Role
Solo UX Designer
Project Type
Capstone
Empower female athletes’ fitness journey.
Core! Case Study
Skills
User Research
UX Design
Design Systems
Prototyping
Tools
Figma
Dovetail
Context
What motivated this project?
Women are less likely to lift weights.
It all started with a conversation between my trainer and me, about our occasional fears of the weights room. I have been actively training for two years, and she has a decade of experience, yet both of us still feel overwhelmed at times. This made me wonder, is gym intimidation a commonly overlooked issue for women in fitness?
Strength training is proven to be beneficial for everyone, regardless of their gender, race, and age. It has a notable effect on improving muscular hypertrophy, endurance, and strength. Despite the above-mentioned benefits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed a large sex difference in participation in “muscle-strengthening activities” - only 24.5% of female adults met the recommended guidelines of two or more times a week, as compared to 34.4% of the male population.
The issue is not that women are less likely to engage in physical activity; in fact, 50.5% of gym members are now female (IHRSA, 2020). But, they tend to stick to what they know and usually get their movements in by engaging with the cardio machines. When asked about why they are not more present in the weights room, women reported that they “don’t know how to properly use equipments” and are “self-conscious” with the way they move (Bohn 2020).
CORE!
CORE!
Mission Statement
Our goal is to help women feel more confident in the gym by providing adequate education and a supportive community.
Interviews & Synthesis
Five informational interviews were conducted with participants who self-identified as female and had various backgrounds in exercising.
I categorized my findings into a few different categories:
Attitude
Behaviors
Motivations
Routines
Insights
Incidents
Other helpful information
They would love to be more confident, but…
Participants with various fitness experiences all believed they were the minority in the gym. For beginners, the obstacle for them is they don’t know where to start. They are often scared of engaging in exercises as they do not have the proper technique and form to do so. They felt guilty about taking up valuable spaces in the weights room and were often the victims of imposter syndrome. A lot of them often felt judged in the gym for the way they looked and the weights they used, and would love to have a more supportive environment.
For those who are more experienced in training, most of the time they feel comfortable at the gym. They show up with a game plan, often having a workout split in mind. However, they still get distracted by unwelcoming peers in the gym and are affected by their surroundings.
Persona
Ideations & Sketches
After synthesizing my research findings and taking into account my target audiences’ needs, I sat down and sketched out a few screens of the app.
With insights I gathered from the interviews, the three features I focused on were:
Gym finder
Community builder
Education
Early Design Challenges
Pivoting To Focus On The Relevant Features
Gym finder is not a feature that makes users come back to the app.
As I kept working on bringing my vision of the MVP to life, the app felt like it was trying to solve too many issues all at once.
After consulting with my mentor, I made a major design decision to eliminate the “finding a gym” function entirely. Here are several reasons to justify the decision:
The gym finder feature lacked long-term appeal for users; it was more of a one-and-done tool primarily used until users found their ideal gym.
Users were unlikely to revisit the gym finder unless they relocated or traveled, making the investment in its design and development outweight its utility.
The primary objective of ratings and reviews was to help users discover a comfortable workout environment, and the research indicated that education and community were more impactful in boosting user confidence.
A new user flow was created to pivot to the new direction.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Changing the color palette to reflect brand identity.
As seen in the Low Fidelity Prototype, my original vision landed on a simple yet dark and sophisticated color theme. I used different shades of blue as the primary color and different variations of grey to go with it.
However, after discussions with my mentor and re-evaluating the brand’s identity, I decided to completely revamp the color palette to something a little more vibrant and fun. The new colors feel much more energetic and welcoming than the original, making them more suitable to the message we want to convey.
Incorporating Feedback
Two rounds of usability testing were conducted to gather feedback and ensure there were no major flaws in the red routes. I was able to incorporate feedback from the first round of testing to the final design.
……
Matching with a trainer
Learning & Programing
Changes I implemented:
Two participants reported that some of the wording describing the exercises to too advanced to their knowledge. I waa able to simplify the language used in the questionnaires to be more inclusive and easy to understand.
Participants wanted to make sure they got matched with a trainer who shared similar personalities with them, just like buddies. I then decided to add a question that allowed users to plug in their desired personality traits of their trainer.
The trainer introduction page was also reworked to be less confusing and highlights the possibility to either message the trainer and or get rematched.
Changes I did not implement:
A rating system was suggested to be incorporated to the trainer and buddy matching process - each buddy and trainer contender will be open to be rated by other users.
Testing participants suggested this because they wanted to make sure users don’t have security concerns. While I agreed with the concerns regarding security, have a rating system seems to be going against the core value of the app, that is, everyone feels supported in a non-judgmental environment.
Instead, if given more time to work on this project, including testimonials will be a different but friendlier way to share user feedback. It allows for genuine connections and rewards loyal users.
Changes I implemented:
Multiple participants wanted to have the program function more readily available in the app. With this in mind, I replaced the profile page on the navigation tab to be program instead, and re-designed the profile page to be the new home page.
I also made sure everything is connected by providing the option to add a specific exercise to program. This way, when a user is learning something new, they can be sure to practice it later.
Changes I did not implement:
Creating and sharing programs in the community would be a great way to make user connect through the app, as one participant in testing suggested . However, since it would be difficult to verify users’ knowledge and credibility with training, this was omitted from revision.
Final Designs
Here is a brief walk-through of Annemarie’s journey on Core!
Log in to their account using email and password.
Guided to the Home page where they decided to head straight to their training program for the day.
Connected with a new trainer and buddy based on their answers to the preference questionnaire.
Learned a new workout and how to use a new machine with video lessons.
Headed back to the program page to view their schedule for the coming days.
View the my full design and prototype on Figma.HOME
HOME
App Sections
The home page shows your progress and provides quick access to your workouts and most recent contacts.
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
Answer a series of personalized questions, you will then be matched with a buddy or trainer based on your preferences. You may chat with them whenever you’d like, talking about training goals, or lunch plans.
LEARN
LEARN
If you are up for a new challenge, browse the Learning tab and find an exercise or a piece of equipment you want to familiarize yourself with. You can watch the video tutorial and follow the instructions step by step. Feel free to add it to your favorites or to a list of programs in case you wish to revisit it in the future.
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
You may build your own program or use expert-built ones to build your workout split. Programs can be edited to tailor to your needs. Each set of exercises shows the number of reps, the weights you should be using, and an estimation of the time it will take up.
Reflections
What I would have done differently?
With Core! being my first design project, I was able to hone in many essential skills in UX Design, such as User Research, Prototyping, and Usability Testing. However, if given more time and resources, I would make the following improvements to the project:
Build a more versatile design system that is easier to use and make revisions.
Spend less time on hashing out the low-fidelity prototype and focus on the functions only, less on design, colors, spacing, etc: because these design elements are very likely to be changed later on.
Revise the prototype and animations to be more interactive so testing participants can provide more accurate feedback.
Although I was able to find participants of various fitness experience levels in the initial exploration interview, I could have recruited a more diverse group of participants with different backgrounds for usability testing.
Display more options upfront for trainer and buddy matching instead of only rematching.
Allow trainers to create customized work out programs and send it to clients via chat.
Special thanks to Ashley, Jane, Kelly, Sarah, Shuang, Tina, Vanessa, and my mentor Issac for their input on my project.