ATHLEET
Multiplayer Fitness App
Many apps and businesses attempt to use gamification in order enhance engagement, and improve user retention. In the absence of in-person meetups during Covid, my co-founder Justin Ballard and I tried to apply this understanding to workout apps so users can get invested in their health. I worked on branding, as well as visual and interaction design.
Co-Founder, UX Designer
Jul 2021 - Dec 2022
Interaction Design, Visual Design, Branding
Design Process
DISCOVER
Context
THE PROBLEM
Beginners often lack a clear plan, and training alone is lonely demotivating, and potentially unsafe.
THE GOAL
Provide robust training and tracking, while empowering users to connect with training buddies and make new friends.
RESEARCH
Survey Results
We surveyed and interviewed 34 people both inside and outside of the fitness community, from friends to personal trainers. Of the people we surveyed:
52.9%
likes rewards help keep motivation
85.3%
workout at home, the gym, or both
96.8%
access fitness content on mobile devices
USER PAIN POINTS
A few more problems were identified with further analysis of the surveys.
Problem
Lack of Motivation
Getting Started
Training Alone
Expensive Sub fees
Nutrition Support
Why?
Lack of motivation is one of the biggest obstacle to working out
Beginners feel lost/confused and train ineffectively
Discouraging to work out alone
Expensive equipment & subscription fees
Advanced users want all-in-one training & nutrition tracker.
Solution
A fun, customizable goal tracker
Clean UI with video tutorials and well-rounded programs
Connect with others to compete in fitness challenges.
Free version with basic training & socials
Modular nutrition --> “one-stop shop” for all fitness needs.
We wanted a bright, active aesthetic that pops off the screen.
HEURISTIC & COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
We analyzed apps like Apple Fitness+, FitBod, Nike Run Club, FitOn, Strava, and MyFitnessPal, finding that users are frustrated with their features.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Few apps take advantage of nutrition guidance -- an area we can take advantage of for users to track nutrition as part of their health
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One of the more popular ways for community support functions on these competitors' apps was challenges
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Suprisingly, not many of the competitors do milestone rewards
DESIGN
Start the Design
Here, we established our personas, information architecture, sketches, and wireframes.
WHO ARE OUR USERS?
We defined our case study by asking: How might we design an app that trains fitness enthusiasts, tracks progress and nutrition, and connects 'Athleets' in the community?
We categorized users into two primary types:
PERSONA ONE: The Beginner
PROBLEM STATEMENT: Benny is a young adult who needs a specific training plan because he’s an inexperienced athlete.
PERSONA TWO: The Advanced
PROBLEM STATEMENT: Abby is an experienced crossfitter who needs goal and progress tracking because she wants to be a competitive athlete.
User Flow
This information architecture immensely helped with the app's organization.
Lo-Fidelity Wireframes
In this phase, we turned our lo-fidelity sketches into the mid-fidelity prototype.
Simple profile that allows user to track their progress.
Training program users can access training and safety information.
Raids connecting users based on interests, experience, and location.
INITIAL UI DESIGN
Before developing the first prototype, we created this style guide to ensure consistency across the user interface.
TEST
Usability Studies
Although users navigated the app, feedback revealed it lacked a key feature to attract users over existing apps. This led us to shift our usability sessions to focus on desirability.
FINDINGS
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Advanced users value nutrition tracking the most.
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The majority of users enjoyed the collaborative fitness challenge ideas.
Revising the Design
Prioritizing the multiplayer aspect, we shifted from a training app to a health tracker with team-based challenges, from weekly quests to monthly raids. Drawing inspiration from games like WoW, Destiny 2, Halo Infinite, and Genshin Impact, we incorporated retention-driven loop systems to boost user engagement and health commitment.
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The redesigned profile screen is cleaner and features recent workouts, raids, and rewards.
We streamlined the active workout screens to display the standard metrics fed by a wearable.
Takeaways
Now that we have redesigned the primary function of the app, we have our next steps lined up:
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Circle back to our users: Since the scope of our design changed, we need to update our user data and personas.
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Build out a more robust and meaningful rewards system
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Collaborate with fitness community members to craft more exciting and effective quests and raids.
REFLECTION
Thank you for reading our case study! If you found this interesting, you can reach me at jennthnmai@gmail.com, or my partner Justin at howdy@justinballard.design.
