Spark: A Mobile Fitness App

How might we simplify strength training for beginners?

Overview

Timeline: May - August 2023

Scope: Wireframing, Prototyping, UI Design, Usability Testing

THE PROBLEM

Strength training offers long-lasting physical and psychological benefits, however, over two-thirds of American adults don’t meet basic CDC guidelines for engaging in muscle-building exercises twice a week (CDC 2020). Strength training is not seen as an accessible form of exercise and can be an intimidating and overwhelming experience for beginners. Existing strength training apps are often targeted to advanced lifters.

THE SOLUTION

This problem offers an opportunity to address a market need for a beginner-friendly mobile strength training app. This project uses design thinking to create a minimum viable product (MVP) where users can create workouts that meet their needs and track workouts while learning how to perform exercises.

MY ROLE

This personal project was completed as part of the Springboard UX/UI 9-month course, and covered user research, strategy, design, prototyping, and testing.

📝 Empathize & Define

Secondary research and user interviews were conducted to gather insights into attitudes, behaviors, and motivations of strength training novices. The synthesized user data uncovered three key insights and helped define the problem statement, which is framed as a How Might We (HMW) question:

How might we simplify strength training workouts to encourage exercise adherence for beginners?

Participants: 6 participants, each with 9 months to 8 years of strength training experience

Objective: Identify pain points in workout routines and find opportunities to improve exercise adherence and attitudes toward strength training

View recordings, notes, and discussion guide View secondary research paper

USER INTERVIEWS

KEY USER INSIGHTS

    • Description text goes hereBeginners need an easy way to learn how to perform exercises correctly and use gym equipment

    • 5 out of 6 participants reported challenges related to lack of knowledge and experience, which results in avoidance of certain exercises or equipment, and not pushing themselves due to fear of judgment or injury. Two participants also reported that getting started is the hardest part since they feel like outsiders in the gym due to their inexperience.

    • People need strength training workouts that fit their busy lifestyles

    • 5 out of 6 participants reported scheduling challenges, however, the issue with time is not entirely due to external factors. 3 out of 6 participants don’t plan their workouts, which leads to wasted time and feeling distracted during the workout.

    • People need simple and convenient ways to track their workouts and progress

    • Only one interview participant uses a fitness app to track their workouts. The participants who have experience using fitness apps find that tracking features are unnecessarily complicated and prefer simpler methods like pen and paper. Planning and tracking workouts is an easy and effective way to measure progress and feel a sense of achievement, which encourages confidence and exercise adherence in any athlete of any experience level.

AFFINITY MAPPING

The affinity map helps rationalize the user interviews into actionable insights. Key findings to note:

  • Intrinsic motivations: All participants reported improved mood and mental health, and increases in energy, mobility, and strength in daily life as core motivators.

  • Importance of visual aid: Most participants mentioned YouTube as a resource to find follow-along workouts or to learn how to perform specific exercises

View Research Synthesis FigJam

PERSONAS

The user research highlighted two types of strength training novices: one who is a complete beginner who needs help getting started (Hana), and another who has some experience but wants to take their training more seriously (Yuki).

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

Our problem statement is framed as a How Might We (HMW) statement in order to view the problem as an opportunity. Several HMW statements were narrowed down into one HMW statement to stay focused and aligned on one question.

HOW MIGHT WE SIMPLIFY STRENGTH TRAINING WORKOUTS TO ENCOURAGE EXERCISE ADHERENCE FOR BEGINNERS?

💭 Ideate

HEURISTIC ANALYSIS

The ideation phase kicked off with a heuristic analysis of existing fitness products. Only a few strength-training-specific apps provide both a library of pre-made workouts and a way to track weights and reps during a workout. Of the three apps that were analyzed, only Evolve You and Gymshark apps provide these features and are dedicated to strength training.

All apps provided visual demonstrations and written instructions for each exercise, however, Gymshark and Peloton apps require full-screen playback and felt secondary to the workout experience. The Evolve You app presents the visual demo front and center but there are glitches in its tracking feature and it does not show stats outside of the user’s current workout.

View Heuristic Evaluation Paper

SOLUTION IDEATION

Beginner-friendly strength training app

The heuristic analysis uncovered a need in the market for strength training apps that provide a simple way to track and plan workouts. The final product will be a go-to strength training tool that provides pre-made workouts for all skill levels, allows users to create custom workouts, and guides them through workouts with easy weight tracking and the option of learning proper form along the way.

USER STORIES

The essential features for the minimum viable product (MVP) were determined by brainstorming user stories and prioritizing how critical they were to address the problem. The initial list of user stories was based on actions a user might take before, during, and after a strength training workout. These are the top four that made the cut for the MVP:

USER FLOWS

The user stories were translated into detailed user flows, which help identify the purpose and key information of each screen, as well as uncover possible user actions that weren’t previously accounted for. The fourth user story, “learn how to perform exercises correctly” is incorporated in the second and third flows here, since users need to be able to learn how to perform exercises as they encounter them in their workouts.

PAPER WIREFRAMES

The user flows served as a blueprint for the low-fidelity, paper wireframes. These final sketches were developed using the Crazy 8s method. Below are some notable design decisions made for each user flow:

Search for a Workout

This product requires a large content library of workouts and exercises, so the aim is to keep the navigation simple and page contents minimal to avoid overwhelming the user. For example, drop-down menus on the workout search page (second and third screen) prompt the user to narrow down their search before they see any list of workouts. 

Conduct a Workout

The second user flow shows how the user would conduct and complete a workout. Each exercise has its own dedicated page (second screen) to avoid cognitive overload and keep users focused. The top of each exercise page will show a looping visual demo with the option to view written instructions, and the bottom section is dedicated to tracking weights, and reps. The rest timer (third screen) keeps users on track and avoids wasted workout time.

The design of this flow takes inspiration from existing fitness apps, however, it’s a unique type of user flow, and therefore critical that the design feels intuitive to users regardless of their familiarity with workout tracking.

Create a Custom Workout

The third flow follows a familiar e-commerce flow of adding items to a cart. Users add exercises to their custom workouts from the app’s exercise library. They can set their desired equipment, and planned number of sets, weights, and reps. Thumbnails accompany every exercise in the library for easy skimming and users can tap into an exercise to watch a demo or read written instructions on proper form.

📱Prototype & Test

USABILITY TESTING & DIGITAL WIREFRAMES

A low-fidelity prototype was created out of the paper wireframes, and five participants were recruited to help assess the overall usability of the user flows. Their feedback revealed pain points and opportunities for improvement. Informed design changes were made and applied to a new digital version of low-fidelity wireframes.

Click on each flow for a full-screen view.

LOW-FIDELITY USABILITY TEST: KEY FINDINGS

Confusion with navigation

  • 3 out of 5 participants did not interact with the checkboxes and instead went straight to the “Next” button at the bottom of the page.

  • This was initially addressed by sizing down the buttons and changing the copy but was later removed entirely since they are not essential to completing the workout. 

Confusion with the rest timer

  • 3 out of 5 participants found the rest timer confusing and initially thought it was the time they were allotted to conduct the exercise.

  • One participant reported that she finds commands more helpful than labels, so the rest timer header was changed to “Take a rest” to clarify expectations.

View the Usability Test Report

Learnings

These two pain points reveal themes of unclear functionality and a lack of guidance in the order of operations. The solutions made at this stage addressed the individual pain points, but these themes will resurface during the high-fidelity usability tests later on.

UI DESIGN

The UI design was developed to complement the simplicity of the product and to create a modern yet inviting space.

Color

The monochromatic palette has 5 shades ranging from off-black to off-white to create a simple and soft visual design. The orange accent colors add a pop of color that brings a fun and bright energy and are mostly used for highlighting key interactive elements.

Type

Only one font family was used, SF Pro Text, to maintain the simplicity. The text was kept to a minimum with generous use of padding to keep the weight of text to images well balanced.

UI Elements & Icons

Rounded corners and thin lines in the iconography and most UI elements are used for a friendly and approachable feeling. Orange was used for interactive elements like the “while tapping” state of primary buttons, or to indicate the selected tab on menu bars.

USABILITY TESTING:
HIGH-FIDELITY DESIGNS

After applying the UI designs, two rounds of usability testing were conducted with a round of design iteration in between. There were a total of 11 participants: 6 for Round One, and 5 for Round Two. The main objectives were to assess whether the pain points from the previous round of testing were successfully resolved and to identify any additional usability pain points in each user flow.

Issue 1: Confusion around the exercise tracking page

3 out of 6 participants hesitated or reported confusion about the function of the checkboxes. Two of those participants reported they initially were unsure what the tracking section was for but their confusion was resolved once the rest timer popped up. 

Solution

To help clarify the purpose of the checkboxes, a tooltip was added to the first exercise page to teach users when and how to use them, as well as imply the correct order of operations a user should take. Additionally, the checkbox column label was changed from an icon to the word “Done” to eliminate any guesswork for the user.

Outcome

With these applied design changes, all five participants in round 2 of usability testing completed the workout flow without any usability issues or confusion.

Issue 2: Unclear and redundant copy

Two participants had issues with the buttons in the “Create a Custom Workout” flow due to an “Add Exercise” button on the exercise library page and on the custom workout page. This redundancy caused confusion and also uncovered an additional issue: the “Add Exercise” button on the exercise library page was unintentionally acting as both a confirmation button (to add an exercise) and a navigation button (to go back to the workout template).

Solution

The copy on the button on the exercise library page was changed to “Back to workout” to clarify its purpose. A number count was added to the button, in order to inform users when an exercise has been successfully added to their workout.

Unclear and redundant copy (pt. 2)

Two other participants reported confusion with other redundant and unclear copy on navigation buttons and menu options. These were easily solved by changing labels and paring down menu options to avoid overwhelming users.

Outcome

4 of the 6 participants in the first round of testing experienced confusion around unclear and redundant copy throughout the app. After the design solutions were applied, only one participant in Round 2 reported confusion regarding the copy on a CTA button but was able to successfully complete all tasks.

Takeaway

Round 2 of usability testing validated that the design solutions made significant improvements to the usability of the app. All five participants gave positive feedback and were able to successfully complete their tasks with little to no usability issues. Three out of five participants said the experience felt beginner-friendly or guessed that the app was targeted for beginners. The UI was described as “simple” and “clean”, and the ease of navigation was common feedback as well.

“I think it’s very functional and very beginner-friendly like I wouldn’t feel intimidated looking through the exercises and trying to figure out one that would work for me.”

HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

Learnings

Usability testing was essential to completing this project as it kept the focus on the user problem and revealed areas where the product needed to better meet user expectations. A deeper analysis of the guerilla testing data could have prevented similar pain points from recurring in future testing, like the confusion with the checkboxes. This serves as a reminder to find themes that link pain points and aim to find holistic solutions to usability problems.

Next Steps

Long-term training planning

With more time and resources, it would be interesting to explore more iterations that focus on and encourage exercise adherence. For example, the app could help plan out full workout programs that span 8 to 12 weeks, and teach users about progressive overload and how to apply it to their workouts.

Strength training education

There is a fitness term, “RPE”, used to label a column of input fields in the custom workout flow that some participants asked for clarification on. RPE is a rating scale used to measure the perceived difficulty of an exercise, which can help lifters gauge the amount of relative effort they put into each set and see their progress over time. The label could be changed to “My Effort” or similar to avoid fitness jargon. It would also be helpful to teach users how to use this rating scale to track progress and help meet fitness goals.