NEO Fit
Taking a social-fitness app from concept to high-fidelity prototype
Responsibilities
UX/UI Design, Ideation, Product Strategy
Timeline
2 Months
Platform
Mobile Native
Introduction
Status quo
NEO is an app in development, that helps keep the gym fun, and allows friends to keep each other accountable when it comes to fitness and exercise. This is achieved through weekly goals (individual and/or group based), and submitting photos to log sessions. I was appointed to take the project from a concept to a high-fidelity prototype. I was the sole designer on this project, and reported back to two founders.
Challenges
In order to create a successful product, we had to solve a few problems. The gym for many people can be quite lonely. This invariably makes the gym feel like a chore, and it can make hitting fitness goals difficult. Reframing these problems as How might we (HMW) questions helped generate ideas and solutions during the project.
help make the gym more sociable
HMW:
help people stick to their
fitness goals
HMW:
make exercise more fun and easier to take part in
HMW:
Process
Preparatory work
I carried out some initial research on direct and indirect competitors to find out how other companies were tackling similar problems (e.g. goal setting, sharing images, group creation and discovery). I created a mini design system that would develop over the course of the project. This allowed me to move fast, whilst maintaining consistency.
User flows
In order to create an effective user experience, I created user flows. Proactively planning the flow for each task on the app helped identify issues and rectify them quickly and early.
Sketches & wireframes
Weekly meetings
The team would meet twice a week to discuss designs and what we planned to implement. As the project was still in the concept phase, we often discussed product strategy, deciding what features were must-haves, what features diluted the overall offering, and what ones were perhaps too ambitious for the budget and timescale.
Final designs
Profile
The profile section of the app allows users to set a weekly goal/check their progress towards their goal, and view how many sessions they completed each week.
Groups
The groups section of the app allows users to connect with friends and others by creating groups or joining them with a unique code/link or QR code.
Record
Record is the place users go to submit sessions, or send stories.
Impact
After working on the project for around 8 weeks, I produced the first draft/iteration. The team then discussed the work and identified some areas that could be improved, ranging from top level functionality to minor design tweaks. I then worked to create a refined iteration of the prototype. After one more week, the final iteration of the MVP prototype was built. At this stage I would normally carry out user testing to validate the prototype/product (even earlier could be beneficial), however this was not one of my deliverables. The app development is currently ongoing, therefore the impact of the project is yet to be fully realised. I will share the results as they become available.
Future work
The next step for the team is to talk to potential users to build a mailing list, and begin development of the app. Talking to potential users and gathering feedback will help identify areas of improvement, and assess the concept’s desirability.
Reflection
Feasibility and viability
This project provided valuable experience of finding the sweet spot for innovation in a pre-seed start-up environment. The team’s first focus was often creating value for people. This meant we had to decide against various exciting features in the interim, based on what could be realistically achieved in an MVP, and what was viable in a business/financial sense.
