The SVSU Health & Wellness App brings together fitness resources, reminders, and gamified progress tracking in one mobile hub. Partnering with the Kinesiology Department, I led research, wireframing, prototyping, and usability tests to deliver a student-centric experience that makes building healthy habits simple and fun.

Company: Saginaw Valley State University ⦿ Role: UI/UX Designer

 Tools: Figma/Adobe Photoshop/Indesign ⦿ Deliverables: Working Prototype and Booklet

Phase 1

Research Discovery & Strategy

Phase 2

Concept Development & Low-Fidelity Prototyping

Phase 3

Design Foundations & Visual Identity

Phase 4

High-Fidelity Wireframes & Second User-Testing

Phase 5

Final Delivery &  Conclusion 

Client Interview

"The Department of Kinesiology is looking to create an app to help get their student engaged in learning to teach and be more hands-on. Gena Guerin came in to speak on this and how she felt doing an app would encourage students to get more active on campus. She believes this will benefit her students with real world experiences before going into future professions. She would like for the app to include strength, cardio, and flexibility. She will have students creating videos of various workouts, stretches, or cardio activities. These videos then will be displayed in some manner so other SVSU students can use them to follow along to. Guerin discussed also including things like badges to show accomplishments so it makes people want to continue using the app and working out and giving feedback for her students. She also suggested reminders to be set for people to be reminded when to do stretches or workouts and it will be linked to the videos. Guerin idea would be a great idea for all people of the SVSU to keep their Health and Wellness in check all while supporting students learning experiences."
— Gena Guerin, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology

Research

Interview: SVSU nursing program student

What motivates you to workout?

I feel having a buddy who keeps me on track and asks me to work out and we keep each other accountable.

Do you ever struggle to find workouts online?

Sometimes. I tend to stick to the basics I know and will see some on TikTok I might try out if I think it looks interesting.

Do you enjoy workout apps? If so, what key features do you look for in these apps?

I enjoy my watch tracking my workout, it helps remind me what workouts I did and when.

Do you think a fitness health and wellness app would be beneficial to the students?

I think it would be nice to see something different and it’s a good thing to bring the school together more.

What would you like to see in this app?

I feel showing stuff in the Ryder Center is important because I know alot of people struggle with not wanting to try new machines out of fear for not knowing how to so including workouts for their would be helpful.

Target Markets

• Primary (85%): SVSU students (ages 18–24) creating & following peer-made workout videos.

• Secondary (13%): Faculty & staff (ages 30–70) wanting straightforward reminders and program summaries.

• Tertiary (2%): External fitness enthusiasts curious about the SVSU experience.

Concept

Rationale: The purpose of this app is to help the Kinesiology students of Saginaw Valley State University to get experience in their field along with encouraging members of Saginaw Valley State University to become more active. This app is to help bring the community together and make sure everyone has more resources to help their health and wellness.

Information Architecture

The flowchart to the right shows the way that the sections on the home with go. It shows what each category will do whether it is a workout, stretching or reminders to do either one. Making sure the layout is user-friendly and allows each switches to keep the user engage is the key.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Using my initial sketches as a foundation, I will utilize the Figma program to create a detailed and interactive working prototype mock-up. This process is essential for ensuring that the design is both user-friendly and functional, meeting the needs and expectations of its intended users. Starting with low-fidelity sketches allows me to map out the basic structure and flow of the design. Gradually transitioning from low-fidelity to high-fidelity prototypes will help refine the details and enhance the visual appeal, ensuring the final product provides a seamless user experience. Conducting usability tests is a critical step in this process.

Usability Testing

I conducted a moderated usability test with a college student at Saginaw Valley State University. During the session, I asked her five task-based questions while she navigated the low-fidelity prototype to evaluate its clarity and ease of use.

The five questions asked to do were:

-Locate how to get to a shoulder press workout video

-Locate doing a full body yoga workout

-Go to goals and get to your badges

-Return to the home page

-Go to reminders and find your past reminders

The feedback:

-Was able to navigate to all questions above in under a minute

-Home button needs to be on pages consistent

-Back button in case of mistakes instead of returning home all together

App Icon

This app icon includes all the important things for the SVSU health and wellness app. Starting off with the SVSU logo and branding to keep it consistent with the rest of the university along with it being classified that this is the health and wellness app like other SVSU apps are. The simple two toned background makes it calm with the very slight wave to it. Lastly, the two people which is a very commonly used kinesiology symbol to help stay on base with the rest of the branding. The SVSU Health and Wellness app will use the three primary colors being the SVSU butterscotch, Cardinal Red, and royal blue. Along with this, you can find various lighter shades with these colors as secondary. Along with that, the secondary colors used will be jet black, and also gray will be in use. Together, these colors will make unity by keeping SVSU brand standards will making it visually appealing to the user.

Color Palette

The SVSU Health and Wellness app will use the three primary colors being the SVSU butterscotch, Cardinal Red, and royal blue. Along with this, you can find various lighter shades with these colors as secondary. Along with that, the secondary colors used will be jet black, and also gray will be in use. Together, these colors will make unity by keeping SVSU brand standards will making it visually appealing to the user.

The Font

The font chosen for the health and wellness app is Gantari. It is a sans serif font created by designed by Anugrah Pasau from Lafontype. It is primarily found as a google font. It is licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), which allows you to use, modify, and distribute the font for both personal and commercial projects. Making it a great fit for this project. The geometric side of it gives it the edgy side to work well for a wellness page, along with being a sans serif like most apps are on phones. It has a basic struture, making it to be easily read and keep the page simple with the information to the viewer.

Usability Testing

Task 1: Locate how to get to a shoulder press workout video

Most users successfully navigated to the workout section and used the filtering feature to locate the “Shoulder Press” video. The clear organization of the “Workouts” tab into categories (e.g., upper body) helped users narrow down their search quickly. However, one user expressed intial confusion over the small icon used to access the video library.

Issue to Consider: The video links can be touchy on the location that you hit them in.

Task 2: Locate a full-body yoga workout

Users appreciated the clear “Yoga” section under “Stretches.” However, some found the specific path to full-body yoga unclear, relying on trial and error to select the appropriate video. This highlights the need to fix the video formats to the correct ones.

Task 3: Go to Awards and get to your badges

The awards and badges section was well-received, with users finding it easy to locate using the tab navigation at the bottom. The icon for Awards was intuitive, and users liked the visual feedback of unlocked and locked badges. Some noted a minor lag when accessing the section of progress, which could affect user experience if unresolved.

Issue to Consider: Optimize loading time for the badges section to ensure smooth navigation.

Task 4: Return to the home page

Returning to the home page was straightforward for all users, as the home icon on the bottom navigation bar was both prominent and responsive. No issues were reported for this task.

Issue to Consider: Not all home button icons are working

Task 5: Go to reminders and find your past reminders

The “Reminders” feature presented mixed results. While users could easily find the reminders button in the navigation bar the link did not take them anywhere.

Issue to Consider: Finishing the final screen for reminders so the design will work with it.

Final Summary

The app demonstrates strong visual design and intuitive navigation for core tasks like accessing workout videos and badges. Minor improvements to labeling and organization could further streamline usability and reduce cognitive load, particularly for first-time users. These findings will be used to refine the design and enhance user experience in future iterations. These tests will involve real users interacting with the prototype to identify any pain points, areas of confusion, or opportunities for improvement. The feedback collected will guide necessary adjustments, ensuring the app design is intuitive, efficient, and aligns with user requirements. For this project, a student at Macomb Community College. I asked her five questions on navigating through the low-fidelity prototype.

Conclusion

The SVSU Health and Wellness App is built to support student health, well-being, and academic success through features like exercise tracking, mindfulness activities, nutrition guidance, and scheduling tools tailored to Saginaw Valley State University students. Its approachable, user-friendly design encourages consistent use and helps promote a culture of self-care on campus. Moving forward, the app has the potential to positively influence both individual students and the wider SVSU community. By continuing to collect feedback and refine its features, it can grow into a key resource for supporting student wellness in a holistic way.