Incorporating Guidance and Rewards into a Handheld-Device User Experience

Abstract
Frogdesign worked for three years on the development of the StressEraser, a handheld medical device for the consumer market. This product uses biofeedback to encourage deep breathing patterns that reduce stress and promote general health. The goal of this product is to become part of the user’s daily routine. User research demonstrated the need for positive rewards and clear guidance to introduce users to the experience and reinforce regular patterns of behavior. Frogdesign combined insights from exercise equipment and computer games in the development of the overall experience design. In so doing we achieved a novel approach that is a significant departure from the typical interface design for handheld devices, such as cellphones and digital cameras, which provide little guidance in their operation. By contrast, the StressEraser guides the user through a sequence of activities, providing strong encouragement to introduce and support the overall experience.

Keywords Bio Feedback, Concept Design, Experience Strategy, Games, Guided Tour, Handheld Devices and Mobile Computing, Health Care, Health, Industrial Design, Information Architecture Interaction Design, Input, Interdisciplinary Design, Product Design, Prototyping, User-Centered Design / Human-Centered Design, User Experience, User Interface Design, User Research.

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First presented at the conference on Designing for User eXperience, November 3-5, 2005, San Francisco, CA