Soleus: AI Driven Fitness App
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OVERVIEW
BACKGROUND
From initial concept, to branding, and finally to a full-blown app prototype, I wanted to challenge myself with developing an app under a time constraint. I decided to explore the world of health and fitness apps. As someone who personally employs multiple apps to track my fitness, health, and nutrition, I was interested in researching the user pain points, goals, and reasoning when utilizing these lifestyle platforms.
PROJECT SCOPE
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- End-to-End Minimum Viable Project
TIMELINE
- Ideation to Prototyping: 5 Weeks
MY ROLE
- Research, Visual Design, Usability Testing
PROBLEM
How might we help people monitor and manage their physical activity, health metrics, and wellness goals while providing expert guidance and personalized training plans?
OBJECTIVE
Find out if there is a need for an app offering more customizable, buildable workout programs that will provide more insight and information about exercises in order to optimize user performance and capabilities.
DISCOVER
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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
As an already oversaturated market, I decided to conduct extensive competitive analysis on popular fitness and health apps available from a wide range of niches. From what I gathered, personalization is vital because people have higher expectations of their health management tools. A new platform tailored to a user’s needs while relying on AI algorithms to analyze user data, offer personalized recommendations, and provide real-time feedback would lead to improved user satisfaction while also increasing the chances of achieving their fitness goals. Further insights revealed that the current user base for fitness platforms is known for a higher level of app abandonment, as well as how crucial the initial onboarding process is in leading to higher retention rates.
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INTERVIEWS
I performed a short round of preliminary interviews in order to gain comprehension into the consumer base surrounding current popular fitness apps. This step was important in finding out what users feel they are missing out on from their past and present wellness platforms. By delving into how people integrate fitness apps into their daily routines and the impact it has on their fitness journeys, I can better tailor a platform to meet the diverse needs and preferences of its users.
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- What are your goals in using a fitness platform? Did it help you achieve those goals?
- What makes you exercise with this platform vs. exercising on your own?
- How often do you use other fitness apps? What would be a reason you would use a different fitness app over this one?
QUOTES FROM INTERVIEWS
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DEFINE
If had had more time while in the user research stage, I would have conducted a card sorting activity to help refine the information architecture of the platform by exposing users' mental models. Preliminary interviews did reveal the importance of customization and personalization in enhancing user satisfaction while also increasing the chances of achieving their fitness goals.
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I spent a considerable amount of time in the discovery stage researching fitness apps, so I could define the unique UX design factors that are important to the success of a health platform.
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USER PERSONAS
I developed two personas to reflect the user base I intend to design for.
Brayan and Breanna are both in their early to late 20s, already a part of the fitness community but looking to get more serious about their physical wellness journey. Brayan is interested in finding a personalized gym routine that fits his busy lifestyle. Breanna is looking to discover workouts that she can complete using the limited gym equipment available at her apartment gym.
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IDEATE
USER FLOWS
ONBOARDING FLOW
I took the time to read a few case studies on the onboarding process for fitness platforms and gained some insight into the aspects that are important to users, such as:
- Visually appealing flow that is easy to follow, so that there’s motivation to complete it.
- Option to skip certain data entry steps during onboarding but receive reminders and incentives to complete later.
- Guide on the importance of data input and how it will benefit the health and fitness journey to encourage completion.
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From the preliminary research I did beforehand, most fitness apps require an email sign up and password before the onboarding questionnaire about their fitness goals. I made the decision to rework it differently so as far as the sign up process, I started with the fitness questionnaire beforehand, having the user already invested in that, before asking for their email. To further validate my choices regarding the initial onboarding process, I would conduct A/B testing after prototype completion.
MAIN NAVIGATION
LOW FIDELITY
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With an already saturated market for fitness and health management platforms, I wanted to build something that adapts to the user needs for increased personalization and data tracking through the use of proven AI algorithms based on personal user data and habits to provide a customized and comprehensive fitness experience.
“AI will provide users with an increasingly frictionless path towards their wellness goals. It minimizes guesswork and manual effort so you can focus on building healthy habits that last. Apps powered by artificial intelligence make fitness regimens smarter, more engaging and hyper-personalized.”
AI in Fitness Apps: Why It’s a Game Changer
HIGH FIDELITY
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Soleus was made in mind to form habits through consistent user logging, which in turn would further personalize the user’s workout experience with AI building customized workouts, goals, and tracking modifiers. After sitemapping the primary navigation pages as well as refining the main user task flows in the Ideation stage, I moved on to developing Lo-Fi wireframes and expanding the onboarding process with my personas in mind. After finishing the low fidelity wireframes, I began to develop a consistent branding profile for Soleus as a fitness platform. Once I established the brand, I refined the wireframes into high-fidelity based on the deliverables and research I had gathered.
UI ELEMENTS
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The layout of the app uses bento boxes to group information. I decided to go with a wordmark, shortened to Sol for small frames. The name of the platform, Soleus, owes its origins to a calf muscle by the same name. Wanting to challenge myself, I focused on creating a dark interface with bright neon accents, typically used within fitness apps. I settled on a bright greenish yellow, the green tinge signifying health while the yellow connected somewhat with the shortened version of Soleus, Sol, the Roman god of the sun.
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KEY SCREEN DEVELOPMENT
TEST
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USABILITY TESTING
Three vital user task flows were tested and monitored through Maze, a user research software that collects, organizes, and analyzes user research data. Users were asked to test a prototype of the app to assess the user experience, navigation ease, and overall intuitiveness of Soleus as an AI driven strength training platform. Further insights on iterations needed and understandings of user demands would demonstrate the effectiveness of Soleus as an app that can fulfill user necessities for a strength training platform relying on collection of user data.
MINOR TOGGLE REVISION
User feedback showed that there was general confusion around finding the Workout Summary tab. Participants felt that the toggles themselves weren’t intuitive to find as well as the icon for the Workout Summary page didn’t make sense. Based on feedback and test results, I reworked the toggles between important screens by making them larger for easier user interaction, and I changed the Workout Summary page icon to be more consistent and clear to the user. This small change in the user interface will impact the overall design hierarchy and information architecture of the platform in order to be more direct and clear for the user.
CONCLUSION
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As someone who values their fitness, nutrition, and wellbeing, this was a facet among lifestyle apps that interests me personally. I wanted to develop an end-to-end mobile physical health platform under a time constraint with a full prototype to test. In order to accomplish what I’d set out to achieve, I focused critically on the discovery research phase beforehand to find a clear defined problem that affects the user base of current and past fitness apps. Soleus was developed to help monitor and manage users’ physical activity, health metrics, and wellness goals, while creating lasting habits when using the app, as well as offer personalized training plans to provide users with a more engaging and effective workout experience.
MOVING FORWARD
I would spend more time developing key screens showcasing how user data logged over time would expand the platform’s AI learning capabilities to further personalize their fitness training and optimize their performance.
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