Key Challenges
- Nine-month health intervention
- Fitbit data integration
- Long-term participant engagement
- Mobile-first daily use
FitBrothers
Klein Buendel • Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Supporting long-term healthy habits through wearable technology, personalized goals, and community engagement.
FitBrothers is a mobile-first web application developed for a nine-month health intervention designed to encourage physical activity among African American men. The platform combined Fitbit integration, personalized goal tracking, educational content, challenges, rewards, and health insights into a single engaging experience.
The Challenge
Encouraging engagement beyond activity tracking
The application needed to do more than synchronize Fitbit data. Participants used the platform throughout a nine-month intervention, making long-term engagement as important as accurate activity tracking.
My Role
- Frontend development and UX
- Wearable data integration
- Interaction and visual design
- Responsive application architecture
Key Features
Key Features
Rather than functioning as a single feature, FitBrothers combined multiple systems that reinforced one another throughout the study.
Personalized Goals
Weekly activity goals adapted to each participant and translated wearable data into clear, motivating progress.
Activity & Health Tracking
Dashboards brought activity, weight, and health trends together in one understandable mobile experience.
Challenges & Competition
Friendly challenges and social comparison encouraged participants to stay active together.
Rewards & Gamification
Points, badges, and rewards made progress visible and helped sustain engagement.
Educational Content
Flexible articles, audio, and video resources connected daily activity with practical health education.
Engineering
Engineering for responsive interactions
Built a mobile-first application around responsive interaction patterns, synchronized server state, wearable data, and fast feedback. Reusable components and thoughtful loading states kept a feature-rich product cohesive and responsive.
Technical Highlights
Fitbit Integration
Synchronized wearable activity data throughout the intervention.
Server State Management
Used TanStack Query for caching and data synchronization.
Data Visualization
Built interactive charts for activity and health trends.
Flexible Content Platform
Supported articles, embedded audio, and video resources.
Responsive User Experience
Optimized everyday interactions for mobile use.
Performance & Feedback
Used loading skeletons, optimistic updates, and thoughtful state management.