Case Study
Shaping BodyNetics
Fusing Fitness with Tech
In this case study, I detail my experience designing BodyNetics from scratch, crafting a platform that offers personalized fitness plans alongside essential fitness gear. The journey involved turning complex user needs into a simple, compelling user interface and experience.
BodyNetics is a brand created by a team with years of experience working with professional athletes as well as amateurs and people trying to get their bodies back on track. The mobile app includes exercises, workouts and training plans tailored to users needs.
In addition to the exercises themselves, the app includes an integrated store with equipment for them. This allows the company to increase its product sales without being limited to an online store.
My task was to prepare the visual identity, landing page and interface design of the mobile app.
Since the client already had a vision of the direction the visual identity should go, preparing it was not time-consuming and I could quickly focus on the mobile app.
The client needed an application that would, on the one hand, meet the user's need for exercise support and performance tracking, and on the other hand, allow them to sell their products.
The target users were both gym-goers and those who exercise at home or in the office. So there was motivation to analyze whether there were any significant differences in the needs of these target groups.
Unfortunately, the client's budget and the time available for the project were severely limited, but it was nevertheless possible to get a little better insight into the needs of potential users of the application. Since the product was to be used by people exercising at the gym, outdoors and at home, it seemed reasonable to prepare personas describing these groups.
Despite the small budget and short timeframe, it was worth a try to conduct basic research. A cheap and quick method in the form of a survey promoted on Facebook groups proved to be an appropriate solution for the circumstances. As an added incentive to respond, a discount code was sent to the client's store for anyone who completed it.
What were the objectives of the study? It was worthwhile to get answers to the following unknowns:
How long a typical workout lasts.
Whether the user has a phone with him or her or nearby while training.
Whether and where the user buys sports equipment.
At what times he performs workouts.
Whether he measures his progress somehow.
Whether he has problems with regularity.
Whether he has tested any workout apps.
Whether he takes expert advice, if so, in what form.
As a completion and additional resource, I also used a publicly available survey conducted by Walter R Thompson describing fitness trends in 2018 and a survey conducted by Freeletics.
Through the responses it was possible to see some differences between those who exercise at the gym and those who try to exercise at home or in the office. First, the workouts of those going to the gym were longer (predominant answers: 1h, 1.5h) than those exercising at home (predominant answers: 30 min). Another noticeable difference was the regularity of workouts - those exercising at home were much more likely to skip them than those who went to the gym. When it came to having a phone nearby during a workout, among those exercising only at home the vast majority had it nearby, while the percentage was lower for those going to gyms. Noteworthy, gym-goers were more likely to use sports bands or smartwatches.
Another noteworthy difference was that people who do not work out at the gym overwhelmingly do not use the services of experts. This was an expected result, looking at the fact that people who go to gyms have the opportunity to take advice from fitness trainers who are on site. However, the situation is slightly different with the use of dedicated workout tracking apps - here people who exercise at home are even slightly more likely to use them.
As I mentioned earlier, the above information was enriched by, among other things, research conducted by Freeletics. They complemented the knowledge gathered through the survey.
“42% of Americans claim they don’t have enough time to work out”
The above information coincides with the survey results, which said that the biggest problem with exercise is finding free time.
“A third of Americans have missed a training session because the weather was “too bad””
Very interesting information that shows the problem and where some value can be delivered to the user - even people who regularly use the gym or train outdoors can be offered help to train at home when the weather is not favorable.
“45% say that workouts they could do at home would make them more likely to exercise”
We can conclude from this that by offering an attractive form of home exercise, it is possible to gain possible new customers.
“22% don’t exercise because they don’t see results”
Another problem whose solution could bring value to the end user and, consequently, to the customer. Perhaps regular tracking of progress by the app and display of trends and statistics would be an added motivation?
Having such data, I thought it worthwhile to prepare personas based on them to better illustrate the differences relative to groups of potential users.
The personas represent two groups of users - one is a regular attendee at the gym who is highly motivated to exercise. The other describes people who would like to start exercising or have already started, but do not engage in the exercises so much and exercise mainly at home.
Competitor analysis
In addition to a little insight into the target users, a quick and inexpensive way to deepen knowledge was to analyze existing solutions on the topic of training support applications. Seeing what value the current solutions provide makes it easier to see the fields where our solution will have an advantage.
Requires subscription
Dedicated to people who exercise at home
Personalized exercise plan
Audio coaching
Recommended workouts
Focuses on runners
Tracks and records running routes
Ability to set goals
Ability to share training results
Apple Watch app
Video instructions that explain how to perform a particular exercise
Many types of workouts prepared by experts. The professionally prepared instructional videos are worth noting here.
Ability to personalize your workouts.
Free for the first month, then a subscription is required.
Free access
Instructions prepared by professional trainers
Workouts that do not require equipment
Ability to download instructional videos.
From an analysis of similar solutions, it can be concluded that the developers emphasize well-prepared video instructions and the ability to conveniently track workout results, along with the option to personalize those future workouts. Fitbit and Nike+ additionally promote their physical products, although in a limited way - it is more of a brand promotion.
Together with the client, we determined the functions that could be implemented:
Tile-based activity type selection.
Ability to customize the exercise before starting.
Presentation of videos explaining the exercise.
A scoring system to additionally motivate people to exercise.
View of statistics and points earned.
Calendar module - the user will be able to assign workouts to specific days.
Integrated store - it will be possible to buy equipment offered by BodyNetics in the app.
Recommended accessories - the app will suggest buying accessories for a particular workout if they are useful or necessary.
One observation was that the functionality of adding and deleting exercises to the calendar hidden under a swipe gesture left users unaware that these exercises could be scheduled. In the next iteration, this problem has been addressed.
Another element that was improved based on user observations and feedback was the addition of clearer information on what part of the exercise user was in.
