Atlas is a side project with the aim of improving people's relationship with exercising at high-end gyms. Luxury gyms are committed to providing their clients with a high-level training environment and personalized services, so they can effectively and comfortably achieve their health and wellness goals.
Role
Year
The gym chain was facing issues with control and member portal. Gym members were complaining about the difficulty of accessing relevant information about their workout plans, while the member management system was not efficient enough to meet the demands of the gym.
The goal of the project was to develop a mobile application that would encompass the entire customer lifecycle at the gym, including a remote registration system and simplified payment tracking.
To understand the needs of the niche, I adopted a research process composed of several stages. First, I conducted an in-depth research to understand the idea and the overall scenario. Then, I conducted a competitor analysis, evaluating the digital services and products of 5 competitors. Next, I conducted an online research with 30 participants to identify motivational patterns, products consumed in gyms, and primary user pains. Finally, I conducted individual interviews that helped me understand the user journeys and specific problems that the application could address. Results:
• It's a common practice to offer personalized training and nutrition plans.
• Services like yoga classes and massage are seen as premium products.
• Tools for managing training and meal plans are a differentiator.
• Lack of attention from the gym is one of the main pain points.
1. 80% of respondents attend the gym at the same time.
2. The most common initial goals are aesthetics and weight loss for health.
3. One frequent fear is the capacity of the gym.
4. The capacity of the gym is not addressed as an important point.
The individual interviews revealed interesting patterns in goals, choice of gym, and training. Referrals from acquaintances are important in the decision-making process for choosing services and personal trainers. Some users found it interesting to have the option to use different gym locations. The choice of workouts is aided by instructors or personal trainers and tracked with paper forms or an exclusive gym app. Fear is a common pain point among gym-goers. All interviewees mentioned the importance of an application that assists in tracking gym activities and services.
"My gym has cool equipment, but it's always crowded, which really demotivates me..."
Carlos
Developer
With the findings from the interviews and provided documentation, it was possible to map the operation flow of the renegotiation area, containing 28 interaction points.
I combined my initial research to develop two personas that represent my target audience.
Create a journey with the goal of understanding the process of choosing a gym to attend, from the beginning of research to the end of the first exercise day.
Based on the collected data and analysis, I started categorizing and structuring the information, grouping what made sense into each stage of the journey.
The first version of the prototype was tested with 4 users with the objective of identifying which revisions were necessary to improve the overall experience and make it more enjoyable and intuitive.
Completion of proposed tasks
Correct understanding of information
Some users had difficulty identifying which services were included in their contracted plan and which services had to be paid separately. To address this issue, a separation of included and paid elements was proposed, with the creation of an exclusive category for paid services.
Users had doubts about the exclusivity of services, whether classes and services were individual or group. The solution was to present information on how many people had registered to participate in the selected time slot in the scheduling stage.
One participant expressed the desire to automate the scheduling of group classes, as he attended these classes twice a week and did not want to forget to schedule them.
Suggestion: Add the possibility of a recurring scheduling and confirm participation the day before.
During the journey of this project, I learned that trusting the process of research and discovery can lead us to surprising results. Even though I started with completely different assumptions and initial ideas on how to solve the problem, I was able to develop comprehensive UX and UI design skills, from research to continuous testing and iterations.
I chose to work with a highly speculative concept to challenge my ability to think beyond the limits of existing information, and this allowed me to learn not to get stuck on a single solution. Although I started the project thinking about a simple check-in system and subscription payment management, the journey led me to a different and much more satisfying path. I am proud of the work I have done and the results achieved.
Thinking about the product's performance and the complete user journey, I would like to work on other points in the future:
Mapping and developing the communication journey between the gym and the user.
How to approach the relationship between nutrition and exercise within the application.
Explore the discovery and gym selection stages.
