Wim Hof App Redesign

Helping Wim Hof improve their 20-day Cold Water Challenge experience.

During the Memorisely UX/UI Design immersive online Bootcamp, I worked with a small team of designers from around the world. The first case study was based on improving the Wim Hof mobile app, specifically the 20-day Cold Water Challenge. I collaborated closely with another designer, focusing on solving the challenges for users of the app.

Cold Water Immersion boosts cardiovascular circulation, which supports a healthy heart, a robust immune system, well-balanced mental health, and high energy levels. Since the pandemic, cold water therapy has risen in popularity, and the most significant influencer of this is Wim Hof. Wim has developed his cold water immersion method, and his mobile app encourages those new to cold water immersion to complete a 20-day challenge. In addition, users are invited to pay a monthly or annual subscription to continue their experience during this period.

The Problem

Users don't feel motivated to complete the 20-day cold water. How can we make it more accessible for users to achieve and form a new habit?

The Solution

We focused on re-designing the home screen and settings pages to create an organized, tranquil flow for the user. New users would set reminders easily, track their progress, hence feeling motivated to complete the cold shower challenge.

Usability Review

To better understand the product, we conducted a usability review using FigJam to identify pain points and wow moments in the existing experience.

Business & User frustrations

Primary Frustration

When new users start the challenge, there is no clear direction or path for them to follow which results in confusion and frustration.

Secondary Frustration

When new users start the challenge, there is no overarching cohesiveness. There is video, no matching icons, and long text blocks. This results in the user being overwhelmed and not starting the challenge.

Competitor Benchmarking

With a completed usability review, we moved on to competitor benchmarking to identify business standards in competitor products that could be used to improve the existing experience. Using the metrics of LEMES: Learnability, Efficiency, Memorability, Errors, and Satisfaction; we measured the usability of the Cold Water Therapy App and Headspace to test how easily can users complete a task.

Problem Space

The initial usability review and competitor benchmarking helped us identify the problem space to begin ideation. The app offers no clear structure to guide the user into what the Wim Hof Challenge is, its benefits, and how to start. This problem occurs because there is no clear hierarchy of information. It feels very chaotic because there are too many media types, and the meanings and associations of the symbols are unclear.

Ideation

To avoid following the first idea we conducted a series of ideation techniques. This allowed us to consider an array of solutions. Following ideation we mapped what could be improved or added to the product and what the impact of each idea would be for users and the business.

User Flows

Following Ideation we created user flows of the existing experience and improved the flow based on the idea that would fit with business and user goals.

Rapid Prototyping

Having mapped an improved user flow, we rapidly drew prototypes for a solution. Sketching helped me rapidly iterate on the original idea and visualise a solution without committing too early to high-fidelity screens.

Styles & Components

Before creating the hi-fidelity prototype, we defined the product styles and interactive components in Figma to help us design consistently and quickly.

High Fidelity Prototype

Below is the final version of the prototype that we created. We included interactions and transitions in Figma to match the product's flow.

Usability Testing

To test the prototype we used Maze and gathered feedback following every task.

Test outcomes

After testing the prototype, we found that it was easier for users to find how to begin the challenge. However, based on the heat maps, we noted some users were trying to access the challenge via the circular options at the top of the home screen. Furthermore, some users mentioned that the colour differentiation needed to be starker, as it was difficult to see certain parts of the toggle and information.

Three key learnings

1. The "Start Challenge" option should be accessible at the top of the home screen.

2. Toggles should be bigger and use clear accent colours.

2. Users enjoyed the badge system and found it motivated them to continue.

Next steps

If we create another path to start the challenge and improve the settings pages, users will feel more motivated to start, complete and continue the challenge, enhancing the number of users converting to a paid subscription.