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Creating healthier habits for Stanford students.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
One day, I walked into a communal bathroom in a Stanford dorm and saw this:
In a communal bathroom, residents on the floor checked when they showered for the day.
Challenge
Why don't Stanford students shower?
Opportunity
We can reduce friction if they had a seamless way to improve habits.
Duration
10 weeks time constraint
Team:
Me & 2 Software Developers
Role
User Interface Design
User Research
‍User Experience Design
Responsibilities
UX Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, User Testing
Tools
Process Overview
1
Research
Habit
Shame & Influence
People
2
Ideation
Mindmap
Final Idea
3
Prototyping
Sketches
Iterations
Design System
4
Final Design
Final Prototype
5
Conclusion
Final Testing
Next Steps
Reflection
RESEARCH
Understanding Habits
Habits are intrinsically motivated, taking self determination and self drive.
How people keep track of habits
RESEARCH
Understanding Influence
Conform to Social Norms: When people expect their behavior to be made public, they become much more likely to abide by existing social norms.
Gerber, Green, and Larimer 2008
8.1%
Voter Increase
Social Proofing: We copy other people’s behavior.
Milgram, Bickman, and Berkowitz 1968
RESEARCH
Understanding People
Interviewed 3 Stanford engineering students
“Candace, I didn’t shower for 3 days”
“I had no time to and nobodies gonna know”
and 2 students who used the “Spreading Shower Awareness” board
“I wasn’t going to do, but everyone else in the hallway did so I did too”
“They can’t catch me lacking”
Key Insight: Students are busy and have priorities beyond their control, where they are willing to sacrifice showering. It’s easy if nobody will know, however, they care about what others see. They don’t like to be embarrassed. They want to know about what happens in their friends’ lives - simply, they’re nosy!
I noticed there was a tension between prioritizing habits and public awareness around showers.
This makes me wonder... is there a way to use social influence to improve habits?
How might we lean on strong ties and motivate students to improve their daily habits?
IDEATION
Mindmap
I thought about the things that work well -  how do we take a personal thing and make it public in a healthy way?



My team and I wanted a system that combined social interaction with habit tracking.

Fascinated by BeReal, we knew we wanted notifications, prompts, and wanted to lean on BeReal’s concept of daily live photos.
Idea: Habit tracking with close friends through phototaking with features like blurring posts before habit completion, having a countdown, and doing habit prompts
PROTOTYPING
Prototyping (piggyback) with Instagram
def. designing new social computing systems on top of existing ones
What we learned: Incentive and exposure need to be stronger. A simple story post and reminder isn’t enough.
PROTOTYPING
Sketch Prototyping (low-fidelity)
Users will have 24 hours to complete their habit.

How? Post a picture to their prompt before the end of the day
Complete their habit? Can see friends’ progress with habits and commenting
Skipped habit for the day? Profile made visible to friends, letting them know the habit was skipped
PROTOTYPING
Feedback on Mid-fidelity Features
TESTING INSIGHT 01
Lack of urgency on main page

Users wanted to open their app and feel alarmed, they felt like having just the prompts felt “sterile”
CHANGE
Added symbols of urgency and colors to initial screen

Added a countdown timer to remind them how much time there was left

Now users don’t have to rely on their phone times and can have an active timer
TESTING INSIGHT 02
Cared a lot about how streaks are motivating, didn’t like needing to click profile to see it

‍Users compared their streak to Snapchat, where, even though it had no meaning, it felt like a goal in itself
CHANGE
Put streaks on the main home page

Now, users can open their app and immediately see their streak rather than having to have an extra tap to see it
And a name change...
Users said it was intense...
PROTOTYPING
Design System
Because the design was developed by my team, I provided them easy and consistent colors, spacing, and text for them to follow, including REM measurements for added mobile flexibility. The contrasting blue and orange align with principles of contrast and allow for noticeable visual distinctions between elements to ensure accessibility and readibility with text and backgrounds. It also draws attention to the interface, creating urgency in habit completion.
FINAL DESIGN
Introducing Trabit
ONBOARDING
Trabit users will onboard and choose from a list of habits they will be able to customize. They can create their communities through Trabit’s friend search feature, confirm privacy standards regarding photo taking, and learn rules and norms.
BEFORE COMPLETING HABIT
Users are immediately welcomed with a prompt, countdown, and call-to-action to complete habits, building urgency to maintain streaks. Prompts encourage varied habit perspectives.

“Today’s Habits Complete”: This feed shows friends’ completed habits. Users must finish their habit to view friends’ posts, which are blurred until completion.

“Yesterday’s Report”: Displays incomplete habits publicly on friends’ lists, promoting accountability.
COMPLETING HABIT
Completing the Habit: Users track their habit by taking a photo of themselves engaging with it through a daily prompt. Photo-based tracking offers glimpses into users' lives without compromising privacy. Real-time photos add accountability and encourage daily engagement.

Habit Timer: Users have 24 hours (starting at midnight PST) to complete the prompt. At the day's end, they’re marked complete or incomplete, and the feed resets with new prompts. This cycle creates a sense of urgency to stay on track.
AFTER COMPLETING HABIT
After posting, users can interact through likes and comments, gaining social validation from peers. Visible like counts add social proof, encouraging unique and engaging posts. Friends’ habits and prompts are also displayed to foster accountability and help users track each other’s progress.
CONCLUSION
Trabit Launch to Testing Group
We tested the developed app with a friend group of 5 and 6:
Did you track your habit more?
100% said yes
Social pressure, streak number, seeing others’ posts, avoiding shame and scrutiny
“The idea of my friends seeing that I didn't shower sounded really embarrassing”
“Trabit felt less imposing than other habit accountability devices”
Did you build stronger relationships?
95% said yes
Liking & commenting features, supportive atmosphere, unconventional connections, good conversation topics
CONCLUSION
Next Steps
🌎 Time Zone Compatibility: Users could be anywhere around the world to complete habits and engage with their friends
WHY    Testing user on East Coast struggled to complete his habits on time, as the timer was based in PST.
👉 Social Engagement Features: Allow users to “nudge” friends, post affirmations, comment, and reply to friend posts, creating a more interactive community.
WHY    This allows supportive communities to send each other personalized reminders, increasing urgency by relying on strong ties friends to keep each  other accountable.
😳 Stronger Shaming Factors: Increase visibility of people who did not complete habit by visual design changes, notification systems, adding reactions from friends
WHY    Users felt like a simple picture didn’t feel like enough. They wished there were notifications letting them know to embarrass friends and wished to see what they skipped.
🎨 Accommodating Unique Habits: Users create their own habits, AI prompts, multiple habit tracking
WHY    Not everyone wants to track daily habits and the habits listed. This accommodates users’ personal goals, timelines, and needs.
⭐ Goal Setting: Allow users to set numeric goals or personal logs and descriptions for each picture. Streaks and existing features can update goals.
WHY    Users felt that there was no end to the app, so having goals is an additional incentive to look forward to, especially if able to do multiple habits.
CONCLUSION
Team Reflection: Grow as you go 🌱
My Team
☁️ Team work...dream work: Despite being “in charge” of design, we all had our visions of how people would engage with the product. I didn’t make design decisions alone, and there was a lot of joy going to the drawing board and seeing our product unfold together.
🔑 However, it wasn’t perfect: With two developers, we had conflict on allocating the amount of work to where it was manageable for everyone. Working at a tight timeline, a final due date, while needing to prepare for exams, we needed to have conversations on what needed to be done at the capacity that allowed.
‍
1. Communication is key [and EVERYWHERE]
2. Emphasizing not to associate people’s work with people’s character -> empathy extends to both users and teammates
🗣️ Design Language -> Developer Language: While flows made sense to me, as this was my first time having my design developed by others, my team asked me for clarification on many ideas.
‍
Be detailed, specific, and ready to explain from layouts to buttons, and everything in between.
Sources
Duhigg, C. (2014). The Power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. New York: Random House.
GERBER AS, GREEN DP, LARIMER CW. Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Exp
Milgram, Stanley, Leonard Bickman, and Lawrence Berkowitz. "Note on the drawing power of crowds of different size." Journal of personality and social psychology 13.2 (1969): 79.eriment. American Political Science Review. 2008;102(1):33-48. doi:10.1017/S000305540808009X
ready to chat when you are ⋆｡°✩
cjcang@stanford.edu