IF - THEN
Year
2024
Project Type
App Design (Mobile) | University Project
Skills
Research | Product Definition & Design | UX UI Design
IF-THEN is a mobile app designed to help students overcome procrastination using Implementation Intentions, a proven psychological method that turns goals into concrete action plans. This case study showcases my journey from academic research to product design, illustrating how I transformed behavioral science insights into an intuitive digital solution that empowers students to build better study habits.
The Problem
Procrastination is more than poor time management - it’s emotional self-defense.
Between 80–95% of college students procrastinate, often spending over a third of their daily activities avoiding tasks they intended to complete. It’s not just about distraction - procrastination is the intentional delay of actions despite knowing the negative consequences. This behavior affects academic performance, increases stress, and undermines self-confidence.
According to mood-repair theory, procrastination functions as a short-term emotional regulation strategy: people postpone tasks to avoid the negative emotions associated with them - like anxiety, self-doubt, or overwhelm - even if this results in longer-term harm.
While many digital tools focus on scheduling and time-blocking, they rarely address these emotional triggers head-on - the core reason why students don’t act, even when they have a plan.
The Goal
Help students follow through on their intentions - by planning how to respond to obstacles.
The aim of this project was to design a digital solution that targets the emotional roots of procrastination using a scientifically supported method: implementation intentions.
The product would support students in identifying their procrastination triggers and forming specific “if-then” action plans to respond to them - helping them build habits of action through self-guided, pre-emptive decision-making.
Success was defined not by productivity alone, but by creating a system that felt emotionally supportive, flexible, and practical enough to use in daily academic life.
The Method
A science-backed approach to overcoming procrastination
This project is grounded in the concept of implementation intentions - a behavioral method developed by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer. These are simple, structured plans that link a triggering situation to a specific response in order to reach a goal:
“If I feel the urge to smoke → Then I’ll take a 5-minute walk and drink a glass of water instead.”
Research shows this method helps:
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Automate reactions to procrastination triggers
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Simplify in-the-moment decision-making
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Strengthen follow-through by turning vague goals into clear actions
User Research
How students actually use the method with the goal of combatting procrastination
A week-long diary study with six university students explored how they used implementation intentions to manage procrastination. While prior literature demonstrated the method's effectiveness, there was limited documentation of how people actually implement it daily, particularly for managing procrastination.
Key findings:
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Behavior-based plans worked better than task-based ones
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Students followed a consistent planning process, but needed room for personalization
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The method was most effective during unstructured time
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Easy access and visibility were essential
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Reminders helped, but had to avoid guilt-inducing effects
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Positive reinforcement increased engagement
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The process deepened students’ self-awareness around procrastination patterns
These findings directly shaped the product’s flow, flexibility, and tone - making it feel supportive, not judgmental.
User Persona
Making the User Real
To bring the research insights into a more tangible design focus, I created a user persona. It was based on a combination of key characteristics collected from the participants in my thesis study - capturing common patterns in their behaviors, struggles, and needs around procrastination.
Building the persona helped ground the design process in real user perspectives, making it easier to prioritize features, empathize with user challenges, and ensure the solution stayed closely aligned with the target audience.
Product Definition
The challenge
How to specify the focus of the app?
After the research phase, I faced a key challenge: the thesis produced a broad list of potential features and directions, not a single cohesive product.
Process & exploration
How to specify the focus of the app?
The product will (the "what") so they can (the "why") by doing (the "how").
What: helps students combat procrastination
Why: so they can feel less anxious and guilty about procrastination (potentially helping with productivity in the long term)
How: by assisting them to spot their procrastination triggers and plan how to better react to them when they arise.
Process & exploration
"Imagine the Ideal experience"
Create a story of the ideal experience a user will go through interacting with the product/service we are designing.
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Before: the motivation to turn to the service
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During: experience while using the service
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After: the takeaways from the service, what has been improved from the before state interacting with the service.
How: by assisting them to spot their procrastination triggers and plan how to better react to them when they arise.
The solution
Key Objectives
To guide the design, I identified five key objectives - each addressing a major challenge students faced. These objectives were framed as How Might We questions to focus the solution around their real needs.
01. How might we guide users through creating effective if-then plans while preserving personalization?
Participants had no prior experience with implementation intentions. While they appreciated guidance, their most effective plans were those they adapted to their personal triggers and habits. This highlighted the need for a guided yet flexible plan-creation flow.
02. How might we encourage habit formation while accommodating different plan styles?
Behavior-based plans - those targeting procrastination habits and emotional triggers - were consistently more effective than task-based ones. Still, task-based plans had value in structured moments. The tool needs to support both without overwhelming the user.
03. How might we ensure users don’t over-engage with a tool meant to reduce procrastination?
Many productivity tools risk becoming part of the procrastination cycle by encouraging excessive engagement. Participants valued simplicity and low-friction interactions that didn’t distract from their actual work.
04. How might we introduce implementation intentions method clearly and make users want to try them?
None of the participants had heard of implementation intentions before the study. While the method proved helpful, its unfamiliarity means the tool must clearly explain the concept and make trying it feel immediately worthwhile.
05. How might we choose the right platform while supporting students’ dynamic routines?
Students used various devices and settings to create and review their plans. Cross-device accessibility was important, but limited resources required prioritizing one platform. The decision needed to balance impact and user habits.
Navigation
User Journey & User Stories
Turning Behavior into Design Steps
Using the user persona and insights from my thesis research, I mapped a clear user journey based on the steps students followed when applying the if-then method.
All participants in the study went through a similar process, which made it possible to define key moments to support through the app. I then identified which steps should be translated into screens and flows, and created user stories for each - turning the journey into a focused, actionable design plan.
Sketch in text
Word-Based Wireframing
Before starting the actual sketches, I mapped out the app’s flow in text. For each screen, I described what the user would see and do, along with any open questions or issues to address later. This step helped clarify the structure and set a clear direction before diving into visual design.
User Flows
Mapping the Navigation
I mapped every step a user takes to complete core tasks - even edge cases like “what happens if you click back.” Normally I skip this level of detail for simple navigation, but for a uni project I wanted to cover all bases so I don’t miss any little detail. This helps me spot friction early, confirm that interactions flow logically, and set up a smooth, intuitive design.
Design
Collect inspo
UX solutions inspirations
Sketches
Low Fidelity
For my initial sketches, I drew inspiration from how other tools designed similar user flows and processes. I explored different approaches they used, focusing on the overall structure rather than specific details. By combining useful elements I observed with my own ideas, I sketched various possibilities for guiding users through implementation intentions while maintaining simplicity. These rough explorations helped me identify promising directions before moving into detailed design.
Design solutions for each objective
Answering the How Might We Questions
During the ideation and sketching phases, I developed specific design solutions for each of my key objectives. These solutions formed the foundation for how the app would guide users through implementation intentions while addressing the core challenges uncovered in my thesis research.
01. How might we guide users through creating effective if-then plans while preserving personalization?
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Provide if-then statement suggestions as examples they can use, while encouraging users to personalize them
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Streamline implementation intentions through three clear steps: set a goal, create if-then plans to achieve set goal, reflect and iterate plans as needed
02. How might we encourage habit formation while accommodating different plan styles?
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Non-restrictive text field allowing users to create all types of plans
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Offering suggested templates that encourage effective habit formation
03. How might we ensure users don’t over-engage with a tool meant to reduce procrastination?
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Minimal navigation centered on one main screen
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Start with setting a clear goal encouraging users to focus
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Focuses on single-goal at a time approach by default
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Relatively restrictive interface with guided navigation and limited options
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Simple minimal UI
04. How might we introduce implementation intentions method clearly and make users want to try them?
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Onboarding screens that incite users to try the app by presenting the benefits of the method in a compelling way
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Tooltips guiding first-time users through the steps of using the app
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The copy throughout the app maintains an empathetic yet confident tone, acknowledging users' challenges while providing supportive guidance
05. How might we choose the right platform while supporting students’ dynamic routines?
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Prioritized mobile for immediate accessibility and real-time engagement with procrastination patterns
High fidelity wireframes
How the design addresses key objectives
Usability testing
Test Objective
Introduction to new users
Evaluate the "Method Clarity" design objective by examining whether new users with no prior exposure to Implementation Intentions could understand:
Core purpose of the app
How the method works
Potential use cases and applications
Testing Methodology
usability testing with 4 participents
Conducted tests with four participants through a four-stage user flow:
Onboarding screens > Goal-setting process > Guided Tour > Plan creation
After each stage, participants answered:
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What they understood so far
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What led to these conclusions
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What elements caused confusion
Usability Issues Identified
Overwhelming Tooltip Flow & Disconnected Guidance
1. Overwhelming Tooltip Flow
The onboarding presented four sequential tooltips (“Edit current goal,” “Manage your goals,” “See how plans work,” “Create your first plan”). This caused:
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Information overload before users could take action
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A disconnect between instructions and actual steps
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Extra cognitive burden from too many instructions at once
2. Disconnected Guidance
The tooltips were not aligned with user needs or timing, leading to:
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Instructions appearing out of context
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A lack of clarity between what to do and when to do it
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Poor understanding of the overall process flow
Design Solutions
Streamlined Tooltip System
I replaced the four-step flow with three action-oriented tooltips:
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Goal Setting
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Plan Creation
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Adjustment
Key Improvements:
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Instructions now directly connect to user actions
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Information is provided at the moment of need
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Cognitive load is reduced by breaking onboarding into smaller steps
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The overall process flow feels clearer and easier to follow
Final Design
This section shows the final outcome after the full design process. Before wrapping up, I revisited every detail - spacing, alignment, typography - using a checklist of common editorial design “sins” I received in a workshop. This final review helped me spot small mistakes I’d overlooked and ensure the result felt sharp, intentional, and print-ready.
