Habit Forming Design:
Habit forming is most effective when there is unpredictable reward [cite], and when the action being performed happens often.
For any action to take place, there must be a trigger. Guaranteed that the user has ample motivation and ability to perform the action. This trigger, in our application, is the desire to improve one’s study, and to inculcate that habit in their daily routines.
This trigger is often short lived, and is induced by another – For example, worried parents counselling their children on the importance of studying hard, or a disappointing test score. To form a consistent habit, our application capitalizes on this trigger to get the User invested in the process.
As soon as they open the app, they’re prompted to set a daily time during which they’ll be prompted to study. Once they set a time, they’re shown a short, aesthetically pleasing carousel describing the importance of their new habit. Believing in the value of an action is what propels us to perform it consistently. After the Student is shown the carousel, they’re prompted to read out the ‘Magic Statement’ (Atomic Habits, Clear, [cite]). This has been shown to have a great impact on habit consistency.
This is the introductory process, designed to be completed in under 120 Seconds – taking into account the short attention spans of current age students.
Students are then welcomed to a minimalist home screen (Hick’s Law, reduce complexity and choices to increase action), with two large Call to Action buttons, giving the Student the choice between Learning something New, and Revising what they’ve read already.
The home screen also features a flashcard of an important concept. Both this, and features in the ‘Revise’ section of the app, leverage Spaced Repetition to boost conceptual retention.
Rewarding an action makes it more likely to happen [cite]. Our perception of an experience is determined by how we felt at its peak, and how we felt when the action concluded. This discounts much of the user experience throughout the rest of the process.
To optimize for this metric, at the end of a study session (A 25-Minute timer with an optionally disabled progress bar, to capitalize on the Zeigarnik Effect (providing a progress bar makes users more likely to complete the rest). Also ref Hooked, Nir Eyal. [Cite]), a user is given a short question sheet on what they’ve studied thus far, they’re given a few flashcards to answer, choice questions, and concepts they covered in their previous study session (Spaced Repetition, again.)
This QnA System often concludes a study session, and to make it more encouraging, all modals and the like are supplemented with pleasant aesthetics, colors, graphics, and encouraging text. Even on failure. The goal is to teach a Student, not make them feel bad. Optimizing for this, we try to make the experience as memorable and enjoyable as possible. Taking the pressure off the Student from worrying about the Score, to working to understand and remember the concept. They can worry about their scores during their exams.