Redesign for a Fitness App
Conqur - a wearable-based athletic performance tracker for sportspersons
ROLE
DURATION
COMPANY
TEAM
DELIVERABLES
Product Designer
8 Weeks
Research development lead, and myself
UX Audit, Competitive Analysis, Personas, Journey Mapping, Information Architecture, Low-High Fidelity Prototypes, UI Kit
TOOLS
Adobe XD, Photoshop, Figma
OVERVIEW
Netrin’s Conqur is a wearable fitness product that quantifies your body's physiological and motion parameters using a chest wearable. Typically used by sportspersons like players, coaches, managers, etc. to enhance their performance and consistency, the app analyses the body's stress, sleep, activity, and recovery levels into quantified metrics.
While the app was in its alpha version, feedback from users helped define the complexity of the service at hand. From collecting health data to presenting session reports, the app experience was close to being overwhelming and daunting for the users. It was at this point that I was brought in, to re-design a Beta version of the app with a more intuitive session experience.
PROBLEMS:
SOLUTIONS:
-
The overall session experience - from collecting, analyzing to providing data - was at times confusing and demanding for the users.
-
Users slacked on inputting their activities during a session, which is a crucial requirement for the algorithm's success.
-
While users were presented with a variety of complex health metrics and pie charts at the end of a session, they didn't know how to act upon it.
-
Redesigned and reprioritized the entire information architecture and navigation for a faster, simplified and seamless session experience.
-
Reduced the clicks per task and simplified the log-in process for activities to make it less daunting.
-
Smarter visualization of health data and reports for easier understanding and assimilation by users.
DESIGN PROCESS
Coloured circles indicate my areas of involvement in the entire process.
RESEARCH
To start with, I conducted a UX audit of the app's alpha version, to understand the product's performance in terms of usability, clarity, and efficiency. I used the device for a few sessions, trying to simulate the environment of an athlete to my best. Considering that I was entirely new to using wearable technology of this kind ( like many of the target users), I was able to provide a fresh and unbiased perspective of how the usage journey felt.
I then created User personas of the product's target users - the athletes, coaches, trainers, and training agencies. Though the user testing had been done before I was brought in, I was able to accumulate and gather detailed feedback from the larger team at Netrin. Creating these personas helped me understand the unique needs, goals, and preferences of different categories of users.
I also created a User journey map for the personas using feedback from user testing. By visually mapping out the key interactions, feelings, motivations, and experiences in the usage journey, I could better understand and empathize with the user to provide a more nuanced, holistic, and human-centered redesign.
I also did a Competitive analysis of other wearable-based fitness applications in the market like Firstbeat, Suunto, Humon, etc. This gave me an idea of existing conventions and market trends in the user experience for such healthcare and fitness apps. While many of these apps would have faced similar challenges like us, it was interesting to try and identify how they may have overcome them, considering that these products have been in the market for longer.
KEY INSIGHTS
-
The dark mode is not helpful when the app is being used outdoors ( during training, etc).
-
Overall lack of clarity, hierarchy, and distinct prioritization of actions in the session journey.
-
While the whole session journey works with a lot of metrics, they lacked efficient visualizations for the user to easily understand and work with.
-
Logging in activities, which is an important requirement to generate accurate results, turned out to be a dauntingly long and complex task due to its elaborate nature.
-
While the reports generated provided a lot of numerical data and pie charts, users were confused about "What Next?" - How do they make sense of so much data and process it into actionable advice?
DEFINE
After conducting my user research, I was able to identify key areas of intervention that were of immediate priority in the redesign. I identified 3 key task streams that the redesign would focus on: 1. Pre-Session (Logging In and entering body metrics) 2. During Session (Logging in activities and syncing the wearable) 3. Post Session (Viewing session report). While each stream had its own unique problems, the primary focus of the redesign remained on reducing the cognitive load and time involved for the user. This framework along with the user insight collected thus far, would guide design decisions moving forward. The product's algorithm had also evolved, allowing us to incorporate certain new features like the Quick Recovery Test in the redesign.
How could the product be redesigned for a faster, simpler, and more seamless session experience?
IDEATE
To accommodate all these insights, we understood that mere surface-level fixes weren't going to solve the root cause problem. We decided to clear the slate and entirely redefine the information architecture to establish a clear hierarchy within the app for the user to seamlessly navigate.
LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPING
FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE · FINAL PROTOTYPE ·
PRE-SESSION
A modular onboarding experience aided by more visuals
The final redesign simplified the login process, by splitting the actions sequentially into multiple screens so as to not overwhelm the user. From bringing in a calendar for entering the Date-of-Birth and nesting the Terms & Conditions to using visualizing the height-weight data input section, we have reduced the cognitive load and clicks per task for the user.
DURING-SESSION
Home screen that contains a distict and clear visual hierarchy of actions to be taken during a session
Once the user wears the device and starts a session, they primarily make use of the home screen. The 3 key actions to be taken during a session are prioritized and placed together - 1. Start/Stop a session 2. Sync device 3. Log Activity. Device information is displayed distinctly making sure the user always keeps an eye on it. A larger section of the screen has been used to show live ECG, step count, and heart rate; to keep the users engaged.
Faster and efficient activity log-in process with fewer clicks per task
We also drastically reduced the clicks per task to log-in an activity to make the process faster and less cumbersome for the users. Considering that users have to log in every activity - from sleeping to exercising - simplifying this log-in process was crucial in the redesign. More icons and visual calendars were incorporated with this intent.
POST-SESSION
Both qualitatively and quantitatively insightful report
Once the session's complete, the user is provided with a report on their overall health and individual parameters of sleep, stress, activity, and recovery. Through smart visualizations aided by contextual explanations, the user is provided both quantitative and qualitative insights into their health. This way, the user is provided not just the metrics but also an understanding of what's working and what's not in their body, to help them improve their performance. A comparative graph and calender also provide access to previous reports.
A settings section with additional features to change the app and device settings
The Settings section was also elaborately designed with new features to handle both the mobile app's and wearable's settings.
Dark and Light mode
The UI was designed was a trendy Neomorphic palette in both a dark and light mode to suit both indoor and outdoor training sessions.
MY OBSERVATIONS
-
Considering that I'm neither an athlete nor a fitness enthusiast, I found it interesting to use a wearable and empathize with the daily routine of sportspersons.
-
Simplifying the activity log-in process and working with so many health metrics proved a complex challenge, one that required multiple rounds of discussions and iterations with the R&D Lead.
-
I would have liked to see how this design would perform in a usability test to check if our design hypothesis was on the right track.
-
I also would appreciate being able to participate in a more hands-on manner and design the user research experience for the next iteration.