Research

Timeline:

Friday-Finish with interviews and will have begun observations. Saturday-Begin the unpacking phase and make problem statements. Sunday- I will have finished all the above steps and begin putting all of my information on the actual blog sight. Once that is done, I will create my market insight and create a possible solution.

Ask (interviews)

I interviewed three people for the first portion of this project. The following questions were the standard subset that I used for all of my interviews in no particular order;

How often do you exercise? What does your average day look like? What are some opportunities you see to exercise everyday? Do you think exercise is important for people over 20? Do you think you should exercise more?What kind of area do you live in? Do you enjoy working out? Have you been to a gym recently (if so when?) Do you know of any Events on campus that allow for physical exercise? What kind of physical activities do you like to do? How big is your family? Do you have a lot of people relying on you? Then I followed up in conversation by asking things like “Tell me about an experience you had with…” “Tell me about the last time you…” And more questions such as that.

I started with my Japanese teacher as she fit my criteria for an older adult who I knew was very busy. She teaches nearly all day, leaving her no time for herself during the day. She is above the age of 50 yet remains in good health because she walks for 80 minutes day to school and back. I interviewed her because I wanted to get data from an older adult rather than all people in their mid 20’s. Key quotes from my teacher where, “I walk for my health but I also enjoy looking at nature. I like discovering new things.” A second quote is, “The campus offers free exercise classes to faculty only if we use it enough, almost like a game!” A third quote is, “My favorite thing about walking is when I get 300 dollar lower premium through the University after they count my steps.” ( To put that in context, the University gives out free pedometers to faculty, and if they exercise enough they get a lower insurance premium.)

My second interview was my graphic studio design class teacher. He is in his high 20’s and was the typical age group I was looking for to interview as this age is the busiest time in most peoples’ lives. Like my Japanese teacher, he said his main form of exercise was walking to campus everyday for nearly three miles round trip. However is reasoning for doing so was different. He said, “I usually walk because Minneapolis traffic is frightening.” He said he is mostly satisfied with his physical condition and only exercises because it makes him feel good, not because he needs to stay in shape. “ I may in decent shape, but I still think an hour of exercise is key. It releases endorphins , lowers heart rate and makes you less prone to heart disease.” I asked him about things that would get him to exercise more and it always comes down to time. He said, “Exercise threshold=Time available.”

The last person I interviewed was an acquaintance through JSA. She was in the mid-20’s age range and was the person closest to how old I was. I interviewed her almost solely to have a difference in age between all three people I talked to. Her main form of exercise like the other two, was walking and nothing else. However she only walks about 4 times a week for about a mile a day. She thinks that she should work out more and is actively looking for ways to work out. She said, “if the REC offered more free classes like yoga I would totally sign up. We are paying for the REC anyway so it makes sense that we should get a least SOME classes free.” She went on to say that another reason she doesn’t exercise much is because none of her friends do on a regular basis. “The social aspect of any exercise is very important.” She also said, “Normally I don’t enjoy working out because it doesn’t feel good while you do it, so I need something to distract me.”

Observation:

Since the sub-theme I was observing for was “exercise in adults” I decided to observe the type of people that were going into the REC center and the type of equipment being used. Upon entering the building I immediately noticed attempts at gamification of even small things like the towel bin. As I stood there for awhile I noticed that this trash bin was used (after doing the math) nearly 80% more than the garbage can closer to the equipment. People would do out of their way to use this because it was fun!

The basketball hoop is a nice touch :)

Later on I met two acquaintances from the JSA club and I asked if I could observe them on their daily workout. At first it started out with me just silently observing them, but then later turned into a game.

They told me that they hate working out by just lifting weights and running, so they try to make it fun. They always compete against each other and set rewards for wining, even in things like rope climbing.

They also tried rowing, which normally hurts a lot, but they said they didn’t notice the pain because they were having so much fun!

Something I also noticed while leaving the REC center, was the amount of mopeds versus bikes. There was a constant flow of people coming in on these. That means most of the people that come here commute using these and don’t get exercise by walking or riding a bike. The time they save by using an automated vehicle they use at the gym.

Unpacking

When I unpacked all my information I tried to organize everything as neatly as possible. I put similar quotes from everyone I interviewed together in a nice orderly line. From there, I sorted out the most directly related to my sub-theme closest to me and the ones least related (in orange) away from me. From here I was able to see a patterns arise.

Lots of info

Major insights

After unpacking here are some major insights I noticed;

1. All three of the people interviewed thought that exercise was more enjoyable when you had something else to do, or it had an objective. Since they walked everyday, and doing the same thing everyday gets old, they enjoyed exploring nature, or playing a game on their phone to make exercising more enjoyable. If a game could be incorporated into the exercise, it would be of great benefit.
2. My Japanese Teacher thinks that walking isn’t doing enough for her health everyday. This means that if I was somehow able to make walking more difficult or physically taxing, it would get her heart rate up.
3. My JSA friend says that she would exercise more if more casual group exercises were available. There are many clubs on campus, but even the intramural become competitive. And finding a team can be difficult. There should be a way to easily access more group activities.
4. My Design teacher said he is afraid to ride his bike because he feels small and unnoticed. Perhaps if there was away to make bikes stand out more, or have safety capabilities.
5. My Japanese teacher says that she sometimes likes to run during the warm days, but hates to run in the cold. I personally wold like a way to run outside all year round in Minnesota. There is a product behind this issue.
6. My JSA friend says that going to gyms and public exercise spaces are scary because of the germs on the equipment. Sanitary wipes can only go so far. Perhaps many other people feel this way as well. This should be remedied.
7. I noticed that people who commute go to the gym more. Yet people who walk and bike go less. In my interviews as well, everyone seemed to only care about doing exercises they had time for. Again, “Exercise Threshold=Time available”
8. In all three people I talked to, they all, at times, seemed to care less about actually being healthy, that feeling healthy. As long as they felt they were doing something to improve their health, they were happy. It didn’t matter if walking only 1 mile a day did anything for their body.
9. My Japanese teacher was the only person to mention nutrition in addition to exercise. It seems that some people realize the importance of moving your body physically, but not the foods that fuel it. She tries to achieve maximum use of her walks by eating power foods. Maybe there is a way to improve exercise methods in ways other than fancy equipment?
10. None of the people I interviewed mentioned anything about a home gym. It seems that they are less interested in home convenience and more concerned with getting motivation to to the exercise in the first place. \

My Japanese Teacher needs a way to get more of a workout out of her daily walk because her blood pressure isn’t increasing, and she doesn’t have time to exercise elsewhere.

My Design teacher needs a safe way to get to class faster, that also allows him to get a workout as he navigates through traffic in the inner city.

My JSA friend needs a way to bring a social aspect into her daily work-outs so she is motivated to continue her regimine, and so she can have fun.

Market Survey

In thinking of a product that has made walking into a game, the first thing that came to mind was Pokemon Go. It took the world by storm because nothing like it has existed before. It was a great idea that took an amount of time that millions of people can multitask during, and turned it into a game.

You know what this is

The next step, would be to create a game or a similar function, that can bring vested interest to a seemingly menial and painful task. Similar to how my Japanese teacher receives discounts for walking with her pedometer. Lets push it further!