Cardinal Wellness

A Wellness App for Students, By Students

SVSU’s kinesiology department aimed to inspire students to stay active while giving kinesiology majors real-world experience through workout tutorials. The app serves as a personalized wellness hub, offering guided workouts, exercise reminders, and a campus-wide health-conscious community.

ROLE

UX/UI Designer & Researcher

THE PROBLEM

SVSU needed a way to encourage students to stay active while providing kinesiology majors with hands-on experience in their field.

THE PROCESS I TOOK

DISCOVERY

DEFINE

IDEATE

UI

VALIDATE

DISCOVERY

User Interviews

I conducted in-person interviews with 5 SVSU students to better understand their needs and preferences. These insights highlighted diverse student expectations and informed my design decisions moving forward.

"I would enjoy the ability to set up reminders. Water is essential, and as crazy as it sounds, having a reminder to drink water wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would help people like me who know its importance but still forget to hit their goal amount."

Competitive Analysis

I conducted a competitive analysis of three wellness apps to identify key features, strengths, and gaps in the market. By comparing their UI design, usability, and unique offerings, I gained insights into what resonates with users. This analysis helped me refine my approach, ensuring my design decisions were user-centered and filled market gaps.

DEFINE

Defining the App’s Structure

To create a clear and intuitive user experience, I developed a sitemap outlining the app’s structure and feature organization. Using insights from user research, I prioritized key functionalities that aligned with user needs, such as workout tracking, guided video tutorials, and goal setting. Features like hydration reminders and progress tracking were added based on user feedback, ensuring the app provided both motivation and practical support. This structured approach helped streamline navigation and enhance usability, making the app more engaging and effective for students.

IDEATE

Sketching and Prototyping

I began with rough sketches to outline the app’s structure, then created an interactive prototype in Figma to test functionality and gather user feedback. Through this process, I learned that users found the process of manually adding goal data unclear and weren’t sure how to do it. To address this, I simplified the user flow and added a larger CTA button, making the feature easier to find and use.

UI

Branding

I maintained consistency with SVSU’s official branding by incorporating the SVSU logo and using the university’s established colors of red and blue. This decision ensures visual alignment with the school’s identity, reinforcing trust and recognition among students and faculty.

High Fidelity Screens

I refined the design into high-fidelity screens, following the typography and color guidelines I established to ensure an accessible, clean, and consistent interface. These final designs incorporated user feedback from initial low-fidelity testing, improving clarity and overall usability.

VALIDATE

Usability Testing

Conducting a second usability test on the high-fidelity prototype in Figma allowed us to evaluate the app’s design and functionality in a near-final state. We focused on core user tasks, including:

  • Setting a goal

  • Completing a workout

  • Setting reminders

  • Tracking progress

By observing how users navigated these workflows, we assessed the clarity of navigation, the intuitiveness of key features, and the overall user experience. This iterative process is essential in refining the app, ensuring it meets user needs and provides real value.

Goal Tracking Accessibility Issue

90% Of users struggled to locate the goal-tracking page, expecting it in the home dashboard or a more prominent menu option. This slowed their workflow and caused frustration.

In the next iteration my planned improvements involve:
Increase visibility by adding a dedicated tab in the main navigation.
Clarify labeling by renaming the section for better recognition.
Enhance dashboard integration to display a quick progress preview on the home screen.

MEASURING SUCCESS

The success of this MVP will be evaluated based on user adoption, engagement, and demographics. Key questions include: Is the product being used? How are users interacting with it? Who is using it?

By analyzing these factors, we can identify which features should be refined or expanded. Additionally, this data will help determine whether the app should be marketed beyond SVSU students to the broader Saginaw Valley State University community.

LESSONS LEARNED

This project emphasized the need to balance user needs and client goals for a successful product. Usability testing helped refine navigation, goal-setting, and engagement features, while client discussions ensured alignment with SVSU’s broader objectives.

Key takeaways:

  • User feedback drives iteration, but business goals shape long-term success.

  • A great UX isn’t enough, the product must support both usability and viability.

  • Scalability matters, understanding the target audience helps determine future marketing and expansion.