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HEALTH & WELLBEING · PRODUCT DESIGNCASE STUDY / 02

Ginkgo Active

An AI-powered home exercise coach for adults 45+, developed with kinesiologists to provide safe, personalized movement guidance.

MY ROLE

Founding Design Engineer

CONTEXT

Ginkgo Health · Founding team

TOOLS & PRACTICE

User research · AI experience · Unity

Ginkgo Active’s guided exercise experience in a calming forest environmentAn exercise assessment on the companion tablet interface
01

Exercise guidance for a changing body

A useful plan starts with the person.

Ginkgo began with adults 45+ whose health conditions, physical abilities, and daily routines were poorly served by generic exercise guidance.

Medical health

Health history and injury constraints.

Health-informed assessment

Physical function

Physical capability beyond self-report.

Guided movement assessment

Everyday life

Habits, schedules, and home equipment.

A routine that fits at home
02

Personalization people can sustain

A plan can fit someone’s body. To last, it also needs to become personally meaningful.

THE MOTIVATION CONTINUUMGreater autonomy

Amotivation

  1. No intentionNo reason to act

Extrinsic motivation

  1. ExternalFor a reward
  2. IntrojectedFrom inner pressure
  3. IdentifiedIt matters to me
  4. IntegratedIt fits who I am

Intrinsic motivation

  1. IntrinsicFor the enjoyment
Personal value, identity & enjoymentDesign toward self-directed movement

A design lens, not a fixed sequence every person follows.

THE PRODUCT RESPONSE

Understand the person. Support their independence.

ASSESSMENTKnow my bodyHealth history + physical abilityGUIDED EXERCISEMove with confidenceA routine that fits daily lifeHEALTH EDUCATIONUnderstand whyMake sense of health & progress
Early framework & community exploration
Initial framework: assessment, exercise, and social motivation.
Ginkgo World: an explored direction, before the shift toward education.
03

An assessment that becomes a daily routine

RESPONDING TO MEDICAL HEALTH

A health-informed starting point

Co-designed with medical and kinesiology experts, the assessment covers 8 medical domains and 35 health dimensions, alongside the user’s everyday habits.

Basic information
Medical history
Injury report
Lifestyle & equipment
Medical domains & injury assessment detail
Guided physical assessment
RESPONDING TO PHYSICAL FUNCTION

Measure what a questionnaire cannot

Guided movement tasks and user feedback add physical performance to the health profile. People can report difficulty, discomfort, and completed repetitions.

Movement task & performance feedback
A guided, timed movement task.
Feedback records the completed repetitions.
RESPONDING TO EVERYDAY LIFE

A weekly plan, a clear next session

The assessment informs a machine-learning-generated weekly plan and daily exercise prescriptions. Each session brings the activity sequence and required home equipment together.

The plan: a weekly schedule and daily prescription.
The session: equipment, exercises, and time in one place.
MAKING THE PLAN ACTIONABLE

Guidance for every movement

Exercise animations match the prescribed activities and available equipment, giving people a visual guide they can follow at home.

Personalized exercise guidance
220

exercise animations built with motion capture, kinesiology expertise, and Unity.

Exercise animation example 1Exercise animation example 2Exercise animation example 3Exercise animation example 4Exercise animation example 5Exercise animation example 6Exercise animation example 7Exercise animation example 8Exercise animation example 9Exercise animation example 10Exercise animation example 11Exercise animation example 12
04

Helping people keep going

RESPONDING TO LONG-TERM MOTIVATION

Understanding becomes part of the routine.

Health education extends the experience beyond each workout. Greater awareness feeds back into more meaningful self-assessment and the next exercise plan.

Ginkgo Active, released on the App Store.
  1. Professional assessment
  2. Personalized exercise guidance
  3. Evidence-based health education
  4. Increased health awareness
More meaningful self-assessment

The learning loop became a core experience across iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS.

My contribution

As Founding Design Engineer at Ginkgo Health, I led product strategy, UX design, and AI experience development from concept to market launch, working with medical and kinesiology experts.

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