PARKTIV – a mobile exergaming app as a supporting motivator for movement in parks for children, Part I: Ui/Ux Design and Development

Aim and Research Question(s)

The aim of this thesis was to describe the design and development of the user interface and user experience for the mobile exergaming application for children, named “Parktiv”. This was conducted within the framework of a User-Centered Design process and with a target group of 5 – 8-year-old children.

Background

The fact that there are many barriers for families with children to go outside and move when living in an urban area, and the fact that Austrian adults as well as children do not exercise enough (Bauer et al., 2020), provide evidence for the need for a solution. Due to the rising usage of mobile devices within the population including children (Angrainy Sianturi et al., 2019; O’Dea, 2020), a digital and playful solution like Parktiv could be a way to go.

Methods

The methodical structure of the user-centered design process was conducted in several steps. It was started with a literature and market research, resulted in the definition and structuring of user requirements and a structured design and prototyping phase.The first user evaluation was performed with parents to assess the created wireframes in a Think Aloud setting. The second workshop focussed on usability testing of the click prototype with both children and parents. This final evaluation was conducted in a park in Vienna and focussed on observation of use and follow-up questions. At the end of the design process, considerations about the technical architecture were made.

Results and Discussion

The collected input of the first user evaluation was processed and then implemented or considered for later implementation. The notes taken during the observation of use identified problem areas like struggle with button tapping, accidental skipping of screens and too long intro screen-flows. The click prototype reached a score of 93% within the SUS usability questionaire anwsered by the parents, which inidacates a good usability also compared to similar applications. The created questions for the children answered on a smileyometer scale score an average per child of 4.83 points on a scale of 1-5 for overall usability and of 4.5 for handling the phone during exercising. Also, the observations showed that handling the application was possible for the target group. Overall, the outcomes suggest a good usability of the application related to the target group.

Conclusion

The evaluation results overall indicate a good usability of the click prototype of the mobile exergaming application Parktiv. The next steps for this project would be, to contact stakeholders and ensure financing to be able to develop a fully functional prototype of Parktiv.

References

Angrainy Sianturi, R., Sylvia Simanjuntak, I., Marten Simanjuntak, P., & Purba, G. (2019) https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1175/1/012094; Bauer, R., Dorner, E. T., & Felder-Puig, R. (2020). Österreichische Bewegungsempfehlungen.; O’Dea, S. (2020, April 20). Austria: Number of smartphone users 2018-2024. Statista.