Initially, our goal was to design a physical product that elderly could use to workout. This way, seniors would have greater accessibility to work out in their homes. However, through research and interviews, we discovered that this solution was not sufficient. The true reason that seniors are not working out at home is not because they are missing a physical product. In fact, there are countless physical solutions on the market already, yet the problem still exists. The barriers to workout result from internal factors which we have highlighted as: Accessibility, Awareness, and Ability.
Existing solutions are not effective because they lack meeting all three criteria. While the SilverSneakers Go app targets Ability by providing on-demand workouts, the lack of accessible gyms and day-to-day tracking fails to address Accessibility and Awareness. On the other hand, the Fitbit focuses on Awareness through day-to-day tracking, but fails to be Accessible through its youth-centered workouts. Thus, there are no existing solutions that properly address the three A’s.
We decided to approach from a different angle and design a solution to target these requirements. Our app prioritizes our concerns for health and safety, user privacy, and understanding each user’s individual experiences. FitNest addresses these concerns and meets user needs by incorporating the following features:
An initial survey to tailor the exercises to the user’s ability
A Help page outlining the functionality of the app
An interactive human body display displaying select muscular groups
Video demonstrations of exercises for specific body parts to help users to gain strength, stretch, and recover
Stats page that records each user’s progress based on phone data
Home Scan page where users can scan household furniture to obtain exercises centered around them
After all, we all know we are going to age. It is an inevitable fact of life – all things must come to an end. However, if we are able to make the aging process more graceful and alleviate the hardships many seniors face, our product can have a real impact on people's lives.