The focus section of my newspaper is based on increasing motivation through creativity and interactivity. I looked at many different articles, some related to diabetes and some a little more different. I learned the basics of diabetes and diabetes treatments through both a interview as well as secondary research. I also learned about design considerations for at home care, and how motivation is necessary in actively maintaining a condition well. I learned about some of the issues with current motivators and about the pros of using gamification as a possible method of increasing motivation. An article from the Harvard Business Review states gamification is effective because it makes us feel “autonomous”, “competent”, and “relatedness” (Camilleri & Neelim, 2024).
This product, the Pill-i-saur, uses gamification to help create a motivating experience in the patients management of care. The dino acts as a pill box for the patient. Every day the patient get the medication they need from the dino. When done doing so, they receive bonuses and xp on their virtual dino! The patient can fully customize their little friend, making the experience their own. Through this virtual world, they can play games and interact with other patients who may be managing similar or different conditions. Overall, this product seeks to improve motivation for keeping up with diabetes through a fun and interactive method, creating memories and relationships.
After talking with colleagues, here was some quetsions related to this product:
- How do you refill the dino?
- Why does it have to poop out the pills?
- Is it made of a soft material or hard material?
- Does it need to be charged to work?
- How does the app know that you have infact taken the pills? Could I just keep taking out the pills to get infinite xp?
All of this feedback gave me some very interesting things to consider when designing in the future.
Sources
Camilleri, A. R., & Neelim, A. (2024, March 28). How gamification can boost employee engagement. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2024/03/how-gamification-can-boost-employee-engagement
