With the infinite amount of resources, much of which seem to be cookie-cutter programs and general tutorials, there is a lack of customized, well-designed, self-paced programs that help people achieve a well-executed pull-up.
Research indicates that despite being active and setting out to achieve a pull-up, not many people can. Suspend’s goal is simple: Save time and frustration with clear progressions that help someone achieve their first pull-up.
SUSPEND APP
Helping beginners get their
first pull-up.
ROLES
As part of my UI/UX Design Course, I assumed the following roles designing this app:
User Experience (UX) Designer
Interaction (IxD) Designer
User Interface (UI) Designer
Visual Designer
DELIVERABLES
Interaction Design:
High-fidelity interactive prototypes for key tasks on iOS
UX/UI Design:
Competitive analysis
User surveys and one-on-one interviews
Personas
User journeys and task flows
Site map
Low-fidelity wireframes
High-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Usability tests and findings
PROJECT SPECS
Duration: 3 Weeks (100 Hours)
Tools:
Figma
Google Forms (Surveys)
Optimal Workshop (Research)
Maze (Testing)
PROBLEM
Imagine for a second, you’ve been struggling for months to get a pull-up. So you decide to jump on Youtube for some guidance. With the endless click-bait, ad-filled, cookie-cutter tutorials it’s too easy to get overwhelmed. After digging through tons of videos, and instructors, you find one that aligns with you and seems legit. So you head to their website only to find that they only offer outdated PDF “e-books” and printable workout trackers. 🤮
PROPOSED SOLUTION
A pull-up is a skill. Like any other skill, it can be broken down into smaller skills. The proposed solution is an app that breaks down those mini-skills and meets people where they are on their pull-up journey. An app that streamlines the process with clear progressions that help users build wins along the way to getting a pull-up.
PROCESS OVERVIEW
01
RESEARCH
GOALS
I focused my research on one simple question:
What’s the biggest challenge for someone when it comes to achieving their first pullup?
Most importantly, I really wanted to get to the heart of why a movement like a pull-up can be so challenging and defeating. Secondly, I also wanted to get a better understanding of people’s experiences using fitness apps to help them achieve their goals.
METHODOLOGIES
One-on-one interviews allowed me to gather qualitative info about people’s motivational factors, their emotional landscape around being able to achieve a pull-up, and any experiences with other habit-forming or fitness-related apps.
User surveys allowed me to gather quantitive findings around a person’s ability to perform a pull-up, their biggest challenges with getting a pull-up, and also any experiences with other habit-forming or fitness-related apps.
Market research allowed me to get a better understanding of what was currently available. My focus was on companies that specifically broke down bodyweight movements into progressions.
Insights
Based off my research, about 33% of people surveyed and interviewed were not able to perform a pullup.
Top Reasons:
1. Lack of strength
2. Prioritization
3. Lack of direction.
4. Accountability
Takeaways
• Clear and Concise Progressions
• High accountability
• Inviting and friendly experience.
USER PERSONA:
After synthesizing all my research I was able to create a user persona and kept this person at top of mind throughout the rest of the design process.
SITEMAP
02
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
I originally wanted to keep the structure of the app simple, which led me to have the first screen be “Today’s Session.” After doing some research and getting feedback, I found that having “Today’s Session” be the first screen can be intimidating - especially for beginners. To ease the user into the app I decided to create the “Today” screen which includes daily tips, monthly challenges and other updates.
Along with that, I made sure the structure had key elements that addressed a few of the top reasons why someone struggles with attaining a pull-up: 1. Lack of having a clear direction, 2. Accountability. It was important to have the “Learning” and the “Progress” screens as ways to reaffirm a user’s progress so far, but also have a space to come to if they wanted to understand the path they were currently on. (Click chart to enlarge.)
03
INTERACTION DESIGN
TASK FLOW
Keeping with the theme of simple to use, here I depict the two major flows of the app combined into one:
1. Sign Up / Onboarding
2. Completing a session
WIREFRAMES
Sketches
After many different rapid sketches, there was lots of mental gymnastics in trying to keep the process of starting and completing a session simple.
Low Fidelity
After many different rapid sketches, there was lots of mental gymnastics in trying to keep the process of starting and completing a session simple.
04
UI DESIGN
I had a lot of fun creating the UI for this app. Being that this was my first major project, my biggest challenge throughout this process was the time constraint. My technical know-how wasn’t quite there to be able to perfectly execute the vision I had for this project, which served as a wonderful (and humbling) lesson.
Name: Did you know that hanging is a foundational progression to getting a pullup? Hence, the name Suspend.
Values: Bold, Playful, Educational
BRANDING
STYLE TILE
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
A friendly, approachable onboarding questionnaire.
Based on the answers from the questionnaire, the system picks the user’s starting progression (exercises, sets, and reps.)
In order to make the user experience feel more autonomous, I wanted to give the user the option to change the progression “step” they were on. Along with that, a simple rating system after the session is completed prompts the system to set the reps and sets for the next session.
Navigation: “Learning” screen that allows users to learn more and take in more content. “Progress” screen allows users a quick glance at their recent session history.
USABILITY TESTING
Throughout the entire process, I had fellow classmates, friends, family, and my mentor continuously give me feedback. There were many iterations, but these were the top changes I made based off all the feedback:
Added a Homepage that flows into to “Today’s Session.” This page houses updates and daily tips.
Added a modal popup when user taps “Change Difficulty” for easier access to making changes to the session if needed. Offers a more autonomous experience.
Changed the look and feel of the original “Stats” page to “Progress” page, to better read user history.
05 ITERATIONS
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
The protoype was crucial in geting iterative usability feedback. Due to time constraints, I focused on the user flow of the onboarding questionnaire and completing “Today’s Session.”
NEXT STEPS
Usability Improvements:
Progression Accuracy - Given the complex nature of progressions, more thought would be put into how to accurately gauge what progressions a user starts off with. Adding an optional movement assessment will improve the experience.
Onboarding Enhancements- Creating a quick tutorial that the user can swipe through during onboarding can help ease a beginner into the app.
Continued testing and added features to prototype.
LESSONS
LEARNED
I initially went into the research phase thinking that I’d be distilling more information about the interviewee’s physical history and ability to perform a pull-up, but it turns out that understanding their emotions landscape gave more insight as to what the barriers are.
In an effort to keep the app simple, I didn’t plan on having a “Today” screen. I wanted users to get on, complete their session, and be done. I quickly realized how overwhelming that can be for someone who’s new to be thrown right into their first workout, without.
I learned the importance of matching the branding and UI to the user persona. A big part of the user persona was that they weren’t too inspired by traditional fitness methods, so picking a logo and a color scheme that was inviting and approachable was important.
•fin•