Understanding the opportunity for innovation in bathroom scales
User research exploring people's relationships with self-weighing and understanding how scales might be designed with self-compassion in mind.
Challenge
Research shows that weighing yourself is not actually all about the numbers; psychology, body image, and mental health play a big role as well. In other words, stepping on a scale can be a complicated, emotional experience. While there has been some recent innovation in smart/connected scales, there has not been much change in the way that weight information has been presented; almost every scael on the market communicates using numbers.
Solution
My team delved into market and user research. We surveyed over 200 people to understand their current weighing experiences as well as gather feedback on two conceptual scales. Our research confirmed that weighing oneself is often charged with negative emotions and that people often berate themselves if their weight goes up "just one or two pounds". Feedback on the conceptual scales provides good insight into what data people want and how they want to access it, and how that changes across different populations.
Team
Emily Hays
Process Book
Results
While there was not time to fully develop a new product during this project, the user research gives me and my team confidence that there is demand for a compassionate scale alternative, and that people are open to the idea of a numberless scale. We are considering pursuing funding to prototype and test our concepts.