life-time
How might we assist young adults in reducing their screen time and living more fulfilling lives?
To answer our problem statement we designed LifeTime, a mobile app that helps people take back the control of their time and spend it doing thing they truly want to do!
My Contribution
Concept development, UI/UX design, Prototyping
Timeline
Mar ‘25 - Apr ’25 | 4 Weeks
Tools
How might we assist young adults in reducing their screen time and living more fulfilling lives?
To answer our problem statement we designed LifeTime, a mobile app that helps people take back the control of their time and spend it doing thing they truly want to do!
A mobile app that reduces the friction involved in planning and execution of LIfeTime activities
We used persuasion theories from psychology like self affirmation, self awareness combined with various UX design techniques for reducing cognitive load to encourage people to spend more time engaged in LifeTime activities i.e. activities that make life fulfilling, thereby reducing their screen time as a natural side effect.
Our Philosophy
Add, not subtract
Shift the narrative around digital overconsumption from reducing screen time to increasing Life-time.
Focus on what to add to life rather than what to subtract from it.
Add life-time Activities
Users can add their own custom activities using text, voice notes, videos and pictures, or choose from a list that the app suggests.
Think Abstractly
Users are prompted to think abstractly about why they wish to do a certain activity, making their values salient and increasing the likelihood of making it happen. [2,3]
Think Concretely
users are encouraged to add a date, time and an other logistics related to the activity, helping concretely visualize it and thereby increasing the likelihood of making it happen. [2]
Make it Happen
If users have added specific time and day at which they wish to cary out the activity, the app will give subtle reminders through widgets. If they haven't, it will suggest a suitable time based on user's schedule, weather etc.
What should be the onboarding experience?
Onboarding needed to be interactive and quick so we chose to give the user the hands on experience of adding one life-time activity as a starting point.
How might we involve friends without turning it into another social media?
One of the biggest challenge was preventing the app from turning into another social media which could lead to FOMO and comparison. We decided to deliberately limit the social component of the app to people in contacts and prevent creation of influencers.
How might we provide data about user's activity without triggering negative sentiments?
The screen time data in traditional apps often triggered pessimistic sentiments* and was ineffective at reducing the screen time. Inline with our philosophy we decided to show the life-time activity data in the form of a calendar inside a scrapbook. The yearly scrapbook will grow in size as the users participate in more activity.
How might we give subtle reminders for planned activities without using intrusive notifications?
Frequent notifications can feel intrusive and annoying, and are often ineffective at reminding users to get to complete the decided activity. As a solution we decided to creatively use widgets as a form of subtle reminders for planned or unplanned activities.
How should the app feel?
Designing an app to reduce phone usage seemed paradoxical but practical and so we wanted it to not feel digital. Our inspiration for the visual design came from scrapbooking activity.
