduate student motivation and work-life balance. Based on the 39 responses we collected, we found that 66.7% of respondents reported that their time is mostly devoted to class and/or work-related activities. Amongst the 39 respondents, 64.1% indicate that they wish they had more time to focus on personal matters, more specifically, personal hobbies and well-being. Moreover, on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being low motivation and 5 being high motivation, 33.3% of respondents stand on the second bar while 35.9% on 3. We also discovered the most difficult tasks for students to start and finish are school assignments and household chores. The reasons behind this result vary while lack of time and motivation were mentioned more frequently. In this survey, we also asked the respondents if they use any applications to help maintain a healthy school-life balance and out of the 30 respondents to this question, over 50% of respondents confirmed that they use calendar/digital planners. According to the research survey results, a majority of undergraduate students are experiencing unhealthy work-life balance and they hope to have more time to pursue personal interests and take the time to focus on self-care.

Besides the survey, we also conducted a competitive analysis where we researched and studied the design of some of the popular digital calendar/note-taking apps in the current market, including Notion, Google Calendar, Todoist, Google Keep, Daylio, and so on. During our research process, we observed that Notion has too many features and templates which can be overwhelming for users, an aspect that is also mentioned by several respondents in the survey. Other applications, such as Google Calendar and Todoist, primarily focus on implementing color coding and categorizing attributes to assist users with time/task management. They serve as a professional platform for organizing individual tasks with a modern design.

4. Describe your most important design decisions. What research findings and/or user testing results led you to make these decisions? (Max 500 words)

Mindful Munch intends to implement the unique feature of prioritizing both personal and professional tasks with the two-prompt system. According to the survey results, a majority of undergraduate students' lives are filled with mandatory obligations and chores. 64.1% of respondents provided the feedback that they wish they could set aside time for personal hobbies and taking care of physical and mental wellness. Most respondents also reflected that personal growth and interests, for instance, exercising and journaling, are methods they consistently use to maintain their work-life balance. Taking the results into consideration, we decided to incorporate a feature that provides two simple prompts to the users in Mindful Munch, one focuses on “want to do” while the other focuses on “need to do.” Professional obligations and personal pursuits are equally important as they both require motivation daily. Therefore, we chose to design a platform that encourages users to spend some time during the day to focus on personal creative goals aside from school and work-related tasks.

We recognized that as an undergraduate student, obligations need to be the top priority in most cases. Therefore, Mindful Munch’s daily tasks are intended to be simple and easy to complete in between a busy schedule. We hope to increase user motivation by highlighting the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction because even if it is a small task, it means big progress.

Built With

• adobe-illustrator
• figma