An engaging feature to boost the sense of Wellx community
Wellx is an insurtech platform ecosystem focused on prevention, wellness, physical and mental wellbeing and digital healthcare interventions. Their vision is making wellness fun and insurance hassle-free.
Having already introduced gamification to incentivise long-lasting habit formation and driving healthy lifestyles, Wellx wants a new mobile app feature to enhance the feeling of community among its members, while playing a role in health education.
My role:
UX UI Designer (User Research, Affinity Mapping, Key Insights, Competitor Analysis, Customer Personas, User Flows, Wireframes, Prototyping, Client Presentation)
Tools used:
Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Rev.ai, Figma, FigJam, pen and paper, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Firefly, Canva
Timeframe:
Feb 2024 (2 week sprint)
The background
An introduction to Wellx
Wellx is a Dubai based insurtech platform ecosystem focused on prevention, wellness, physical and mental wellbeing and digital healthcare interventions. Through partnerships with insurers and employers, Wellx brings embedded behavioural science and gamification directly to the consumer, incentivising long-lasting sustainable habit formation and driving healthy lifestyles for its users.
Wellx is on a mission to create healthier, happier and more resilient communities, and their vision is to make wellness fun and insurance hassle-free.
Uncovering the client's vision
The design brief
Design a community feature for the Wellx app to enhance the sense of a Wellx Community, while also playing a role in health education. Members should find the experience seamless, educational, engaging, and the feature focus should be on dependability rather than virality.
Who will benefit from Wellx?
Defining our target users
Wellx’s intended audience are 20-65 year olds, with either employer-paid or individual health insurance. Mid-senior level employees, expats with dependents, who by signing-up to the app, using features and engaging in challenges and activities with Wellx, would start building healthy habits, improve their wellbeing, and lead healthier lives.
Why does it matter?
Key figures
🏣 The total number of people covered by health insurance in the UK – both individual and workplace policies – increased by 7% to 5.8 million in 2022, the highest number since 2008
👨🏻💻 A record 4.4 million people had health insurance through their employer in 2023, up by 8% from the previous year, and 1 million claims were made over the course of the year
📜 With a healthcare expenditure around £239 billion in 2023, the Government has enhanced its focus on the need to support people to stay healthy and at work, and health insurance is becoming a vital part of this conversation
*Source: Association of British Insurers
Gathering insights from our user research
A new discovery journey
We asked ourselves… what is a community? so we started the exploration with an initial concept map.
STAKEHOLDER MEETING
We then had an initial Zoom meeting with the stakeholder to get a better understanding of some elements of the brief.
Key takeaways
Just like one of its UK competitors, Vitality, Wellx wishes to incentivise good behaviour and healthy habits, so that people ultimately lead healthier lives and rely less on medical interventions
At the moment the app offers team challenges for employees to engage in and win rewards
Wellx wants the new community feature to include a health education element alongside challenges, so our focus should be on dependability, not virality.
SCREENER SURVEY
Goal: Explore the definition of a community and some online particularities
Respondents: 53 people
Distribution: LinkedIn connections, clients, work colleagues, design student community at Experience Haus, WhatsApp groups, friends
What did we ask about?
People’s own definition of a community
Apps and platforms where they engage with online communities
Frequency of interaction with these community platforms
Main reasons why they engage with their online communities
KEY SURVEY FINDINGS
The top 2 reasons people engage with their communities are to stay updated and for learning and education purposes
More than half of respondents (52.9%) engage with their online communities daily, some of which several times a day or even hourly
Based on number of mentions, most popular online platforms used for their community element were Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, Zoom, Reddit, Slack, Twitter, YouTube.
USER INTERVIEWS
Research goal: Gain a deeper understanding of why people might join virtual community, explore preferences, needs, behaviours and challenges related to online health & wellbeing communities
Respondents: 10 people, identified through the screener survey
What topics did we cover?
Personal goals and motivations for joining a community
Examining the role of technology in building communities
Identifying factors that might help an online community thrive
Assessing the impact of a community on wellbeing
TOP INSIGHTS FROM MY INTERVIEWS
Community = connection, diversity, friendship, inspiration
People join a virtual community to get a sense of belonging, to get support, share and socialise with others, and for learning and education purposes
In order to thrive, a community needs to feel authentic, have engaged members, provide value, offer a safe, trustworthy space where members can share experiences, find support and friendship
MAPPING THE COMPETITION
Looking at the digital landscape for both direct and indirect competitors, I found a whole range of apps to draw inspiration from, some focused on corporate health and wellbeing, some with an health and fitness incentive element, and some with a strong social and community focus. Out of all these, I included the top 6 in a competitive analysis matrix.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM THE COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Strava and Komoot stand out in fitness, health, and wellbeing support, with Strava excelling in performance tracking and Komoot promoting outdoor activities. Both apps are also great sources of information, with user-generated content being a key component.
Wellable and Woliba offer a comprehensive approach to fitness and wellness, with strong personalisation and user engagement features. Both apps provide wellness education as part of their holistic health solutions.
Unmind focuses on mental health and is a standout app for knowledge and information on wellbeing, but lacks physical fitness features.
Vitality Insurance is unique for its incentive-based system that encourages physical activity and offers moderate health education, but it’s primarily focused on rewards and physical health.
From a user experience perspective, apps like Strava and Komoot offer deeper community engagement for fitness lovers and outdoor enthusiasts, while Wellable and Woliba focus on balancing wellbeing and corporate wellness. Unmind leads in mental health resources and knowledge, whereas Vitality Insurance drives long-term engagement through its rewards system.
Humanising the discovery process
Archetypes and user personas
The family-oriented midlife executive
AMELIA, 45, Head of Marketing
An established marketing professional working as the head of the department for language school in Central London. Amelia is married and a mother of three, lives in Surrey and commutes into London for work.
She has a busy schedule every day and lots of responsibilities in her role. Lately she’s been struggling to keep her concentration levels up, sleep and mood aren’t too great, so she believes it’s all pre-menopause related. She’d like to join a female health and wellbeing community to get information and support about improving her symptoms.
Uses apps like IG and FB to post about family moments, WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends or parent groups
Reads online articles about health and wellbeing
Joins virtual communities for a sense of belonging, knowledge and peer support
The fun-seeking young professional
MAYA, 26, Administrative Assistant
A young professional based in North London. Single, owns a cat, and lives with her best friend in a 2 bedroom flat in Camden. Originally from Birmingham, she moved to London after graduating university.
She’s very sociable but has fewer friends in London than back home. Occasionally she feels lonely and wants to keep up to date with her old mates’ lives, so she uses platforms like WhatsApp groups to stay connected. She’s also into wellness and keeping fit, so she often uses Instagram to follow trends and to get information on her topics of interest.
Enjoys using Instagram to post about her life in London and travel adventures
Watches IG stories and TikTok to keep herself entertained
Joins online platforms either for work, or to avoid feeling lonely or bored
What do our users need to achieve?
Jobs to be done
After defining the user personas, I uncovered a lot of similarities between our users in terms of the jobs they’re trying to accomplish when joining online health and wellbeing communities. This is why the focus slightly shifted on the most common four job stories for the Wellx users:
🫶🏼 When I want to feel supported on my health and wellbeing journey, I want to join an online community so I can get reliable information, connect with engaged members, and have a safe space to ask questions and share experiences.
🧘🏻♀️ When I want to educate myself about health and wellbeing I’d like to access a reputable online platform so I can learn from the best experts and get answers to my questions quickly and easily
🫂 When I find myself feeling lonely, I want to join a friendly, wellbeing-centric community, so I can socialise, engage with likeminded people, and feel a true sense of belonging.
🚴🏻♀️ When I want to engage in physical activities more to boost my fitness levels, I wish to connect with a fun fitness and wellbeing community, so I join group activities that make me feel more accountable and motivated to stay active.
How can we help users get these jobs done?
‘How might we’ statements
Before proceeding to the Develop phase of the Double Diamond process and beginning ideation, I also considered the most relevant "How Might We" questions that would allow me to reframe the user research insights into opportunity areas.
How might we make the platform reputable and trustworthy for health and wellbeing information and advice?
How might we create an engaged online community?
How might we enable users to show support to each other?
How might we be able to motivate users to join a health and wellbeing platform and engage in activities?
What challenges are the users facing?
Defining the problem
Female professionals in their midlife are often juggling busy schedules, family responsibilities and demanding jobs, while struggling with menopausal and premenopausal symptoms that are impacting on the quality of their personal and work lives. They would like to look after themselves better, but don’t always know where to get the best information and advice from, and occasionally lack motivation too.
Wellx needs to provide a reputable health and wellbeing platform, with reliable sources of information and a supportive community, that offers both expert advice and a friendly safe space to share experiences, to help users navigate their challenges much easier.
Developing solutions for our user app
The new Wellx community feature
High level concept:
Wellx Community would offer its users access to reliable health and wellbeing information by featuring top industry experts and exclusive resources created by them, as well as the opportunity to engage with the community by joining challenges and contributing to the social feed, to keep motivated and inspired by other members.
CREATIVE IDEATION
Solution 1: Offer health and wellbeing non-competitive challenges, and reward users upon completion with wellx coins
Solution 2: Allow users to share images in a challenge feed, engage with each other’s content, and get inspiration from it
Solution 3: Feature top experts for different health and wellbeing areas and enable them to share resources with members
BRANDING CONSIDERATIONS
Based on the client brief of designing a feature that enhances the sense of a wellx Community, provides a seamless and engaging experience for the user, while also playing a role in health education, I chose the following branding elements:
Tone of voice: professional and informative, yet supportive and friendly
Visuals: health and wellbeing-related imagery; bright, airy, vibrant and fun photography, that grabs attention and sparks motivation to explore the community, give challenges a try, and contribute to the healthy social feed.
Typography: I chose the Biryani font family, a sans-serif font, characterized by clean lines and the absence of decorative elements at the ends of strokes. Biryani features a modern, geometric design that's both clean and versatile. The font offers multiple weights and a range of styles from light to bold, so it felt like a great choice for a modern and friendly brand.
Colour palette: From the initial brand palette provided by the client, I chose to use a mix of purple and magenta, which according to colour psychology are a bit more playful, engaging, and would naturally speak to our target audience. Additionally, the pastel background was used in order to add softness, as it symbolises gentleness and kindness.
THE USER APP WITH NEW COMMUNITY FEATURES
Summarising our contribution
How did we help the Wellx users?
TOP EXPERTS: wellx Community would become the go to place for learning and education in terms of health and wellbeing, as specialists would be sharing their knowledge and offer free resources around 5 main topics: Nutrition, Fitness, Mindfulness, Sleep and Self Control.
CHALLENGES WITH A SOCIAL ELEMENT: Users will be able to select and join non-competitive challenges based on their interests, and support each other in the process
HEALTHY FEED: Users would be able to share images from their own daily goals & challenges, so that they inspire each other to complete challenges or to take up new ones
Now, next, later
Our recommendations for Wellx
What needs to be done now?
More user testing to refine the new product feature and incorporate feedback
What comes next?
Select top specialists to feature on the platform
Create a smooth onboarding process for the experts
For the future
Consider including a forum feature
Include a section for health and wellbeing events, from webinars and online classes to conferences and
Takeaways from this project
Key reflections
I enjoyed working as part of a team for the Discovery part of the project, then using the insights for the Define, Develop and Deliver phases as a solo product designer to come up with my own solution for the Wellx challenge.
I was really inspired by the research I have done for this project - the User Interviews and in-depth Competitor Analysis proved to be really eye opening in terms of possibilities for a new community feature. Understanding what people value and what direct and indirect competitors offer their users in terms of UX was very helpful in the whole learning process.
Murat Bayral - Figma and UI Design Instructor at Experience Haus:
“I had the pleasure of teaching Andreea during a 12-week product design course focused on Figma. Andreea impressed me with her ability to ask insightful questions, particularly in research, and her willingness to redo work to deepen her understanding. She consistently sought feedback, showing a strong commitment to learning and growth.
Andreea's dedication was evident through her hard work and readiness to step outside her comfort zone, especially across the 3 real-life projects we worked on in a short period of time. Her proactive approach and openness to challenge herself were truly impressive. I highly recommend Andreea for any role in UX/UI design. Her skills and dedication will undoubtedly make her a valuable asset to any team.”
Cristina Grimoldi - UX UI Designer & colleague at Experience Haus:
“While working alongside Andreea on the Wellx and LawSeek-O projects, she consistently demonstrated a deep passion for UX, design thinking, and problem-solving, making significant contributions that were instrumental to our success.
Andreea showed a strong interest in UX research, ensuring that our design decisions were always grounded in user needs and data-driven insights. Her thorough approach to user testing and feedback collection allowed us to iterate quickly and effectively, leading to a more refined and user-friendly final product. Andreea also excels at keeping lines of communication open and transparent. Her active listening skills and thoughtful feedback have consistently contributed to a more cohesive and effective team dynamic.”