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BuddyUp! Case Study

An iOS app created for the purpose of helping people find motivation to go
to the gym  

◯   UX Design◯  UX Research
◯   Wireframing◯   Prototyping
TOOLS

Figma / Fig Jam / Miro/ Zoom

ROLES

UX Designer / UX Researcher

TEAM

4 Students

TIMELINE

Summer 2024 / 4 Weeks

01. Research + Discovery

Problem:
People are suffering from self-isolation, lack of motivation, and loss of interest in activities due to mental health issues. Many people want to go to the gym for self-improvement but face various barriers: 
  • Fear of going to the gym alone
  • Difficulty maintaining a consistent gym schedule without a buddy
  • Intimidation and feeling overwhelmed by gym equipment
  • Fear of being judged for improper exercise techniques
  • Lack of motivation due to slow visible results
problem statement image buddyup
Proposal:
We want to create an application that matches gym goers with each other seamlessly. Whether you’re experienced or new to gyms, through our handcrafted application we aim to make sure you find the perfect buddy to go to the gym with.
Motivation & Goals:
The gym can be intimidating, and going alone can make the trip even more daunting. 
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I know that when I go to the gym, going with a friend to motivate me to go to the gym and having someone be able to give me pointers is very helpful. But sometimes friends get busy, and your schedules do not match up.
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Finding someone who can go to the gym with you can be difficult. We set our goal to match gym goers with each other seamlessly.
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Whether you’re experienced or new to gyms, through our handcrafted application we aim to make sure you find the perfect buddy to go to the gym with.
User Research:

Understanding University Student's Pain Points

While we thought that the biggest problem would be people finding the motivation to go to the gym, some problems we found through our user research was that people did not want to go to the gym alone and finding a local gym that was not packed full of people. We decided to tackle two main pain points: 

Pain Points

  • Finding a gym partner
  • Finding a less crowded gym
user research buddyup!

User Research Affinity Map

My team wanted to better understand university student's problems with going to the gym. We targeted University students, both avid gym goers and casual gym goers.

We conducted a total of 4 interviews of University students for 15 minutes each. I compiled our findings into an affinity map and found 2 key user personas.

      User Personas

      emily user persona imageanthony user persona image

      Storyboards

      user storyboards

      02. Ideation

      Discovery:

      Lo-fi Sketches:

      Usability Testing + Feedback

      Navigation

      • Users had difficulty navigating the messages screen
      • Found the calendar interface confusing
      • encountered issues with the "edit your profile" and buddy request buttons

      Privacy & Data

      • Users were concerned about the visibility of their gym schedule and how their data is protected
      • Users wanted the ability to see profiles from the shared calendar, and an option to remove friends.

      Features

      • Users noted the lack of an "Unfriend" option
      • Difficulty managing the friend list

      Matching and Profile

      • Users were concerned about matching with untrustworthy individuals
      • Wanted more descriptive profiles
      • Questioned the app’s long-term engagement potential.

      Our usability testing was on our lo-fi wireframes, this allows for our final prototype to be more fleshed out.  

      03. Design

      Design Kit

      buddyup design kit

      High Fidelity Photos

      04. Reflection

      1. Learnings

      This project was done during my Summer 2024   Human-Computer Interaction class. Through this class I got to learn more about UX Design and UX Research.
      I learned...

      1. How to effectively conduct a user interview. I learned how to create questions that allow interviewees to give open-ended data.  
      2. The importance of usability testing. The entire purpose of UX Design is to solve problems, creating a product that causes more problems is fruitless. Getting friends to test our product allows us to improve our app, while seeing our hard work in action! 
      2. Reiterate again and again and...  

      I am a firm believer that a design or piece of artwork is never truly finished. Once this class was over, I took the initiative to create a brand identity, design kit, and high-fidelity prototypes. It is far from finished however, as I need to prototype and get even more feedback from peers.  

      3. If I had more time...

      This was done in a very short amount of time with limited resources. That being said, I want to develop the high fidelity design more and prototype the app so it can be fully usable, and ensure our users are happy. Because the class was so short, my group and I only developed the lo-fi prototype together. I put together a small selection of screens for the hi-fi prototype, but I wish I could do more screens and develop the design language and brand more.

      Hey!

      thank you for reaching the bottom of the page. if you want to learn more about me, here are some links for you. feel free to reach out, i would love to chat :^)  
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