An online fitness tool that enhances people’s lifestyle and well-being by pairing them with the right fitness buddy to make workouts more fun and sociable
Opportunity
Have you ever felt that sticking to a healthy workout plan sometimes seem impossible? Well, you are not alone. I believe many of us feel the same way, myself included. Let me start off by clarifying that I am just a normal person whose exercise habits are like most people’s. I am no fitness fanatic. You will not find me at a 6 a.m. bootcamp or on your daily Instagram feed with my chocolate peanut butter protein shake. There will be days where I feel extremely motivated to workout, yet there will also be days where I feel getting in shape just seems like such an insurmountable goal.
“Keeping new habits is as hard as breaking old ones”
When it comes to working out, the first few weeks are usually refreshing. We are motivated and excited to manifest our new year’s resolutions into concrete positive lifestyle changes. However, it gets extremely challenging, once that “honeymoon” stage is over. We are aware that staying active is important for our health, but more often than not, we find it difficult to gain the motivation to get started on a workout plan or maintain our initial motivation to stay committed.
This is how EQUATE all began. With the problem space in mind, I thought to myself, what does it take to get this potato (myself) off the couch and go workout? A UX design project seemed like the best opportunity to find a solution.
Project: Individual Capstone Project
Role: Research, User Flows, Information Architecture, Sketching, Wireframing, UI, Prototyping
Tools: InVision, Sketch, Figma, Principle, Adobe Illustrator
Timeline: 5 weeks
My Design Process
DISCOVERY
Deeper Dive into the Problem Space
Many studies over the years have found that people generally live longer, happier, and healthier lives if they have a strong network of support from friends and family. I learned that both working out and friendship can make a positive impact on our physical and mental health. Working out with a partner has science-backed benefits. I also find that having a workout buddy is usually the best form of motivation for me. I find it extremely beneficial to have someone to help keep me accountable on my fitness journey. However, the keyword is “usually”. Sometimes it just plain sucks, because he or she is not a suitable workout buddy for us.
How might we… ensure users are connected to a supportive fitness buddy with similar goals and interests, so that they can be powerful extrinsic motivators for each other.
Current Solution (Domain Research)
To begin my research, I reviewed the current fitness app offerings available on the market. This gave me a good understanding of what information and resources are available.
Of course, the fitness app market is huge. There are thousands of apps to track and manage your fitness progress. However, I found that there was no app that took advantage of EQUATE’s unique selling point: a one-size-fits all services platform combining multiple functionalities to help users find a workout buddy, personal trainer or a fitness bootcamp.
It was here that we could see an opportunity for EQUATE to benefit users, gyms and personal trainers.
User Research
My next step was to interview people for qualitative data. In order to understand the pain points of my users, I needed to dig deeper. I identified my target demographic as those aged between 20 and 35 — people who have an interest in fitness and use a smart mobile device, regardless of fitness expertise level. Due to limited time and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these interviews were conducted over Zoom calls.
I conducted a series of interviews with four suitable users and charted my findings on an affinity map to draw some insights. I was able to identify five key themes:
DEFINE
Human-Centered Approach
Persona
After completing my affinity diagram exercise, I moved onto the next step of my planning phase. I created my primary and secondary personas based on the insights I gained from the gathered data. I focused on young professionals of different gender and careers, and both like the idea of being active but live a very busy lifestyle.
My primary persona for the project was Anisha — a 26-year-old HR specialist, who works a sedentary job. She wants to stay active and healthy but finds going to the gym alone sometimes intimidating. It is also hard for her to get used to a fitness routine, but she wants to look for a way to stay motivated to exercise.
So how can we help Anisha stay motived and make her whole fitness experience more fun and enjoyable?
IDEATION
Translating insights into features
Information Architecture
My initial ideation process involved brainstorming features for the product roadmap. I created Anisha’s empathy map and a set of user stories that reflect specific features and desired functionality from her digital interaction. After identifying a list of features and sorting them for my minimum viable product (“MVP”), I mapped out the IA to show the hierarchy of major and minor features.
User Flow
Anisha wants to find a way to stay motivated to exercise because it is hard for her to get used to a fitness routine. She is intimidated to hit up the gym and often finds it boring to exercise alone.
The scenario above allowed me to create a user flow for the app. I developed a flow that allows for seamless and cohesive user experience without dead ends.
The following user flow walks through the process of Anisha filtering for workout buddy discovery preferences and finding her desired fitness buddy to connect with and workout together.
Sketches + Lofi Prototype
By now I have already gathered enough information to move my ideation into actual design with pen and paper. This step is a crucial, yet often overlooked, aspect of UX design. Sketching allows me to communicate my design in an efficient way while also letting me try out a multitude of ideas before settling on one. I then translated my paper prototypes from analog to digital and created low-fidelity wireframes.
I created a set of wireframes of all the key screens needed to complete the main user tasks that I will be testing for: editing/filtering discovery preferences, swiping through all potential matches, and connecting to a desired workout buddy.
TESTING
Evaluating design decisions
User testing
This part of the process focuses on obtaining practical, real-time feedback from a set of users that can be incorporated to improve my design. I was curious if they knew where to tap or scroll in certain screens. The goal was to identify any pain points that could be improved in next iterations.
After completing two rounds of user testing and four prototype versions, task success rate increased to 100%. I received great feedback that made me think about how information should be displayed, in what format and order. Some other pain points concluded:
1. Profile picture should not be the focus point, as swiping based on picture and age is not users’ goal
2. Display of activity level is confusing and hard to comprehend
3. More hierarchy is needed through the interface to guide users toward actions of importance by a quick glance
Prototype
Check out the mid-fidelity Figma prototype HERE!
BRANDING
Visual languages
Never underestimate the power of connections.
The brand name EQUATE is associated with the terms together, balance, connect, and match, which is precisely what the app represents. Users are meant to meet like-minded people who share their interests and empower one another — people who like you for you, that support you for your goals & accomplishments, and cheer for you to get healthier and stronger.
Design Inception
It is crucial to define the mood of the app before continuing forward. I conceptualized the visual languages needed to shift users’ mindsets from dreading exercising, to feeling fun, inspired, and social. From here, I was able to gather visuals that evoked certain feelings for this design project.
Wordmark/Logo
I decided to go with Avant Garde for the wordmark, as it is a futuristic font. It is also cool and athletic, conveying a freshness that’s perfect for modern sports-theme designs. I want to make sure my brand shouts fresh, playful and energetic, so I chose triadic colour harmonies with gradients to deliver that vibrant feel and visual cues across to users.
The final logo iteration is a culmination of the visual design, mainly focused on paying homage to the letter E and Q in Equate. The design is an abstract representation of the unit of the two letters. Beyond the letters and looking from an even more artistic viewpoint, you will see a very unique portrayal of a flame lit by a ‘match’.
Hifi Prototype
Interact with the prototype on Figma HERE!
Recap
Future Considerations
The timeline of this project was aggressive and there was a lot to do in such a short period of time. That being said, I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish. I did not only create an end-to-end mobile app, but throughout the design experience, I also learned that the most important thing in providing value to users is not just solving a problem for them, it is how many ways I can solve their problem. Although this project concluded with a solid prototype, there are still many more ideas and features I would love to try and implement into the product:
· Complete more A/B testing to understand what the constraints are on developing a neumorphism design
· Complete screens for the task flows of finding a personal trainer and joining a fitness bootcamp
· Add a calendar feature to schedule workouts and fitness events
· Add a close friend feature to address privacy and safety issues
· Create the option for a virtual workout
· As a personal goal, I would love to get the application developed
Design Impact
From my personal experience, I know that it is not easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay motivated, but I hope with the help of my app, fitness can also be fun, inspiring and social. The mission of Equate is to help build a healthier world by changing the way people connect, in hopes of encouraging them to start taking charge of their everyday well-being and the social connections around them.
Equate should also help refine the way we connect with others and empower the lives of all underserved populations. As protests for the Black Lives Matter movement continue, there are many other ways for us to show support for the Black community. I hope my product can help raise awareness for diversity and inclusion through the fitness community, by providing a platform for users to turn to Black fitness professionals for fitness or nutritional advice, because each small action can lead to a larger systemic change that we’re all aiming for.
Thank you for reading!
