Faye: An Empathy Probe to Investigate Motivation Among Novice Runners

The popularity of recreational sports such as running, has increased substantially due to its low threshold to start and it is attractive for a wide range of people. However, despite the growing popularity, running has a high drop-out rate due to injuries and motivational loss, especially among novice runners. To investigate factors influencing motivation among novice runners and design opportunities, we deployed an empathy probe at a women-only running event. Faye is a running shirt that reveals motivational feedback on the shirt, during the warm-up phase of the run. In this paper, we both inform on the impact of motivational feedback while warming up on running motivation and reflect on the use of an empathy probe to investigate motivational strategies among novice runners. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.