A project working in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and Westfield Health to help women in midlife stay active.

The Advanced Wellbeing Research centre saw a need following a previous research study to create a mobile application that would aid women mid life maintain a health lifestyle. Strength and conditioning exercises are crucial for maintaining good health, especially as we age. However, many women in midlife may not have access to the necessary resources or knowledge to perform these exercises effectively. This project aims to address this gap by providing a user-friendly proof of concept that guides women through strength and conditioning workouts tailored to their individual needs. Through a co-design approach, we designed, developed and validated the viability of the application.

The AWRC faces a critical challenge following the completion of user research phases. While armed with valuable insights, there exists a pressing need for technical expertise to transform this research into a tangible product.

The goal is to design and build this product within a constrained timeframe of 12 weeks. This problem statement underscores the urgency for technical collaboration and implementation to bridge the gap between research findings and the actualisation of a functional solution.

Razor's ability in co-design and service design allowed us to take the requirements and align stakeholders on the objective and scope needed to make this possible in 12 weeks. To achieve this, Razor conducted a series of workshops to define the customer journey, identify risks, and engineer a solution for early-stage validation. The project scope involved digitally profiling a user and tailoring a 12-week training program that included a mix of content such as workouts and articles.

Based on feedback, accountability played a significant role for the group, and REYT leveraged push notifications sent on a frequent basis to remind users of the scheduled activities or articles for the day. Throughout the training program, participants were prompted to check in and provide metrics for their day, which were shared with them via a dashboard and also with the researchers to demonstrate the product's value and inform future features.

Meanwhile, Razor began building the mobile application using a cross-platform approach, simultaneously developing for both iOS and Android in a single codebase to expedite the process. During the build phase, Razor collaborated with the AWRC technical team to host and deploy the service using Azure, and the final application was made available on the iOS and Android app stores.

This collaboration highlights the power of combining academic research with cutting-edge software to make a meaningful difference in people's lives. By leveraging the expertise of our collaborators in health and wellbeing, we delivered a project we are confident will yield impressive results.