HIITness Pal–A lean UX case study
In the United States, there are 80.2 million people, ages six and older who are physically inactive. With this alarming statistic in mind, our team took on the task of creating a solution for a HIIT fitness app. If you are not familiar with HIIT exercise, it stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. For exercisers, it’s a great way to get a good workout in a short amount of time.
Team
Spencer Rich: Product Manager
UX Designers: Aaron Watson, Charles Wood, and Desmond Fowler
iOS Development: Leah Cluff, Timothy Rosenvall
QA Engineers: Keenan Schramm, Andrew Gallegos
Lean UX Process
Our team decided to use a Lean UX process due to a three-week time frame for delivery to our developers and a 5-week deadline for submission to the iOS store. We also wanted to receive quick feedback from exercisers to guide our process and develop the best product possible.
We designed HITTness Pal through a process of 12 prototype iterations. Each prototype was tested with 4–5 exercisers. We interviewed each tester and made changes to our prototype based on the feedback we received. Utilizing the lean UX process we were able to obtain feedback that would have otherwise not been possible with a traditional UX process given our short time frame. The user-guided process was essential to designing HIITness Pal.
12 Prototype Iterations
Key Iterations and Pivot Points
1. Suggesting Workouts for Exercisers
Our first major pivot point came in the first 4 iterations of our HIIT app, where we found a common theme throughout our testing and interviews. Exercisers gave feedback that it was difficult to start exercising due to a lack of knowledge on what exercises they should do and for what amount of time. This was a theme with fitness apps in general. Users would download a fitness app. Get lost as to how to get going, and never use the app again.
Realizing this was a major concern for exercise users we looked to create a solution. Here are the highlights from star to finish.
ITERATION 1: Adding Your Own Exercises- We started with an app prototype where you could search for exercises and add them to create your workout but this didn’t alleviate the problem of getting started.
ITERATION 5: Suggested Workouts- We moved to a design that would suggest workouts based on your fitness goal preferences in the onboarding process. This alleviated our user’s dilemma by giving them the guidance needed to get started.
ITERATION 12: Customizable Suggested Workouts- We found exercisers wanted to be able to overview the suggested workout and make adjustments to the time of each exercise and rest period as well as the number of cycles of their workout.
2. Onboarding Changes
The onboarding process was an area of our app that challenged us and presented major pivot points in our design. Through the following iterations of our tested prototypes, we were able to shape the onboarding process.
Iteration 1 and 2- Onboarding initially had a dropdown menu that asked for the exerciser’s fitness goal. Although we included this in the first prototypes we were not entirely sure how we would use the goal information. We did know other apps usually obtained a goal of some kind to give the exerciser feedback on measurable progress. What we wanted to discover is what kind of progress the users want to measure if any at all?
ITERATION 6: Onboarding and Fitness Levels- By iteration 5 we knew we were focused on users new to exercise. We also had been through our major pivot point from testing and interviews, that indicated we needed to provide users with suggested workouts. This led us to readdress our onboarding process.
We needed a way to understand the user’s needs to provide them with a suggested workout. We added a series of questions about the exerciser’s fitness level. Our app would then take the variables of these answers into account, and provide a suggested workout plan closely tailored to the needs of the exerciser. We used language with a relaxed tone helping the user feel at ease as we guided them through the process.
We received great user feedback that the new onboarding and suggested workouts were on track with exercise user needs. We were excited and knew we were on to something that could address our “new to exercise” user base!
ITERATION 10: Shifting the MVP!- As we presented our suggested workout plan onboarding to the developers and the iOS manager some major concerns arose!
All the variables of the questions asked in the onboarding process created an exponential amount of workouts. We did not have the time to seek out the expertise needed and create all the workouts. The developers would also not be able to make the deadline in the allotted time frame as we only had 2 weeks to product launch.
We concluded that due to the time frame we would create five generated workouts. These workouts would range in frequency of days per week and intensity level depending on how the exercising user set their preference level. Instead of a series of pages and questions, this preference level is set by a single slide bar.
A Final Addition For Users- To further meet the need of our “new to exercise” user. We decided to give them the ability to create custom workouts which are then shared with the entire app user base. This would provide a way for exercisers to have other workout options they could choose from. As they become familiar with their suggested workouts and personal fitness level, they could then utilize this workout library to expand or change their workout plan.
What did I learn?
Conclusion
What I learned is how to work in a real-world situation that mirrored a business environment consisting of Product Managers, UX Designers, Developers, and Quality Assurance team members. We worked within the constraints of time, stakeholder objectives, and the abilities of our team members to produce a viable solution. That tested our ability to work cohesively as a team. We had to adapt not only the product we built but our personal selves for the benefit of the team. Doing all this we got to know each other on a personal level and be more than just coworkers but a team family.
