Role: UI/UX Designer and Researcher
Duration: 2 weeks
Tools: Figma, Whimsical, Adobe Creative Suite
Fitbit is an American digital health and fitness brand that focuses on wireless wearable technology activity tracking. The watches are synced via bluetooth to a mobile app where users can log food intake, activities, and weight as well as see other health and activity metrics.
Fitbit reports 111 million registered users as of 2021, but only 31 million were active users. That's only 28%! The usage rate of the Fitbit app is lagging behind other competitors such as MyFitnessPal, Strava, and Home Workout as much as 30%. How can we optimize Fitbit to become more attractive users and stay ahead of the competition? What are the pain points users are having with the Fitbit app, causing them to turn to competitors?
the solution
I started by expanding the existing Exercise feature and turning into a full planner where users can plan future workouts while accessing past workout data. Past workouts are condensed into high-level overview where users have the option to expand to view detailed data.
Users are able to create custom workouts, add a workout from the Discover page, or from a Third Party App such as Home Workouts and FitStar. Users are now able to plan beyond cardio-based workouts such as Strength, Yoga, HIIT, etc.
I incorporated a questionnaire to tailor suggested workouts, programs, and interface of the Planner to promote relevancy of content for the specific user. If I had more time and resources, I would explore how the questionnaire can better inform the customizability of the Planer and how Third Party App exercises can better integrate into Fitbit.
With the questionnaire, users get Fitness programs suggested to them. Users are able to see the exercises each week, quickly change the time they want to workout, and easily add the program to their planner. Premium members can have more customizability and a wider selection of workouts and programs.
I incorporated a questionnaire to tailor suggested workouts, programs, and interface of the Planner to promote relevancy of content for the specific user. If I had more time and resources, I would explore how the questionnaire can better inform the customizability of the Planer and how Third Party App exercises can better integrate into Fitbit.
With the questionnaire, users get Fitness programs suggested to them. Users are able to see the exercises each week, quickly change the time they want to workout, and easily add the program to their planner. Premium members can have more customizability and a wider selection of workouts and programs.
Users have stressed the importance of sharing progress, seeing what friends are up to, and needing accountability. I added the ability to add workout buddies where users can exercise with their friends. During workouts, users can see their's and friend's metrics for motivation. If I had more resources, I would explore how many friends can be added to a workout due to the screen size limitations.
Users are now able to share workouts for users to share with their friend list to find a workout buddy, or to post publicly to make new friends. I added "Users Similar to You" posts for users to explore and be motivated by what other users are doing. Lastly, I redesigned the friends list to show friend's goals as a way to motivate and keep each other accountable.
Fitbit is widely known with an impressive audience. However, there are many other competitors with similar specs and features. Some questions I asked were: How to set Fitbit apart from the rest? Why are users choosing other fitness apps over Fitbit? I sought to understand user's relationships with the Fitbit app and competitors currently on the market.
I started by conducting user interviews with 5 participants consisting of 2 females and 3 males ages 28 to 32 who have used fitness apps and has varying levels of fitness experience.
Users want to be able to set goals and have milestones they can achieve along the way.
Users want to sync third party apps that will help in overall tracking
Users want to feel motivated, have incentives, accountability, and support. They expressed desire to connect with friends and other users sharing a similar goal.
Users want to be able to plan their activity in advanced to aid in accountability and a way to see their progress over time.
Users are tired of seeing "cookie cutter" workouts and want personalized suggestions just for them.
I then conducted a competitive analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Fitbit's competitors. Direct competitors include Garmin and Apple Watch which have a fitness tracker and a robust fitness app. Indirect competitors are Strava, which is a cardio-based tracker, and Adidas training and Home Workout No Equipment that allows for activity suggestions and planning.
Provisional personas were created to better empathize with user groups goals and frustrations.
Two personas were made based on the archetypes "Fitness Enthusiast" and "The Beginner". With the personas, Nate and Catherine in mind, I can better design for users that are beginners to advanced levels of fitness.
After studying Fitbit's current design patterns and how competitors organize data, I created a site map to organize the flow of the new Fitbit planner feature.
Based on my two personas, Nate and Catherine, I mapped two user flows based on how they would interact with the app. Nate is an intermediate to advanced fitness user that would likely be creating custom workouts. Meanwhile Catherine would be interested in having a pre-made fitness program that would do the planning for her.
Based on the site map, competitive analysis, and user interviews, I created a series of sketches exploring how the planner would look, how to organize information, and what the flow would look like. As a bonus, I also explored how to better improve how Fitbit currently displays friends, workout information, and workout videos.
Wireframes evolved into a high-fidelity prototype matching Fitbit's design. Some dimensions felt cramped, requiring further refinement given more time.
The high-fidelity prototype was put through user testing. 5 participants that were current Fitbit users, 3 females and 2 males ages 26 to 30 were recruited to to assess the following:
Users were able to successfully complete 5 tasks of taking the questionnaire, adding a custom workout, adding a training program, adding a workout buddy, and completing a workout. Below is the affinity map of successes, user concerns, and next steps of how to improve the design.
I took the "Next Steps" in the Affinity Map and organized the tasks according to user value vs. business effort. Tasks with the highest priority with the least amount of effort will be implemented first and tasks with the lowest priority and highest effort will be last.
I revised the design based on prioritized tasks. Below are examples of the iterations made.
Fitbit was an important project to me. As a long-term Fitbit user myself, I rely on the app to plan my food intake, track weight fluctuations, and calories burned. I often thought to myself and discussed with friends over the years our frustrations about not having an easy way to plan our workouts and track our progress. With big ambitions, I did this project beyond the scope of the assignment requirements. If I had more time, I would love to develop the design further, do additional usability testing, and iterations.