The a.wear project was a team-based deliverable for the Health & Wealth Innovation Studio at Politecnico di Milano. The core mandate was to select a target user group, conduct in-depth investigation to identify specific issues, and develop a personalized product that adapts to their needs and provides access to bespoke solutions.
MY ROLE
My primary role in this collaborative effort was to fully own and deliver the UX/UI design of the mobile application, in addition to contributing significantly to the overall service ideation.
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We chose teenagers aged 13 to 15 as our target user group. This phase of life is characterized by rapid and challenging First Changes (e.g., menarche, hormone shifts) and New Discoveries (e.g., intense social media and smartphone use).
Our intensive research highlighted that a major concern for this demographic is how they perceive their bodies and the resulting impact on their self-esteem. This often leads to body image dissatisfaction and discomfort with natural bodily functions and changes.
Based on these fundamental insights, the central design challenge was framed as:
How may we help young people feel less pressured with body image issues?
The project's vision was to promote Uniqueness and Self-Acceptance (Vision: A Story about Uniqueness) by enabling teenagers to feel more comfortable with the physiological changes they experience.
To solve this, we moved beyond just a product and defined a customized service strategy to help teenagers:
- Understand and love their body better.
- Focus on self-improvement through physical activity and regular feedback.
This set the stage for designing a smart wearable App that translates biometric data into actionable, supportive life suggestions.
Strategic Goal: Self-Improvement Over Competition
The a.wear solution centers on fostering self-improvement and self-acceptance rather than competitive achievement. By removing the pressure of comparison, our goal is to encourage teenagers to understand and love their changing bodies through a gentle, personalized guidance system. This philosophy dictated the entire system structure.
To deliver on this principle, a.wear was conceived as a Product-Service System (PSS) that translates physical change into actionable, positive digital feedback. The system structure connects three core elements:
1. SMART GARMENTS (PRODUCT)
The a.wear collection is a line of shame-eliminating and taboo-free undergarments designed primarily for COMFORT, while integrating essential smart sensing technology.
- Design Focus: The collection features Neuter Gender cuts to help teenagers feel more at ease and encourage the exploration of their personal style, regardless of gender norms.
- Core Functionality: The garments are designed to absorb sweat and leaks, reduce odor, and include specific features for period discomfort relief.
- Sensor Technology: A set of sensors is embedded into each garment element to monitor key biometrics: perspiration (sweat), pulse, and body temperature.
- Add-On Vibrator: The system includes optional detachable vibrator clips to provide localized relief for menstrual cramps, integrating physical relief with digital control.
2. a.wear App (SERVICE HUB)
System Core & Data Translation:
The App functions as the central brain of the entire PSS. It processes multimodal data from sensors and user inputs (e.g., mood, cycle) with complex contextual logic. The primary design objective is to transform abstract, anxiety-inducing physiological data into personalized, positive, and actionable guidance. The UX/UI execution within the App is the sole vehicle for delivering the "self-acceptance" design philosophy and the non-competitive feedback mechanism.
3. BRAND & COMMUNITY (STRATEGY)
Holistic Branding & Marketing Strategy:
This element defines the aesthetics, cultural voice, and public presence of the entire PSS. It encompasses Logo Design, Typeface (Comfortaa Bold), Color Palette, and Packaging, ensuring visual and tonal consistency across all physical and digital touchpoints. This strategy also includes a Social Media Marketing Campaign designed to eliminate shame and taboos, creating an open community and extending the brand's non-judgmental spirit into the public sphere. This holistic approach ensures the emotional goal is consistently communicated.
With the system context established, this section details my contribution as the App designer, emphasizing creative interaction and high-fidelity UI execution, which are essential for a discerning young audience.
Challenge: Translating Data into Empathy
To avoid the anxiety caused by typical health tracking metrics, the App was designed to employ two distinct communication modes: an immediate alert system for crises, and a non-didactic prompt system for daily life.
Solution: A Dual-Mode Contextual Feedback System
My solution was to design a Dual-Mode Contextual Feedback System capable of switching its interaction strategy based on the urgency of the data and the user's context (immediate alert vs. long-term guidance).
A. IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION: THE WATER ALERT
Purpose:
To handle critical physiological data detected by the sensors.
UI Highlight: Conversational Command
To instantly trigger a behavioral change using a conversational, low-friction notification (e.g., the "Water Alert"), ensuring high user compliance. This high-impact mode is reserved for emergency intervention.
B. LONG-TERM GUIDANCE: THE DRIFTING CLOUD PROMPTS
Purpose:
To provide long-term, sustained advice based on user history and trends.
UI Highlight: Non-Compulsory Interaction
Data from sensors and user history are translated into targeted, personalized long-term advice, presented as questions within drifting cloud elements. This is a non-didactic, casual approach: the clouds float across the screen, and if the user misses them, the prompt is simply gone.
Value Summary
By designing these two distinct interaction modes, I demonstrate the ability to flexibly apply different UX strategies and UI languages based on the contextual demands of the data, thereby achieving both the functional and emotional goals of the a.wear brand.
Challenge: Cultivating Joy and Expressiveness
The aesthetic and emotional challenge was to design a health tracking application that is not only functional but also visually expressive and genuinely fun for a teen audience. We needed to translate the brand’s empathetic philosophy into novel, non-standard UI elements that define the app's visual signature and encourage habitual use.
Solution: Expressive & Playful Visual Language
My design centered on utilizing gamified elements and expressive UI metaphors to establish a positive user relationship immediately upon launch.
A. INTERACTIVE PROFILE SETUP (AVATAR & NICKNAME)
Purpose:
To eliminate friction and pressure during registration, encouraging users to perceive data input as self-expression.
UI Highlight: Gamified Identity Creation
The dynamic process shown in the GIF (Avatar selection, nickname creation, and age selection) leverages playful typography (e.g., Comfortaa Bold, as seen in the brand identity) and lively animation to convert profile setup into a fun self-discovery segment.
B. APPLICATION OF NOVEL INTERACTION METAPHORS
Purpose:
To establish non-traditional UI as the App's visual signature, boosting user retention and enjoyment.
UI Highlight: Expressive Interaction
This expressive style sets the aesthetic standard for the App. This is exemplified by the "drifting cloud interaction" mechanism shown in Section 3.1, which serves as a compelling, non-compulsory metaphor that reinforces the brand's low-pressure philosophy.
Value Summary
By designing these two distinct interaction modes, I demonstrate the ability to flexibly apply different UX strategies and UI languages based on the contextual demands of the data, thereby achieving both the functional and emotional goals of the a.wear brand.
Challenge: Designing for Privacy and Comfort
The collection and management of sensitive physiological data (such as menstrual cycle information and body settings) requires extreme caution within the App. The challenge is two-fold:
- Emotional Barrier: How to guide teenagers to input private data without causing anxiety or shame, and how to eliminate the taboos associated with this information.
- UX Clarity: How to design an intuitive, clear interface that allows users to confidently manage and control proprietary hardware (like the cramp-relief vibrator).
Solution: A Safe and Controllable Environment
My solution was to design an environment that is safe, non-judgmental, and user-controllable, addressing both emotional and functional friction points by focusing on visual trust and functional autonomy.
A. SENSITIVE DATA INPUT: CYCLE TRACKING
Purpose:
To avoid text boxes and complex forms. We employ visual, intuitive date selectors to make data input feel like a simple configuration process rather than a tedious survey.
UI Highlight: Visual Safety & Clarity
This expressive style sets the aesthetic standard for the App. This is exemplified by the "drifting cloud interaction" mechanism shown in Section 3.1, which serves as a compelling, non-compulsory metaphor that reinforces the brand's low-pressure philosophy.
B. HARDWARE FUNCTION MANAGEMENT: VIBRATOR CONTROL
Purpose:
To translate the complex functionality of the hardware into easy-to-operate UI elements (e.g., using sliders to adjust intensity).
UI Highlight: Autonomy & Immediacy
The interface focuses on providing simple, immediate control options, allowing users to select different vibration patterns, intensity, and duration.
Value Summary: Building Trust through UI
This meticulous attention to empathetic design for sensitive information and proprietary features showcases a deep understanding of user privacy and emotional health. By ensuring every configuration step is comfortable and controllable, the App successfully builds trust with teenage users, which is essential for long-term retention in the sensitive health space.
This final section summarizes the project’s impact and details key learnings, demonstrating critical thinking and an ability to contextualize design decisions within a broader strategic framework.
The a.wear project successfully translated a sensitive emotional problem (teen body image pressure) into a functional and empathetic digital solution.
Core Objective Achieved:
The App’s Dual-Mode Feedback System (Immediate Alerts vs. Casual Cloud Prompts) achieved the core goal of delivering health guidance that is actionable, non-compulsory, and non-judgmental.
Trust and Compliance:
By prioritizing empathetic UI design in sensitive areas (like the cycle tracker and hardware control), we successfully lowered the emotional barrier for users to input private data, ensuring high compliance and building foundational trust.
Value of UI Innovation:
The project proved that expressive, gamified UI (Avatar setup, novel interaction metaphors) is a powerful tool for driving retention and establishing a unique, positive brand identity for a young audience.
UX STRATEGY
I learned the critical importance of designing a low-friction pathway in health-sensitive spaces. Avoiding traditional "didactic" UI (charts and metrics) in favor of conversational and metaphor-based feedback was essential to aligning function with the brand’s emotional goals.
CROSS-HARDWARE UX
The main challenge was seamlessly integrating the App UX with the physical vibrator hardware. This experience highlighted the need for simple, immediate control interfaces that prioritize user autonomy (on-demand relief) over complex setting menus.
TIME CONSTRAINT
Due to the academic timeline, the biggest constraint was the lack of iterative user testing with the target age group. Had time allowed, I would have tested the emotional impact of the different alert tones and prompt phrasing to fine-tune the empathy level.
If the a.wear project were to proceed to the next stage of development, the focus would shift from initial design to technical depth integration and community support to achieve a more insightful personalized experience.
1. Advanced Physiological Model Construction (Local AI)
We would prioritize leveraging on-device machine learning (Local AI) techniques to build a precise, real-time user physiological model from aggregated sensor data.
- Goal: To upgrade the App from delivering immediate, reactive alerts to providing sophisticated predictive health advice and personalized growth trajectories.
- Value: By processing this data locally on the device, we ensure maximum user privacy while offering more accurate and targeted health recommendations, further strengthening the self-improvement philosophy.
2. Community Network Integration
Further integration of local community support features would extend the App's online guidance to a real-world mutual aid network.
- Goal: To allow users (under strict privacy protocols) to connect with local peers or support groups, enhancing the mutual aid experience.
3. Parental/Guardian Access Controls
Developing a transparent, opt-in feature for guardians to access the App.
- Goal: To provide non-intrusive, essential health insights while strictly maintaining the teenager’s privacy and autonomy, ensuring the App remains the teenager's autonomous tool.