Design implications for the design of mobile apps used in dance practices
Scientific Challenges - 2022
This is an individual research project which I have done during (part of) my minor to gain experience in doing scientific research.
‘’Using mobile apps before, during and after sport practices becomes nowadays more common. However, not all apps on the market are easy to use and match with its users needs and wishes.’’
The observations above I have done myself during sport practices. These were also confirmed by people near me. This became the starting point for a research with the following question: ‘’What are the design implications for an app, used by choreographers and dancers in dance practices, to accomplish user engagement?’’ I choose to set for the dancing sport, because I have experience with dance. I also know quite some others doing the sport who might be able to help me with this research. I wanted to investigate which design implications would needed to be integrated in app design, to get high user engagement.
My research started with executing literature research. I researched the definition of ‘’engagement’’ and learned how this is presented within both app-usage and dancing. As a conclusion, I found various components which are important for indicating the presence of engagement.
Next, I took a look at apps currently at the market. I choose 5 of them for research. Those were chosen while keeping the following three requirements in mind: 1. The app should be downloadable for Android, because I don’t own an IOS smartphone. 2. The apps should not overlay in functionality. 3. From the apps left, the most downloaded were chosen (min. 10.000)
The chosen apps were reviewed according to the components found during the literature study. I looked if the components were presented within the apps. I also took a look at the reviews of the apps. This gave a picture of the long time usage of the apps.
Thirdly, I have taken interviews with both dancers and choreographers. I asked if they made use of apps during dance practices and why (not). I was also curious which apps were being used and if they liked these apps.
In the end I was able to set up a list of 7 design implications. When these implications are implicated during the design of a new app, user engagement should rise in comparison to the current apps. With every implication I made an example of the user interface. Some implications are: 1. Functionality is well worked out and matching with the goals of the user. 4. Give users the option to personalize the app. 6. Adaption for impaired users should be integrated rightly
The complete research can be found in the research paper I have written. This can be found, clicking the button below.