FLEXFIT
Timeline:
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8 weeks (2023)​
Role:
Personalized Workout App for Remote Workers​
offers a seamless solution by integrating personalized exercise routines, tracking features, and motivational nudges to encourage consistency, making fitness more accessible and engaging for remote workers.
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UX/UI Design
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User Research
Tools:
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Figma
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FigJam
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Trello
Project Background
As part of a UX duo, I designed and prototyped FLEXFIT, a workout app tailored for work-from-home professionals. My focus was on improving user engagement through personalized workouts, goal tracking, and gamification features. My teammate and I designed an end-to-end fitness experience, integrating Apple Watch connectivity, smart reminders, and a rewards system, make it easier for users to stay active and motivated.
Problem
Work-from-home professionals face significant challenges in maintaining an active lifestyle due to the demands of remote work. Many existing workout apps fail to provide the personalized support and motivation needed, leading to inconsistent usage and disengagement.
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Key Issues :
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Difficulty staying motivated and committed to workout routines.
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Limited customization options for creating tailored workout plans.
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Lack of integrated notifications and reminders to promote consistency.
Project Goal
To develop a workout app that empowers remote workers by seamlessly integrating exercise into their daily lives. FLEXFIT aims to:
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Provide adaptive workout plans tailored to users' unique goals and schedules.
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Enhance engagement through motivational features like gamification and progress tracking.
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Foster consistency with smart reminders and seamless integration with wearable device.
Empathize
Desk Research
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Remote workers spend an average of 4 to 8 hours per pay seated at their desks.
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Challenges in maintaining consistent workout routines for remote professionals include blurred work-life boundaries, sedentary work environments, time management difficulties, and a lack of motivation.
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Smartwatch usage varies based on personal preferences and needs. Users generally prefer daily workout reminders in the mornings or early evenings, with peak exercise days falling on weekdays.
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Top-performing workout apps such as Nike Training Club and Fitbod offer personalized workouts and tracking features, while users prefer personalization and customization options.
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Users of fitness apps span diverse demographics, and the decision to use paid or free versions depends on individual fitness goals and preferences. For work-from-home professionals, the likelihood of using fitness apps is influenced by factors like flexibility, additional time, and diverse fitness interests, while individual motivation plays a crucial role.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a competitive analysis to explore trends in workout apps, identifying key strengths like customization options that accommodate diverse schedules. However, common drawbacks included limited nutrition features and overly simplistic workouts, leading users to seek alternatives.
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Key insights :
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Strengths: Workout personalization, user-friendly tracking tools, and accessibility.
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Weaknesses: Limited nutrition tracking, lack of workout variety, and insufficient motivational features to sustain engagement.
User Interview
To better understand user needs, I conducted interviews with six participants who work from home. The interviews aimed to uncover pain points, preferences, and expectations for a workout app.
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Demographics:
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Participants: Included UX Designers, software engineers, corporate managers, Support Representatives, Civil CAD Specialists and more. Most participants worked out 1-2 times per week, while several exercised 4 or more times per week.
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Interview Duration: 15 - 30 minutes​​
5 out of 6
interviewees rely on their Apple Watch to track their fitness progress.
100%
of interviewees enjoy working out by themselves.
Cycling and weight-lifting
where frequently named as preferred exercises.
50%
of interviewees want the option to track their diet in their fitness app.
Define
Persona
I developed a primary persona to guide the design of FLEXFIT : Tonya, a 43-year-old freelance writer from Buffalo who struggles to balance work, motherhood, and self-care. She seeks a fitness app with diet tracking, reminders, and varied workouts that fit her busy schedule and support her health goals. By focusing on her needs, I ensured that the app would simplify fitness integration into a busy lifestyle while promoting consistent health and wellness habits.
Ideate
User Journey Map
Tonya's journey highlights the challenges of balancing health and fitness with a busy work-from-home lifestyle. Struggling with weight gain and time management, she discovers FLEXFIT and appreciates its personalized workouts, diet tracking, and timely notifications. With guided onboarding and motivational features like badges, she stays consistent, allowing FLEXFIT to seamlessly integrate into her routine and support her health goals.
Design & Prototype
Wireflows
The wireflows for FLEXFIT were designed to visualize and streamline key user interactions. Each wireflow captures essential features, including personalized workout setup, diet tracking, progress monitoring, and integration with wearable devices like the Apple Watch.
Design System
While designing FLEXFIT's logo, branding, and user interactions, I focused on creating a sense of vitality, motivation, and adaptability to resonate with work-from-home professionals striving for a healthier lifestyle.
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The name FLEXFIT was chosen for its simplicity and clear connection to flexibility and fitness. For the logo, I explored designs centered around a dynamic "X" symbol, representing strength, progress, and balance. The vibrant green hue signifies energy and growth, while the deep blue conveys trust and stability, aligning with FLEXFIT's mission to be a reliable and engaging fitness companion.
Hi-Fidelity Wireframes
Prototype
Flexible Goal Selection
FLEXFIT allows users to select multiple goals at once, making it easy to create a workout plan that fits their needs. With clear progress steps and sub-goal options, setting fitness goals feels natural, keeping users motivated and in control of their journey.​​
Stay on Top of Your Nutrition
FLEXFIT simplifies diet tracking effortless by allowing users to set meal times and quickly find their food choices. Whether tracking breakfast, lunch, or snacks, the intuitive search and customizable reminders help users stay consistent with their nutrition goals.
Workout Challenges & Rewards
Users can set reminders for workout challenges to stay on track, earn badges and points for completing challenges, and redeem points for products in the FLEXFIT store - turning fitness into a fun and rewarding experience.
Apple Watch Integration
FLEXTFIT makes staying active effortless by syncing with Apple Watch, allowing users to track workouts, receive reminders, and monitor progress right from their wrist.​
Test & Implement
Usability Testing
Number of Participants: 5
Interview Time: 30 - 50 minutes
Age Group : 25 - 35
Quantitative Testing Results
Quantitative testing was conducted to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of FLEXFIT's key features, including personalized workouts, diet tracking, and notifications. By analyzing metrics such as task completion rates, time taken to complete tasks, and user success rates, we gained valuable insights into users interaction with the app. The results highlighted strengths, such as workout plan creation, and areas of improvement, like navigation. These insights ensured data-driven refinements to ensure a seamless user experience.
Insights & Feedback
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Users appreciated the clean design and personalization.
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Gamification was a motivating factor.
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​Users loved the points system, providing them with the opportunity to both redeem rewards at the FLEXFIT store and stay motivated with their workouts.
“It was a positive experience. I liked seeing how users can earn points.”
"I like how users collect their badges and points and redeem them with great products!"
“It’s a very simple and easy app. It tells me a lot of information, it helps me set up my fitness goals.”
“I would definitely use the calorie tracking features, especially when I am frequently eating while working from home, I’d love to check my daily calorie intake!”
Implements
Goal Selection
During testing, many users felt frustrated by the limitation of selecting only one goal, making it harder to create a well-rounded fitness plan. Some also found the goal-setting process unclear, unsure of their progress within the flow. To improve the experience:
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Enabled multiple goal selection so users can customize their fitness journey without extra steps.
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Redesigned the layout to clearly display progress and guide users through the setup.
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Added sub-goal options for more customization.
Adding a Meal
60% of users found the meal-tracking process repetitive when logging the same meals multiple times. 40% wanted a faster way to add meals without navigating multiple steps. To improve efficiency, we implemented the following iterations:
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Enabled users to select and log multiple meals at once, reducing redundancy.
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Introduced a "Recent Meals" section for quick access to frequently logged foods.
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Redesigned the meal entry screen to create a more seamless and intuitive experience.
Current Weight
The "Current Weight" section lacked clarity, making it difficult for users to interpret their progress. Additionally, displaying total workout progress in this section caused confusion. To address these issues :
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Enhanced the weight tracking graph with a labeled Y-axis for better readability.
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Added clear indicators for "Current Weight," "Goal Weight," and progress percentage to improve clarity.
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Removed total workout progress to maintain a focused and intuitive weight-tracking experience.
Complete Workouts
Users found it frustrating that expired workout challenges disappeared, preventing them from accessing past challenges for reference or continued workouts. To address this issue:
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Added a "Completed Challenges" section at the end of the "Challenges" screen for easy access.
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Improved visual distinction between active and completed challenges for better clarity.
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Enabled users to revisit past challenges to track progress or repeat workouts.
Conclusion
Next Steps
If I were to further advance the FLEXFIT project, these are the key areas I would explore:
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Expanding integration with wearable devices beyond Apple Watch to improve accessibility.
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Refining the reward system by introducing new gamification features to sustain long-term engagement.
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Conducting additional usability testing to further optimize the onboarding process and goal-setting experience.
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Exploring AI-driven workout recommendations to personalize fitness plans based on user progress and preferences.
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Strengthening the social and community aspect by enabling more interactions, such as workout challenges with friends.
Project Takeaways
Going into this project, I anticipated the challenge of balancing flexibility with structure in a fitness app designed for remote workers. What keeps users engaged? How do we ensure workouts remain adaptable yet motivating? How can gamification enhance consistency without feeling intrusive?
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Prioritization is key. A well-structured project plan ensures that core features are solid before expanding functionality.
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Data-driven iteration improves UX. Testing provided valuable insights, shaping design decisions that directly improved usability.
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Familiar patterns reduce friction. Users expect certain interactions to work in intuitive ways - customization should enhance, not complicate, the experience.
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While an app alone can't change fitness habits overnight, FLEXFIT creates an engaging, supportive space for users to build healthier routines. By continuing to refine and personalize the experience, it has the potential to make fitness a natural and enjoyable part of everyday life.
