Fitness App

Helping people pass a mandated fitness test, and achieve their career and lifestyle goals.

Year

2022

Client

Government Recruiting Organisation

Project Type

UX Design

Role

UX Researcher & Designer

Three screens of fitness app on iPhones

Project Overview

Designing a bespoke and purpose-driven fitness app for a recruitment agency

We needed to deeply understand what candidates went through as they prepared for their fitness test and life in their new career.
Then, we found a way to help them succeed.

Objective

Design a fitness app to help candidates pass their fitness test and begin their new role safely and confidently

My Role/Responsibilities

UX research, synthesis, and design

The problem

The fitness test is a key bottleneck for recruits.

The fitness app should reduce the number of failed fitness tests and decrease the average number of attempts per pass. The app seeks to address this critical barrier to entering roles.

What we created

A fitness app designed to increase test pass rates for a government agency, determine the appropriate training methods, and add value beyond training that offers unique value only the specific organisation could fulfil.

This new fitness app can help recruits prepare for their fitness test confidently and begin their basic training, and career, with a lower risk of injury and anxiety.

Fitness App- Workout Overview & Exercise Details
    iPhone screens with fitness app displayed. The app is showing different rounds of exercises for a workout.

    The Process

    Creating value

    Defined the strategic purpose and objectives

    • Had a kick-off workshop with key stakeholders and project sponsors to establish the strategic purpose and objectives of the app
    • Conducted observation sessions with candidates to understand their current experience
    • Synthesised research using a repository tool called, ‘Dovetail’
    • Clustered themes from the feedback provided by candidates to capture latent needs and identify areas for opportunity

    Design potential future-state solutions & test them

    • Ideation session with trainers and stakeholders
    • Created prototypes based on key user flows
    • Conducted usability testing with current candidates to improve experience and determine value  

    Establish & quantify expectations for Return on Investment

    • Update the measurement of current state app
    • Collect qualitative and quantitative data to provide a performance baseline
    • Quantify the potential improvement delivered by the future state solution

    Document future-state recommendation

    • Functional wireframes for key user flows
    • Measurement framework and KPIs
    • Estimated costs for design, build & rollout
    Fitness App- Fitness Test Resources / Exercise & Technique Library
      iPhone screens showing fitness app. The fitness app shows a section with exercise techniques and information, and a forum for users to ask questions about each exercise.

      The Insights

      Deeply understanding the candidates



      Candidates need an app that instills confidence, is structured yet flexible, connects them to a community, and provides guidance then reassurance during workouts.

      They require clarification on what success looks like and how it's achieved. They want metrics to confirm their effort is worthwhile.

      Context: I assume that I can rely on this app if the organisation has approved it.

      Desire:
      I want to feel confident that the organisation's tools will optimise my chance of success.Reason: it’s about the career, the fitness test is just a hurdle.

      Relevance:
      It’s not just any fitness goal, it's the fitness test; I need to know my effort will help me thrive in my new career.

      Requirements:
      I want to see the steps to success and know my effort will achieve the goal.

      Guidance:
      I need instruction to reassure me I’m doing the right thing; I don’t want to feel like I’m alone.

      Progress:
      I can’t be sure of progress unless I can measure it; I don’t want tokens, I want metrics.

      Fitness App- Workout Complete / Feedback
        iPhone screens showing the fitness app. The app is asking how the user feels after the workout, then provides follow up questions and the ability to request additional support.

        Final User Interface Design

        Listening to people, every step of the way

        I discovered the immense value of preserving people's voices throughout the entire design process, from synthesis to ideation, iteration, and presentation.

        Thanks to Dovetail, I retained video snippets, direct quotes, and contextual information at every step of the synthesis. This ensured that our team and stakeholders remained deeply engaged with the human aspect of the project, never losing sight of its true purpose: empowering individuals to conquer significant physical and mental challenges and fulfil their aspirations.

        As I listened to people's stories, fears, and dreams, it became evident that our mission went beyond designing a mere fitness app. Ultimately, it was about forging connections, opening doors to opportunities, and making sure that people achieved their career and lifestyle goals - no matter how audacious!

        Fitness App / Progress Update
        iPhone screens showing the fitness app. The app is showing a story about the users progress, how they reported feeling after workouts, and how they compare to other app users.

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