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Motivating humans to perform tasks they consider boring, unintuitive or tedious is achallenging task. There are many popular methods for turning these same tasks lessboring and more intuitive to making them more enticing. But how can we instead increasemotivation for tasks that are unavoidably quite boring? This paper set out to make useof motivation theories and data visualisations to provide live feedback when performingdigital cognitive behavioural therapy, increasing motivation to conduct therapy and to use a digital CBT tool. 

It delves into various motivation theories, such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-determination theory, and self-efficacy theory, and their application in the context of mobile apps. The study focuses on the design of visual feedback in the form of statistical graphs, tailored to users’ needs, preferences, and goals. The research is conducted within the scope of the React Native framework and centres on football and sports psychology to test its findings. The app in question, Pallang, is a digital cognitive behavioural therapy coach aimed at improving mental health and mental strength. 

The thesis investigates whether incorporating motivation theories into the design of visual feedback can positively affect users’ motivation and engagement, thereby increasing user retention. The methodology includes experimental testing, interviews, and the double diamond design process. Results indicate that well-designed data visualisations, informed by motivation theories, can indeed motivate users and potentially increase user-engagement and user-retention. However, the study also recognises the importance of social interaction and other factors in user-retention. Future work suggests further testing across different fields and improvements in app design to enhance real-world applicability.