Studying means a lot of sitting, little movement and possible health consequences. Catharina Oeltjebruns wanted to counteract this and developed iYoou, a service design that aims to motivate people to move more during their studies. The HAWK Master's student has already won an award at the iF Design Student Award with her augmented reality app.
Developing a sports routine and getting enough exercise in everyday life is not always easy. This is precisely why it is all the more important to actively incorporate sport into life as early as possible. The iYoou app is designed to give students a playful approach to exercise. iYoou is a kind of Tamagotchi whose appearance depends on the user's exercise behavior. The more you move, the better the animated avatar feels, it grows and changes. It also withers away if you move too little. The app works with augmented reality elements that can only be interacted with through movement. iYoou is also only visible if you at least stand up, and physical activity is required for further interactions with the avatar.
The student already had the idea for the project for her Bachelor's thesis and has now been able to develop it further with new insights into user experience research and design as part of her Master's degree in Interaction Design at HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen. Winning an iF Design Student Award out of 7000 applicants confirms that Catharina Oeltjebruns is on the right path to working successfully as a UX designer.
You can find out more about Catharina Oeltjebruns' work on her website. There are also always new projects by students in our "Mensa" section.
Text: Paula Schneewind
