flyfit
Mobile App for Booking Fitness Opportunities Abroad
Project Overview
This project is born from a need I experienced myself while traveling. However, I quickly discovered many of my peers
were facing the same challenge. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has become of utmost importance in recent times and there's no reason our regular routines should be interrupted by travel.
Project Scope
For this project, I challenged myself to work individually, in order to immerse myself fully in the entire UX research process and UI design process.
I completed the project in 2 weeks, using Figma as my main design tool to deliver an advanced prototype of my product.
BACKGROUND
Prompt
As the implications of the pandemic wear off, the Travel industry is picking back up again and with it, so are the challenges travelers face when traveling abroad.
Reflecting on my own experience while traveling, the time away tends to disrupt my fitness routine and upon my return, I struggle to get back into my wellness regimen. While leisure travel is meant to help us disconnect and should be enjoyed to the fullest, travelers are looking for ways to upkeep the healthy lifestyle they work so hard for. Moreover, due to growing image consciousness and pressure from social media platforms, looking good on vacation has become more important than ever.
Further research proved that this is a growing need for many people, whether it be leisure-driven or business-driven travel. It seems that fitness culture has spread to travel and its here to stay, especially for millennials.
Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-fitness-priority-millennial-traveler-mikael-vincents-nielsen/
54%
of business travelers
claim their exercise
and wellness routines are usually disrupted by travel.
Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-fitness-priority-millennial-traveler-mikael-vincents-nielsen/
Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-fitness-priority-millennial-traveler-mikael-vincents-nielsen/
80%
of millennials said that keeping fit was an important part of their vacation experience.
53%
of Americans believe it is important to exercise
while traveling.
Challenge
How might we help people maintain their fitness routines while traveling?
Solution
An app that encourages travelers to maintain their fitness regimen and find a gym, studio class or personal trainer no matter how far they are from home.
RESEARCH
Competitive
Analysis
The most common option for working out while abroad is using the hotel's gym. However, for the most part, only four-star or higher category hotels tend to have on-site gyms. For many travelers, booking expensive stays in hotels is not a viable or affordable option.
Other travelers are left with no choice but search for a local gym that would grant them a day pass. This process can be cumbersome, time consuming and challenging when having to navigate the local language.
In recent years, two main players have entered the travel fitness sector; ClassPass and TrainAway. These platforms offer one-off bookings in fitness centers worldwide.
Extensive research on both these platforms proved they had many limitations and there was a market gap for a platform that would answer many unsatisfied needs.
On the one hand, TrainAway only offers their users daily gym passes and doesn't cater for standalone classes or studio sessions. While ClassPass does offer a wider range of fitness opportunities, their billing system is not budget-friendly and is criticized by may of their users. The app charges a monthly subscription fee and allocates each user with a limited number of credits, as opposed to allowing them to pay per fitness session.
I also discovered there was currently no platform offering personal training opportunities abroad or hiking/ running paths for travelers
ClassPass is a monthly membership that provides users monthly credits to book classes and appointments in studios, gyms, spas and
salons worldwide.
TrainAway enables travelers
to book access to gyms in
over 800 cities.
Pain Points
The main points that came up from the research phase were:
-
Limited exercise options- demand for a more diverse array
-
Payment plans aren’t enticing for infrequent travelers
Opportunities
From these findings, I was able to identify a few opportunity areas for my product, including:
-
Offering standalone class passes, studio sessions, personal training, as well as flexible gym passes
-
Showcasing possible hiking/ walking/ running routes that are safe for travelers, as well as scenic
-
Enabling group bookings to allow friends to workout together
-
Budget-friendly and flexible credit system that allows for payment-per-class
User Interviews
To better understand our potential users, I conducted a series of interviews with a diverse array of people, ranging from ages 20-35. The discussion topics were open-ended to allow free and flowing answers that would provide details on their wellbeing habits while abroad.
The interviews clarified that the target user could be simplified into 2 main personas. The first, a frequent traveler who, for business purposes, must fly to various destinations and is therefore looking for flexible and accessible options to upkeep his fitness routine. The second, a leisure-driven traveler who prioritizes leading a healthy lifestyle, at home or away, while also experiencing the local culture by trying out classes/ studios/ gyms in their area.
Persona Development
Based on the research insights, I developed two personas demonstrating our target users, especially their goals and pain points.
TOMMY LEE
My job requires me to travel all the time and I’m looking for a way to instill a routine in my fast-paced life.
Background
Tommy needs to travel monthly to various destinations to meet with his clients and develop relations with potential new clients. Tommy is also an avid CrossFit and Yoga practitioner back home and he finds it hard to keep up with his regular fitness routine when abroad.
Goals
-
Maintain his fitness routine and regular classes, even on business trips
-
Clear his head from a busy day of meetings
-
Build and retain muscle memory and athleticism in a consistent manner
Frustrations
-
Difficult to find classes that fit his needs and information online is often sparse and inaccurate
-
Finding gyms or classes in his area is time consuming
-
Doesn’t always understand local language and culture, so booking classes directly via the vendor online is challenging
AGE
JOB TITLE
STATUS
LOCATION
26
Financial Analyst
Single
London, UK
SABRINA BRYNN
I love getting to know new cities and exploring the local culture through fitness opportunities.
Background
Sabrina is a Marketing Manager who loves to travel with friends to explore new destinations together. Sabrina leads a healthy and balanced life, combining a nutritious diet with regular excercise. She favors Pilates and Barre classes, as well as long-distance runs or hikes.
Goals
-
Maintain healthy lifestyle while traveling
-
Explore local classes and outdoor exercise paths
-
Find fitness opportunities to do together with her friends
Frustrations
-
Hard to find authentic local classes or studios online
-
Running or hiking in a new city can be scary and unsafe without proper planning
-
Fitness booking apps aren’t group-friendly and don’t allow friends to book classes together
AGE
JOB TITLE
STATUS
LOCATION
28
Marketing
Single
San Francisco, CA
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Sketches
Once I had a clearer vision of what our potential users need from the app, I started off by sketching the main pages to get an idea of the general user flow.
Low-Fidelity
Mockups
After a few sketches, I implemented my ideas into low-fidelity mockups on Figma.
Below, is a draft of the user flow for booking a studio class.
High-Fidelity
Mockups
I then conducted Usability Testing sessions on members of my target audience to find where my product was difficult to navigate and what features needed to be added, subtracted or tweaked.
Throughout this stage of testing, I received feedback from potential users and simplified certain flows to make booking fitness opportunities as seamless and straightforward as possible.
Prototype
Once the design was finalized, I was able to conceptualize how my product would look like for users in the following prototype.
Visual Design
REFLECTIONS
Conclusion
While the product is far from being market-ready, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating it from scratch. For future projects, I would like to dedicate more time and efforts to the research portion and conduct more in-depth Validity Testing of my mockups to better my designs further.
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