In today’s fast-paced world, maintaining good habits and achieving personal goals can be challenging. Atom, a habit-tracking application developed by Drexel University’s User Experience and Interaction Design (UXID) students, aims to leverage social connections to help users stay on track with their habits and goals.
The Challenge: Making Lifestyle Changes Stick
Changing aspects of one’s life can be incredibly difficult, especially when done alone. Managing the small habits that contribute to larger lifestyle changes requires significant effort, and self-accountability is often a major hurdle. Atom seeks to address these challenges by creating a community-focused platform for habit tracking and goal achievement.
Key Features
- Goal and habit management
- Group goals for accountability
- Social connections with friends and team members
- Micro-habit tracking for larger goals
The Development Process
Over six months, the Atom team went through four main phases: initial research, application flow design, user testing, and final development. This comprehensive approach led to valuable insights and a functional finished product.
Research-Driven Design
The team’s research highlighted three key principles for effective habit tracking:
- Consistent reminders and repetition
- Breaking goals into micro-habits
- Leveraging group pressure for engagement
Iterative Design and Testing
The team conducted multiple rounds of user testing, starting with paper prototypes and progressing to interactive Figma prototypes. This iterative process helped refine the user flow and address initial confusion between goals and habits.
Technology Stack
Atom was developed using React for the front-end and Firebase for the back-end, focusing on creating reusable and adjustable components for streamlined development.
While the team faced challenges and couldn’t implement all desired features due to time constraints, Atom successfully delivers a usable web app that fulfills its core concept. The project not only resulted in a functional product but also provided invaluable lessons in project management, team communication, and the complexities of app development.