Before this class, I had never really considered how design principles could shape user behavior. I did not realize that something as subtle as the placement of an icon, the tone of a notification, or the visual hues of a platform could meaningfully influence what someone does in their daily life. I had always assumed that if someone wanted to change a habit, they simply had to decide to change it and persevere in adopting new habits. Through this class, I learned that behavior is deeply shaped by a person’s environment, their social context, and the design of the tools they interact with every day. This has fundamentally changed how I approach building products. As an aspiring product manager, I now think about design decisions with a much greater sense of responsibility and intentionality than I did before.
One thing this class sparked in me that I did not anticipate was thinking more carefully about who we are designing for. Different users come to a product with different mental models, needs, and levels of comfort with technology. Going through our design process made me reflect on how the same interface can feel intuitive to one person and overwhelming to another, depending on their age, background, or familiarity with digital tools. Before this class, I would have defaulted to designing for people similar to me, assuming that adding a few accessibility features at the end would make a product work for everyone. Now I understand that designing for diverse users is not something addressed at the end. It needs to be embedded throughout the entire process, from research and synthesis to ideation, prototyping, and evaluation.
Personally, what I enjoyed most about this class was the opportunity to build something entirely from scratch. We worked through the various stages of product development, from user research to a high-fidelity prototype, that I am genuinely proud of. What made the experience especially rewarding was how intentional every decision had to be. Using AI tools during development freed up time that we could redirect toward the choices that mattered most, such as selecting typography, understanding the emotional impact of color, and ensuring the app felt focused and calm rather than cluttered. This level of deliberate design thinking was new to me and it pushed me to become a much more thoughtful builder.
What I found most challenging was balancing speed with thoughtfulness. During prototyping, we often had to make decisions quickly, sometimes before we fully understood what users actually needed. I felt this most when we were designing the nudging flow. We had strong assumptions about what would feel supportive versus intrusive but usability testing showed that it was not that simple. Some users felt the nudging screen had too much information which made it harder to act quickly when the goal was to keep things easy and low effort. At the same time, other users wanted more pop-ups and reminders, expecting the app to be more present in their day instead of something they had to check themselves. This revealed a tension between keeping the app simple and making sure it stayed visible enough to be helpful. We had not anticipated this tradeoff and it pushed us to revisit our user flows and ask more focused questions. This deepened my appreciation for the tools that help prevent that: I will absolutely carry user research synthesis and wireflowing into future projects because there is something clarifying about mapping a user’s journey before moving onto visual design. Our early wireflows prevented us from developing the wrong product without the right user flows.
Our project, Nudgi, was extremely meaningful to me and that is a big reason why I enjoyed this class so much. The scope of what we were trying to accomplish felt real and urgent from the moment I joined the team. Nudgi is built on the idea that habit building does not have to be a solo effort. Instead of relying only on personal motivation, it brings friends into the process. They can nudge you when you need a push, support you when you follow through, and check in when life gets in the way. This felt personal because I genuinely believe in the problem we set out to solve. I have tried many habit apps and stopped using most of them because they treat motivation as something entirely internal. Nudgi reframes it as something that exists between people, in moments of care and accountability. That idea resonated deeply with me and made me excited to think through each design decision.
This project also connected in unexpected ways to my work at Stanford. In my research work, I often think about how clinical tools shape patient behavior and how design decisions in health interfaces carry real consequences. Working on Nudgi gave me a more grounded language for thinking about this, rooted in human centered design principles rather than just system architecture. It helped me move beyond abstract ideas and see how small design choices can directly influence real-world decisions and outcomes. During our intervention study, I noticed that the framing of a nudge, including its emotional tone, significantly influenced how users responded. That observation felt directly relevant to how I think about patient-facing health technology.
There are also things I wish had gone differently. I joined the team at the end of Week 3 which meant I missed some of the early discussions that shaped the project’s direction and I wish I could have been a part of that. On the ethical side, I’ve spent some time thinking about the difference between nudging and manipulation. Nudgi relies on social prompts from friends which introduces a form of pressure by design. It works because it is consensual. Users opt in, choose their network, and control what they share. However, I can imagine a version of this app that would optimize for engagement instead of wellbeing where it learns which types of pressure drive more interaction and prioritizes those. The safeguard against it is a clear product philosophy that treats reduced notification fatigue and easy opt-out as indicators of success rather than disengagement. For our implementation, privacy felt more manageable because data is shared only within a user’s chosen circle. This risk would emerge if the app expanded beyond that or used user data for other purposes.
The last thing I want to reflect on is my team because this experience would not have been the same without them. I joined late after the group had already established a working rhythm. While I felt very connected to the project idea, I was initially unsure how I would fit into the dynamic. That uncertainty faded quickly. My ideas were taken seriously and my contributions meaningfully shaped the product’s direction. What I appreciated most was how collaborative the process felt. We spent time discussing and refining design decisions, iterating on flows and details in a way that consistently pushed the product forward. I am really glad I had the chance to work with this group. This experience made it clear to me that the people you build with shape not just the final product, but how meaningful the process feels overall!
