Role

UX design intern

Project Info

Internship project

Solo w/ mentor guidance

Duration

June - July 2024

(5 weeks)

Tools Used

Figma

Miro

TL:DR

Imagined and built E2E WatchOS experience in under 5 weeks

The Sonicare toothbrush has a built-in 2-minute timer that promotes optimal brushing duration, but users still struggle to maintain a twice-daily routine. The Sonicare mobile app has failed to address this gap—creating an opportunity for a more consistent prompt via the Apple Watch.

I spearheaded the design of the Sonicare Apple Watch app—a concept with no prior foundation or existing designs. I defined the end-to-end process, created high-fidelity prototypes based on research and behavior-based design, and learned WatchOS. I then presented my vision to senior designers and leadership, successfully conveying its potential impact on users’ brushing habits. I was the first to explore the untapped market of Apple Watch devices for Philips applications, establishing a foundation for future designs and sparking discussions around patenting my concept.

PROBLEM + EXISTING SOLUTION

People are not brushing properly!

The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends brushing twice a day for two minutes, however, the 2023 State of America’s Oral Health and Wellness Report by Delta Dental reveals that 21% of Americans still fail to brush their teeth at least twice a day.

Philip Sonicare offers a range of electric toothbrushes, designed and approved by dental professionals. Most Sonicare brushes come with the Sonicare mobile app—aimed at helping users build and maintain consistent brushing habits by offering personalized insights and guidance, and tips on improving one’s oral healthcare.

Despite these advanced features, Sonicare users continue to struggle with brushing twice daily—a behavior that Philips has been trying to solve for years. This raises the question: what opportunity can I explore to address this challenge?

OPPORTUNITY DEFINITION

Introducing the Apple Watch

I explored the potential of the Apple Watch as a solution to help Sonicare users improve their brushing frequency. With over 900k monthly active users on the Sonicare mobile app (iOS), the opportunity to integrate Apple Watch functionality was compelling.

The Apple Watch’s popularity lies in its seamless integration into daily life and health-tracking capabilities, which aligns with Sonicare's focus on oral health.

Additionally, the Apple Watch serves as a notification center and a quick way to access information, as it is readily available on your wrist.

The biggest opportunity is the Apple Watch’s connected ecosystem. According to a 2023 CounterPoint Research survey, roughly 80% of U.S. iPhone users own an Apple Watch. Thus, our total addressable market would be 720K (80% of 900K) users.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Creating a “How might we” statement

How might we leverage the Apple Watch to help existing Sonicare users build and maintain consistent brushing routines?

BEHAVIOR-BASED DESIGN

Learning from two behavior scientists

I learned behavior-based design by reading Atomic Habits by James Clear and Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg. I highlighted my key takeaways below:

These learnings heavily influenced my design, highlighting how the Apple Watch is an excellent tool for improving habits through its ability to prompt users and serve as a constant reminder.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

Identifying 4 key results from 100+ data points

While analyzing data from the Oral Healthcare business unit, I identified several key metrics that required improvement:

Only 10% of users brush twice daily.
After 7 days, 46% of users stopped using the app and 16% stopped syncing. The median sync interval is once every 67 days.
Peak brushing times are at 7:25 AM and 10:20 PM.

High-level takeaway: Brushing frequency and retention is low. Peak brushing times are insightful for default brushing notifications.

CONSUMER FEEDBACK

Putting user feedback at the forefront

I utilized Philips’ company-wide research tool, Eureka, to gather feedback on the current Sonicare mobile app and what users dislike. Here are the key findings:

Users are dissatisfied with the inability to manually track oral health sessions (i.e., brushing, flossing, tongue cleaning, and mouth rinse).
Users reject the idea of taking their smartphones to the bathroom due to concerns about the wet environment damaging their expensive devices (Apple Watch is waterproof).
Users find it inconvenient to have the app open while brushing to sync data, disrupting tracking oral health progress.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Competitors are putting their Apple Watch apps on the backburner

I analyzed 6 mobile apps with associated watch apps—a variety of dedicated Apple apps, habit-building apps, and oral health apps. I performed a quick walkthrough of each app, noting key features, and evaluating the overall experience.

Key themes I identified:

The majority of Apple Watch versions of these apps had no unique value. Most transferred one or two features from their mobile counterparts with minimal settings.
- Example: The watch app version of Brushout, a dental hygiene companion app, only has 1 feature: a brushing timer.
Notifications proved to be effective in supporting habit formation when paired with the right timing and personalization.
- Example: Apple Health, an app that centralizes and secures health and fitness information, features personalized notifications catered to hitting user-generated goals.
All apps acknowledged success before, during, or after completing an action.
- Example: Atoms, a habit-building app, utilizes animations and haptic feedback when users complete their habit.

AFFINITY MAP

Summarizing research themes

Below is an affinity map used to organize research insights, consolidate ideas, and identify key themes.

FEATURE IDEATION

Prioritizing a list of features to accomplish within 2 weeks

Before designing, I defined MVP features essential to the user experience. Not every feature made it into the final solution (e.g., Guided Brushing due to leadership feedback).

HYPOTHESIS

Sonicare Apple Watch app is not a want, but a need

I hypothesized that the Apple Watch offers a better medium to improve users’ brushing habits, retention, and engagement. By leveraging the Apple Watch, we could:

Drive behavior change by anchoring the Apple Watch as a way to engage users in their oral healthcare routine. Since wearing it is already a habit, it can serve as a reminder to reinforce oral health habits.
Encourage habit maintenance without overwhelming users by offering personalized notifications and celebrating success.
Streamline syncing; the watch also acts as an additional touchpoint if users don’t bring their phone into the bathroom.
Address customer feedback by allowing manual tracking with the planned Dental Diary feature.

USER FLOW

Maintaining a minimal user flow

I fleshed out user paths intending to minimize interactions and showcase prioritized features. The following flow highlights the few streamlined paths users can take to accomplish their tasks.

LOW-FIDELITY

2 hours of rapid sketching

I sketched the features on the small screen, which helped me ideate and test the user flow. This allowed me to communicate my vision to stakeholders early and assess the feasibility of features. After reviewing my low-fidelity sketches, my team was impressed and confident with the direction I was headed.

MEDIUM-FIDELITY

Throwing everything into Figma

I transitioned my design to medium fidelity by refining my low-fidelity sketches in Figma, creating a more organized visual layout. At this stage, I experimented with how much I could fit on the limited real estate and followed WatchOS guidelines. I was checking in with my manager every day and implementing her feedback.

ITERATIONS

Adapting based on feedback

I created two versions of the Sonicare Watch app:

Version 1: Included the mobile app’s guided brushing experience, as requested by product management.

Version 2 (Solution): Omitted guided brushing, which leadership preferred as users may become overly reliant on direction to brush and the guided brushing experience will be included on the screen of the upcoming new brush model.

Fleshing out both ideas made it easier to assess which solution might be more effective.

SOLUTION

Transforming oral care from your wrist

NEXT STEPS

If I had more time, what would I do?

While I had to start another project, here’s how I would’ve continued with the Sonicare Watch App:

Iterate and test
- I would refine the user flow, make UI updates (i.e., streaks visual), and conduct user testing to see how users respond to being prompted by their Apple Watch.
Design system additions
- Collaborate with the design system team to add my components and explore rounded icons (versus geometric ones) for a more modern feel.
Cross-functional discussion
- While I had more cross-functional meetings later in my internship, this project was largely isolated due to its conceptual nature. Future discussions with PMs, UX researchers, copywriters, and developers would be needed to address business needs and engineering costs

REFLECTION

What I learned from interning in a big company

My 4-month internship at Philips flew by, and I’m grateful to have worked on projects with significant consumer impact. I had the unique opportunity to join during a period of major change; despite the unpredictability, I had fun tackling diverse challenges and made a tangible impact in a new space.

Here are my learnings:

Define priorities!
- Setting daily goals for features I prioritized kept me motivated, allowing me to finish a week early.
Be confident!
- I gained confidence by leading design critiques, giving feedback to others, and most importantly owning my own product.
Celebrate your achievements!
- In 5 weeks, I designed a high-fidelity E2E solution to an unsolved problem, while learning behavior-based design and WatchOS. I presented to senior designers, product managers, and leadership, and there was even a discussion of patenting my work on the Apple Watch.