FitBestie
This is my first full-cycle design project
Project Overview
FitBestie is a women-focused app concept. Its goal is to connect people with similar sports interests and help users find a partner for yoga classes, gym workouts, or any other fitness activity.
My role
Problem definition
After almost two years of living a nomadic lifestyle, I realised how many times I gave up the idea of visiting a fitness studio or a yoga class just because I felt somewhat uncomfortable about going there alone and didn't have any friends in the city to keep me company. Using matching apps to solve this problem turned out inefficient, as fitness and sport are not their primary focus.
Research
Hypothesis
A lot of women prefer to work out with a friend
Some people may feel intimidated by being alone in a new environment
Most people find it difficult to make new friends after a certain age
A lot of newly relocated people will be searching for like-minded people in their area
This kind of app will more likely be popular among women than men
My research process
To prove or disapprove my hypothesis, I used this methods:
Asking friends
Asking people on Reddit
Exploring users' profiles on one of the matching apps for friends
Studying statistics on this topic
Reddit research
First, I wanted to find out how common it is for people to feel social anxiety when attending a fitness studio. Additionally, I wanted to learn how people find themself a workout partner. For this purpose, I chose the r/yoga subreddit, as it has a lot of subscribers (some of them potentially can be target audience for my app), and yoga is one of the most popular fitness activities.
Posting a survey is forbidden in most subreddits, so I had to post my personal story and ask indirect questions to get some insights.
My findings from Reddit:
25% of commentators explicitly confirmed that they found it hard to visit yoga classes for the first time alone, and they felt anxiety.
None of the commentators mentioned any app or website to find a yoga partner in a new town or country.
It wasn't possible to identify the demographics of most of the commentators.
Disclaimer: judging from a few comments, some people see yoga as a solitary practice and prefer to visit yoga classes alone. The results of the research may differ depending on the kind of fitness activity
BFF research (Bumble app for friends)
Next, I created a profile on BFF, one of the most popular apps for making friends. My goal was to find out if many women use Bumble to find a fitness partner. I also wanted to confirm a hypothesis that many people find it hard to make friends at a certain age.
My findings from BFF:
Most of the BFF users are females
A lot of users explicitly stated that they struggle to make new friends in their 20s and 30s
A lot of women are looking for workout partners
Most of the women who are looking for a workout partner are between the age of 20 and 40
A lot of people are using BFF to find new friends after relocation
Personas
User Journey
Competitor analysis
General info
Overview
Popular swipe-based matching app for finding friends
“Social sport app with one simple purpose: connecting everyday athletes.”
Website to find a sport partner in the UK
Competitor type
Indirect
Indirect
Direct
Platform
App (IOS, Android)
App (IOS, Android)
Web
Target audience
Young people (18-34) Although popular among people 40+
Athletes, students
People based in the UK. Focused on the older age group (50+)
Unique value proposition
Matching algorithm, that shows you people who you might be interested in
Connecting athletic students on campus, hosting a sports event
Website focused specifically on meeting people for sports and fitness activities
User reviews
Overall Good/Okay
Main complains: - subscription is too expensive - Amount of right swipes (likes) is limited - safety concerns (users’ location is precise and cannot be edited)
Needs work Main complains: - app doesn’t work properly - hard to find matching partners - no sport events in major cities - low userbase
Needs work
Main complains: - service does not meet users’ expectations - use deceptive of deceptive patterns to make users pay - hidden costs - fake profiles - free version is useless (you can’t see messages from other people)
UX
First Impression
Good Pleasant design and the app looks easy to use.
Needs work Outdated user interface. App is difficult to use, and it’s purpose is unclear.
Good Website has clean and minimalistic design. Both desktop and mobile versions are working fine.
Features
Very Good + Swipe-based app + Search filters (advanced filters are not available in free version) + Chat (text, audio/video calls, messages) + Potential matches (not available in free version) + Detailed user’s profile (photos, bio, interests, lifestyle, prompt questions)
Okay + Search for other users - No search filters + Users groups +/- Search activities (doesn’t work in my area) + Hosting an activity + Messaging - Uninformative user’s profile (pic. 1)
Needs work + Search for other users - No search filters available in free version +/- Users groups (not available in free version) +/- Messaging (you can’t see messages in free version) - Uninformative user’s profile (pic. 4)
User flow
Very Good + Intuitive user flow + Key information is in the foreground + App is easy to use
Needs work - Takes time to figure out what to do - Some information is hard to find
Okay + Intuitive user flow +/- Thumbnails of user profiles have key info, although profiles themselves are uninformative
Navigation
Very Good + Buttons are clearly labeled + Clear icons + Search across chats
Okay - some elements seem to be clickable, but not - unclear purpose of some icons (pic. 2)
Good + Buttons are clearly labeled + Clear icons + Popups with clues across the website
Brand identity
Very Good
Clear brand identity, including colours, font, icons, logo
Okay
Dark and somewhat outdated design. Seems to be targeting male audience primarily (pic.3)
Good
Same colour scheme across website, although brand identity isn’t strong
Summary:
While conducting competitor analysis, I discovered there is very little competition in the market. Apps and websites dedicated to finding sports partners are low on usability and usefulness while having plenty of reviews (which proves the market demand).
The main competitors appeared to be apps for making friends. Besides Bumble, my research includes other match-making apps that are not presented in competitor analysis: Wink, Yubo, BeFriend, and Hey! VINA. The goal was to study the user flow of these apps and discover practical features that might work for the FitBestie app. While Wink, Yubo, and BeFriend target the younger audience and have some inapplicable mechanics, Hey! VINA has a women-focused approach to making new connections and a fun, unique onboarding process. Although a lack of search filters makes it impractical to use Hey! VINA for finding sports/workout partners, it is a good example of a women-focused app in the category.
User Flow
Information Architecture
Paper wireframe
User profile variants:
First Prototype
Usability study
Overview
Research goals:
I would like to find out if the app’s design is intuitive and easy to use, determine which features users find useful or not, and are there any other features they would like to see in the app.
Research questions:
What can I learn from the user flow?
How quick and easy it is for users to navigate the app?
Are there any parts of the user flow where users get stuck?
Are there any changes I can make to improve the design?
Participants:
Female, 26 y.o
Female, 30 y.o
Methodology:
Moderated usability study
Location: remote
Length: 15-30 min sessions
Script
Task 1:
Go to the Main Screen
Browse Users near you
Pick a User profile. What actions can you see there? How would you show your interest to the user without sending a message?
How easy or difficult it was to complete this task? Is there anything you would change about the process of connecting with other users?
Task 2:
What tab would you go to if you were looking for a buddy for a specific sport?
Find out how to adjust search distance; search for users with specific interests and sports
Swipe through profiles
Pick a User profile and hide it from your search
How easy or difficult was this task to complete? Are there any search filters you would like to add?
Task 3:
Go to the Messages screen
Sort chats by distance (nearest first)
Pick a conversation and send a message to the user
Was this particular feature (sort chats) useful? Why or why not?
Task 4:
On the Messages screen, browse users who like you
Pick a User profile and send a message to this user
How do you feel about this feature? is there anything you would like to change?
Task 5:
Go to My Profile screen
Look through the settings options
Which other settings/actions would you like to see on this screen?
How did you feel about this app overall? What did you like and dislike about it?
Conclusions
Note: Although both participants are the target audience for the app, they haven't used any matching or dating apps before.
Participants navigated the app easily and mostly didn't have trouble completing tasks.
Both participants found the search tab unclear and needed some time to figure it out.
One of the participants noted that thumbnails in the list of Likes (Massages screen) are too small, which may be inconvenient.
One of the participants suggested that some search filters are missing (search by gender)
Changes in the prototype
1. A new search filter added
2. Separate tabs for Messages and Likes
3. A small tutorial will be added in the final designs to explain how to navigate the Search screen.
Styles
Colours
Typography
Branding
Final designs
Splash screens / Login / Onboarding
Main app
( In progress )
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