Tandem Fit
iOS App Design
Project Overview
As a member of UX Her, a design community for women of color, I joined a team to advance my design skills by conducting team exercises. The team was given a project brief with the following product description:
The product is a matching app for fitness enthusiasts looking to pair with a workout partner to compete in weekly challenges with. This service will be available to individuals and teams.
Over the course of a few weeks we defined the problem statement and designed the onboarding process. From there, I decided to further pursue the project on my own and design the MVP.
How might we create a mobile experience to find a suitable workout partner, with an emphasis on matching and encouraging consistent fitness.
The Design Process
To challenge my skills as a designer and quickly design the MVP I utilized a 2-week design sprint process driven by design thinking. I started by learning more about the different design sprint frameworks like Google Venture's 5-day design sprint, Boana's 2-week design sprint, and a couple others. I then used this knowledge to create a process suitable for the purpose of this project.
Week 1
Monday
Tuesday
Research & Define
Wednesday
Create Brand Identity
Thursday
Friday
Ideate & Prototype
Week 2
Monday
Tuesday
Test & Prioritize Revisions
Wednesday
Implement Testing Insights
Thursday
Friday
Style Guide & Next Steps
Understanding User Needs
I conducted a competitive review and collected screenshots of fitness apps and matching apps. Through this, I discovered some common features and functions amongst the apps that would be helpful to implement in my design. I also considered how I could combine and improve the features of both categories to offer a more valuable product.
The Fitness Enthusiast
I conducted a survey to understand the needs of people who are, or aspire to be more physically fit. The responses showed that most users prefer to workout with a partner and would feel more motivated by the ability to track their progress.
Toni, the "Fitness Enthusiast", represents millennials who would like to make progress on their fitness journey with the workouts they need to stay active, the ability to track their progress, and the support of a fitness community. Creating this persona helped me to better understand the needs of a fitness enthusiast and what frustrations the product can resolve.
A Guide for the Design
With a better understanding of the user, I created the project target to set expectations for the project and provide a measurement of success. I then wrote the user stories to provide a guide for my designs and to ensure all necessary functions were accounted for.
Mapping the Experience
Guided by the user stories, I laid out a site map to help me visualize the scope of the MVP. I later found this to be incredibly helpful in guiding my ideation.
DEFINE
Creating the Brand
An Identity that Resonates
The scope of the project also included creating the brand name, logo, and identity. I brainstormed a few names that would accurately reflect the purpose of the app and landed on "Tandem Fit".
I also considered the style, voice, and personality of the brand, which I thought should be energetic, simplistic, and straight-forward to appeal to millennial users, like Toni. Based on those characteristics, I worked quickly to design a logo that accurately reflects the brand's identity and thus, Tandem Fit was born.
Speedy Ideation
To quickly explore a variety of possible solutions, I utilized the Crazy 8s sketching method to generate ideas for each section of the app. This process was extremely helpful in pushing me to explore more unconventional ideas. After completing the exercise, I reviewed my sketches to choose which ones would make for the best user experience.
Click Image to Enlarge
Designing the Solution
Designing the MVP
By implementing the best options from the Crazy 8 sketches, pulling inspiration from competitors, and integrating the brand identity, I designed the prototype focused on the main features necessary for the MVP.
Click to view more details on the design
Testing the Design
With the first prototype complete, I conducted four user interviews to test the clickable prototype and gain user insight. Through this, I found a couple major flaws in my design.
Due to the title of the "Matches" page users were confused by the purpose of the page, as it led them to think those matches were people they have already matched with. Also, the swiping gesture to browse potential matches was not intuitive enough for users unfamiliar with apps that utilize swiping.
"Umm, I'm not really sure what to do from here?"
Prioritizing the Revisions
1. Revise the navigation
Provide more clarity in the navigation menu, specifically the matching page.
2. Swiping affordance
Consider how to educate users on how matching works and how to navigate that section.
3. Minor improvements
Make a few visual design and UX writing improvements to provide a more intuitive experience.
Revising the Design
Next Steps & Takeaways
Next Steps
1. Add in the onboarding process
Now that the MVP is designed, the onboarding process can be revised and prototyped to create the full experience. Also, the education on how to use the app will be added at the end of the onboarding process.
2. Test, test, test
With the onboarding added and the full flow prototyped, the next step would be to conduct another round of user testing.
3. Expand the design
Moving beyond the MVP, I plan to continue designing and testing this product. Some additional functions to be added include integrating a paid subscription, sharing workouts with partners, creating teams, and providing workout plans.
Takeaways
1. There's no right answer
With a product this robust, I found that there are a seemingly endless amount of ways to design the experience. It was quite the challenge to decide upon the "best" experience, but I learned that there is no right answer. By testing, designing, and testing again, I will be able to create a better, or "best", experience.
2. Design sprints require full-speed
As this was my first design sprint, this project truly challenged me to think and work quickly. From beginning to end, I was pushed to work dynamically, stay organized and debrief between each day, and design faster than I have before.
