MiLife is a web based health management service that uses ground-breaking psychological and computational theories to achieve effective weight loss.
The system relies on a wrist-worn personal activity monitor (PAM) to measure and record every movement a user makes, 24 hours a day.
In 2007 GRO was commisioned to ensure this crucial element was acceptable, comfortable and belieavable.
The focus market for this service is men aged 40 to 50 - who are concerned about their health & fitness, and women aged 30 to 40 - who want to get back into shape after having children.
Working closely with the Unilever team, a wide spectrum of design concepts were developed for user testing. For reliable feedback the concepts were made as models, in the correct materials, so they could be worn during the tests. The tests revealed the product should be as neutral, dark and discrete as possible.
The chosen concept was inspired by the simplicity of charity bands.
Its features a double layer body and strap. The dark outer layer provides strength and protection, while the soft, comfortable inner layer is made from an anti-alegenic polymer for extended use.
The touch-sensitive metal ring is a subtle, decorative element. When tapped, data is wirelessly transfered to your PC for uploading to the web service.
Although the product transmits its data wirelessly, and is meant to be worn 24/7, it still needs periodic charging. We developed a charger that was both cost effective and proudly presents the PAM to the user.
GRO worked closely with an external engineering group to prepare the PAM and charger for production. A close collaboration between designer and engineer is essential to minimise compromise in the final product.
The MiLife product and service was succesfully realeased to the market in 2008.
