How to Create Habit-Forming Products that Promote Wellness

Designing for good.

Habits are a superpower. When they are set well, they can become like default settings in our lives, enabling us to be healthy and happy effortlessly.

As designers, what are the design principles we should stick to in order to help users put good behaviour on autopilot? Let’s check it out!

1. Help users from “consciously choose habits” to “default good habits”

A 2016 research shows that people check their phones, on average, 47 times a day, often in response to alerts, which disrupt their work and personal lives. To address this issue, iOS focus modes filter only the relevant notifications for users. For example, when the phone detects that the user is travelling to work, the work mode turns on, which will hide social media messages until the user returns home.

As designers, we can also create defaults that serve users’ wellness needs best.

2. From “prompt changes anytime” to “encourage changes after a fresh start”