Commit2Fit
A set of cards and a companion app that leverage the power of habit stacking and community accountability to help adults adhere to their at-home physical therapy plans.
Project Context
Project Type: 4-Person Group Project (UW HCDE)
Duration: Fall 2025 — 10 Weeks
Our team
Our team combined expertise in UX, research, industrial design, and engineering. We worked collaboratively across all phases of the design process, contributing to and supporting each other’s work from start to finish.
Raquel Eisele
Molly Dicke
Liz Overbeek
Hayley Stout
TL;DR
Long story short
Problem
Over 50 million adults in the U.S. go to physical therapy each year, and only about 30-50% adhere to their at-home exercise routines, leading to reduced recovery outcomes.
Solution
Commit2Fit leverages the power of habit stacking and community accountability through a set of cards and companion app.
Impact
By improving consistency and motivation outside the clinic, Commit2Fit will enhance adherence to at-home physical therapy plans and ultimately support faster, more effective recovery.
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The long story
THE PROBLEM
1
Going to PT ≠ Improvement
Adults experiencing physical limitations often turn to physical therapists to help them improve their physical capabilities. However, many patients have difficulties transitioning from their first appointment with a physical therapist to experiencing the improvement that they seek.
2
Recovery can be Lonely
It its not often that someone with an injury in need of rehabilitation has connections with others going through the same experiences at the same time. This can lead to frustration and uncertainty in the way they are progressing.
3
Changing Routine is Hard
For many, the issue is finding the motivation to get started and to continue doing their exercises consistently. There are no PT-specific resources to assist in reducing the mental load of implementing the exercises into an existing routine.
DESIGN QUESTION
How might we help adults effectively complete at home therapy routines to achieve their desired outcomes?
RESEARCH METHODS
With two weeks for UX research, our team conducted semi-structured interviews with 2 physical therapists and 3 former physical therapy patients, a 29-respondent survey, secondary research, and affinity mapping.
Research Findings
By connecting the findings below, we aimed to lessen the resistance of working exercises into routines and make the path to reaching goals easier.
Motivation
It is clear that lack of motivation is a common thread throughout those in Physical Therapy who have Home Exercise Plans assigned to them.
Solution:
Implement habit stacking & community accountability to assist with motivation
Goals
Setting and working towards goals and clear exercise expectations were mentioned many times as being a motivating factor.
Solution:
Encourage the setting & tracking of milestones and progress towards personal goals
How & Why
Knowing how to do their assigned exercises and why they are doing each specific movement is motivating because they know how it makes a difference.
Solution:
Include directions for how to complete exercises presented via multiple modalities
Ideation
As a group we held a quick brainstorming session where we challenged ourselves to sketch solutions that could address our research findings and goals.
From those initial sketches, we were able to identify 10 key themes across the 29 ideas.
After reviewing our goals for this solution, we decided to focus on the following product directions:
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A card that could educate and connect to existing technology.
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An alarm clock that could alert the patient in their environment.
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A light that could connect communities of patients.
User Archetypes
"Goal Motivated"
Core Needs:
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Need a goal to work towards, and a process to do so (tracking, taking notes, etc.)
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Success to them is seeing a metric improve or increase.
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It is important to them to be able to measure their progress and see improvement
Behaviors:
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Always thinking of the “big picture” or end results to work towards in their lives.
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Breaking down larger goals into smaller, attainable steps.
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Struggles with fitting all of their goals into their day
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Has a smartwatch and loves music as a form of motivation
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Is willing to follow a plan or treatment that will ultimately help them in their efforts to reach their goals.
"Community Seeker"
Core Needs:
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Wants more fun and silliness in their exercise
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To return to full health so that they can exercise with their friends again
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Needs a connection and trust with their PT in order to be motivated to keep going back
Behaviors:
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Chooses group activities over solo, such as group exercise classes, hikes with friends, etc.
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Is more likely to stick to meaningful habits or activities if they are in community
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Gravitates towards group therapy or apps to help them motivate themselves
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May stop going to physical therapy if they don’t trust their therapist or don’t feel they are being listened to
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Struggles with self-motivation, and needs external support to get started
Use Cases
Although we pivoted away from this initial concept, we gained many valuable insights from exploring these use cases. All features demonstrated ended up reappearing in our final product.
View the gallery and read about each of the following scenarios and the goals achieved.
User Flow 1
Set up habit stacking on companion app.
User Flow 2
User is guided through planning their exercises based on social connectivity.
Prototypes
Information Architecture
Style Guide
Color Palette
Color Name
Hex Code (digital)
CMYK (for print)
Color Variations
Color Coordinated Cards
Each accent color and its variations is associated with a different main muscle group targeted by the exercise.
Legs
Back
Arms
Chest
Abdominals
DESIGN SOLUTION
A set of cards and a companion app that leverage the power of habit stacking and community accountability to help adults adhere to their at-home physical therapy plans.
Key Features
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Habit stacking guidance
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Online PT community
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Exercise education
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Goal-focused tracking
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Tech-free guidance options
ADAPTING EXERCISES INTO EXISTING ROUTINES
Habit stacking is a method to create new habits by linking them to existing ones. Patients are more likely to complete their exercises if they are reminded in a time of transition between activities or before/during/after an existing habit such as brushing their teeth, coming home from work, or brewing their morning coffee.
With this feature, patients have fewer barriers in introducing new exercises into their existing routine.
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Opt-in notifications
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Completely customizable by:
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Exercise(s)
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Time-based OR Location-based
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Repetition
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Early reminder
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BUILDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH ONLINE COMMUNITY
Personalized, community-driven support groups that connect people navigating similar physical therapy journeys - motivating them though shared accountability, friendly competition, and encouragement to complete their exercises more consistently. Patients can opt in to these features.
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PT Focused Group Participation
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Daily Buddy Challenges
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Daily Leaderboard
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Community Encouragement Feed
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Progress & Goal Sharing
INCREASING CONFIDENCE THROUGH EDUCATION
Simple, instructive physical and digital exercise cards designed for PT patients, delivered in small, manageable sets to serve as effective reminders. When paired with the companion app videos, the system builds confidence, clarifies purpose, and reinforces that exercises are achievable and meaningful.
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Incremental distribution of cards by PT to prevent overwhelm and guide progression
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Form improvement tips
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QR code on card opens digital version in app
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Step-by-Step written, video, and audio guidance
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Frequency and duration guidance
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Muscle group color coding for immediate focus
HELPING MOTIVATE THROUGH PRIORITIZING PERSONAL GOALS
Personalized, community-driven support groups that connect people navigating similar physical therapy journeys - motivating them though shared accountability, friendly competition, and encouragement to complete their exercises more consistently.
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Optional PT Focused Group Participation
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Daily Buddy Challenges
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Daily Leaderboard
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Community Encouragement Feed
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Optional Progress & Goal Sharing
HELPING MOTIVATE THROUGH PRIORITIZING PERSONAL GOALS
Having a personal goal outside of your Physical Therapy achievements can help with motivation because it is valuable to the individual patient. Recovery progress can be linked to an activity they previously enjoyed that they want to be able to partake in again.
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Lifetime Statistics Tracked
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Progress bar shown around goal icon and adjusts daily
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Goals can be adjusted at any time
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Milestones can break down long term goals into achievable short-term targets
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Seeing friend's goals adds interest and a level of humanity to recovery
