Jumprope

With the mind of an engineer and personal trainer, my client saw a gap in the fitness industry. There is an increasing number of people that either don’t know how to work out, don’t have the time to work out, or don’t have time to make a plan for working out. Jumprope brings the needs of the user to the forefront and creates specific and personalized workout plans and monitors the progress, allowing the users to just focus on what matters to them...working out hard and gaining results.

This project has changed course recently due to the influx of fitness apps on the market as a direct result from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are currently in the process of reanalyzing where we fit in the market and where we can best serve the end user. The following is the design process for Jumprope to date.

Practices

Product design, Experience design, Visual design, Prototyping, Brand awareness

Methods & Tools

Secondary research, Ideation, Adobe XD

Role

Product Designer

Date

Mar 2020 - Apr 2020

USERS & AUDIENCE

Jumprope is an app for people that are tech enthusiasts and are already interested in fitness (those who work out regularly and are health conscious). At the moment, we are targeting all genders aged 17-45. This scope will narrow based on market research and data analysis of ongoing surveys.

RESPONSIBILITIES

In this project, I have had the opportunity to partner with a Senior UX architect to understand user base and build a useful, functional health and fitness app as a minimum viable product. I have:

• Engaged in user testing of preliminary product prototypes using Adobe XD

• Identified new product improvement opportunities

• Modified and revised existing designs using Figma to meet customer preferences

• Presented digital experience design ideas to stakeholders

SCOPE & CONSTRAINTS

My role at the beginning of this project was to create and present a viable prototype for market testing and brand identity for the app. Since the restructuring of the app, my role has shifted to include competitive analysis research, identifying opportunities for the app through information provided by our data analytics team, creating personas, screen sketches, wireframes and a new possible prototype, as well as completing the new brand identity/style guide based on the new target market.

MOCKUPS

New to the UX design process, I jumped right in to making mockups for the inital testing phase. My thought process in these screens was to make it as simple as possible so that the user would not have to concentrate on the functionality of the app while also trying to concentrate on a good workout session. I used Adobe XD to complete these screens and the product owner created prototypes that were then tested with a handful of users.

CALL FOR BACKUP

After testing the MVP with a handful of users, The product owner and I decided that it was best to bring on someone with more experience to help me through the process of cleaning up the interface of the app and building the information architecture for the app.

At this point, the project started to lose momentum and it was put on the backburner.

ACCELERATION & EXAMINATION

It was during the onset of COVID-19 that the project started to pick back up again and we soon came to realize that the project needed a complete overhaul due to the saturated market of fitness apps and at home fitness equipment. With myself and the product owner steering the project, we want to make sure that this time around we find the missing link for the users. To do this we collaborated with a market research analyst to construct a survey to better understand the current market.

As the survey was run, I conducted my own competitive analysis of the top apps in the fitness industry.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

To complete the competitive analysis, I researched the top 5 fitness apps:

• Zova

• SWEAT

• Keep

• Gym Workout Planner (by Fitness 22)

• Home Workout - No Equipment (by Leap Fitness Group)

From this competitive analysis I have learned that while there is a very saturated market, Jumprope can set itself apart with most liked features and doing them well. While majority of the apps have a lot of the same features, they don’t necessarily do them well. It’s the execution that will set us apart from the competition.

WHERE WE’RE AT

At this point, we are in the stage of analyzing our survey data with a very capable data analyst. From here, we will run a second survey to narrow down the information we have gathered from the first data set, giving us a better understanding of where we can fit into the market. Once we have this information I will be constructing the following:

• 2 User personas

• User behavior diagram

• New information architecture

• Screen sketches

• Wireframes + working prototype

• Mockups + working prototype

• Design style guide + art files for development

It is important to note that, during this revamp of the app, I will be engaging with the users and conducting user testing at every step.

OUTCOMES

The most valuable lesson I have learned from this project thus far is that you have to know your user before you can create a product that is going to be successful. In the beginning of this project, before we brought on the Senior UX architect, we jumped both feet in to making a viable prototype without doing the research needed to justify the choices we were making. We relied solely on the expert feedback when in reality we should have relied on both the expert opinion and that of the user. While the steps of the UX design framework are mailable it doesn’t mean that they are optional. Knowing your user is key to success.