Detailed Case Study
World's First Accountability Gym App
Discover our groundbreaking fitness app: personalized goal tracking, real-time communication, and a user-friendly interface. Partner with our accountability feature for mutual support and surpass limitations. Join the fitness revolution and unlock your potential today!
Problem
In today's fast-paced world, professionals unintentionally neglect health amid career demands, creating a gap between intention and fitness goals. Innovative solutions are needed to seamlessly integrate optimal health practices into busy lives.
Solution
Embedding effective accountability strategies into our fitness app. Supported by research, this approach addresses goal attainment, aligning seamlessly with modern lifestyles for enhanced fitness effectiveness.
Timeline
From explorations to final designs in 5 weeks while working with multiple projects at the same time
- As a college student I had notice how many of my peers and I were able to persevere to wards ours academic pursuits we have, say a very hard project due the next week we might struggle a lot with it but we always manage to power through it in order to get the project done by the deadline.
- On the other hand, if my working friend would tell themselves that they want to wake up earlier and set a more personal goals, it usually never ends up happening or succeeding.
- This got me question in me, of why was there this disconnect between achieving our academic / work goals versus our personal goals.
The problem = Adults fail to accomplish their personal goals as successfully as their work goals.
White Paper Research
- First, before touching anything related to design, I wanted to dive into the psychology and motivations behind goal setting. - I’m really passionate about personal development and before going into specifically this problem, before starting the visual elements of design, I started off with white paper research.
- Diving more into the psychology of goal setting motivation and the mindset needed, I found an really interesting statistic from the American society of training and development and this statistic was people are 65 percent likely to meet a goal after making that goal public but their chances of success increase to 95 percentage when they have a specific accountability partner to report to.
- Personally I had never heard of it before but looking back to college days it made sense and made an impact on my project.
- Since the space is more you know goal setting and of productivity I believe it is still a pretty saturated space so I also conducted a competitive analysis of four most popular gym apps to see what was working or what could be improved and I reflected that within my own design and with that I found these five apps.
- The competition had a little to NO accountability aspect to help the user achieve their goals. - Looking at the reviews of all these apps, users state that they can flake on their goals due to not enough pressure they still didn’t feel held down enough towards achieving their goals.
After seeing the psychology + competition in this space, I wanted to hear first hand my target audience’s experiences to cater the final product towards their needs.
- So with five working adults from across a variety of industries I asked them questions to find some trends on why they failed at some goals versus other
- Tell me about the last project that they worked on?
- What motivated you to start in the first place?
- What was the most difficult part of trying to achieve your goals?
- Tell me you did have to do something difficult as a goal but you yet pushed through and accomplished it
- With these insights I organized all my data. i found my interviewees were 3x more likely to succeed when there was accountability for their goals. - I have noticed how if there’s no real pain or consequence associated with not achieving their goal as was the case in previous apps, their motivation to continue ceased to exist.
Personal Goal
- Mapping out the journey of this user their process for going about a goal went like they have a lot of intrinsic motivation saying this time is going to be different, then they end up trying, maybe they’re successful for a few days or a few weeks but eventually that internal motivation does seem to wane and they eventually don’t feel like it anymore and usually it’s at that point that they get stuck.
- So this compare to their professional goals, they too ultimately don’t feel like they want to finish it anymore but what was the difference, the difference was there was a consequence of not completing that work while if they didn’t do they fitness goal, nothing bad is gonna happen.
Professional Goal
Low-Fidelity Wireframe
A low-fidelity wireframe is the preliminary blueprint of a digital interface, emphasizing structure over design details. It efficiently guides the early design stages, fostering collaboration and establishing the foundational layout and flow of a digital product.
High-Fidelity Wireframe
A high-fidelity wireframe is the advanced version of a digital interface design, featuring detailed visual elements and interactive components. It provides a polished preview of the final product, facilitating informed decision-making and a seamless transition to development.
Natasha
27 years old - Marketing manager
Necessity
Work/life balance required.
She wants to have her entire routine under control.
She wants to find motivation to be consistent.
Pain Points
Long working hours.
Constraints of business travel, unable to exercise consistently.
Work taking priority over health.
Klaus
30 years old - Tech Startup Founder
Necessity
Diet and training required.
He needs to find mental balance.
He must make the most of his little free time.
Pain Points
Balancing personal and professional life is a challenge.
Work hour are irregular and unpredictable.
Disturbed sleep due to work-related stress and constant mental engagement that comes with start-ups.
First major improvement
Change of GymOn Icon
Originally had lot of gradient, changed to flat UI.
Based on feedback, letting the user know that the app was related to gym by looking at it seemed better fit.
Second major improvement
Change of Bottom Navigation
Giving the bottom navigation more minimalistic look, making it convenient for users.
Highlighting the icon to showcase where they are at.
Thought to be more useful to have lo-fidelity UI.
Third major improvement
Switching to a broadcast feed
Originally designed accountability “Chatroom”
Based on feedback, social media feeds encourage better behavior as appears more “public” than a private chat.
Allows instant gratification of “likes” to encourage user.
Having Accountability Partners
Increase your chances of accomplishment upto 95*
Provides a source of extrinsic motivation
Avoid social consequences of not completing your goals
*According to the American Society of Training and Development
Manage Your Goals
Track, manage and execute all your goals at a glance
Instant schedule depending on the day
Customize + change schedule for the day
Send Evidence + Engage
Send proof of completion of your task
Proof of evidence makes sure to lock in your commitments
Stay accountable to partners in the accountability broadcast feed
Working fully through this project taught me the importance of trying to think intentionally about every element of the project and how it can contribute to the end result.