Rethinking smoking cessation
Empowering smokers to quit & improving the effectiveness of an attempt to quit
The Brief
As part of my final year studies at Brunel and for my major project I was determined to investigate the smoking behaviours and to subsequently design a solution that was user-centred. This project took me through the entire design process from discovery to defining the user pain points and barriers. This culminated with the design and development of both physical and digital outcomes.
Project Summary
Smokers trying to quit often fall short of their goal. The aim of the project was to thoroughly investigate the smoking problem by using principles of contextual, strategic and experiential human factors in design to provide a human centred solution to empower smokers to quit and improve the successfulness of a given quit attempt.
My Impact
As this was a university project there were no business objectives to meet. However I was keen to keep the project grounded and feasible. In order to do this, usability testing was a crucial part of the process.
From carrying out usability testing I was able to improve the system usability score and single ease questions scores
SEQ - 6.52/7 < 6.93/7
SUS - 36.6/40 < 39.6/40
Takeaways
I am passionate about the global issue of smoking prevalence and have come to believe that e-cigarette usage is not the answer.
Within an academic background I was able to hold myself accountable to a high level. User research questions had to be vetted before I could conduct interviews. This meant I was much more intentional about asking certain questions and bettered my critical thinking skills as a result.
This was also an excellent introduction into the world of behavioural economics and designing for behaviour change. I read a great deal on the topic including Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstien.