Rotator is a startup that empowers users to achieve their fitness goals by providing them with personalised fitness coaching, meal plans, and progress statistics.

I was brought in as a UI/UX Designer to bring their vision to life.

My role: To design the information architecture and user interface for their first mobile application.

Stage 1: Understand

Research

When I was brought on to the project the founders of the company had already done extensive research on the market. Findings from this research helped guide decisions during the design process.

One such data point was the gender breakdown of the potential audience. In discussions about the colour scheme of the app one member of the team felt pink may alienate male users but the data allowed us to confidently select a more stereotypical “feminine” colour as we knew this was our main audience.

Another useful data point was in writing the copy for different pages on the application. While the founders, being well versed in the fitness world, understood gym terminology, such as “reps”, the data showed that we needed to accommodate users who were new to this sphere.

STAGE 2: Invent

Ideation

From the research phase the founders had already had a list of features they wanted to have on the application.

The first step was to turn these lists into an information hierarchy. The first low-fi version of the app was drawn on sticky notes to allow for quick re-arranging of features and pages.

Once the hierarchy was approved by the client I proceeded to design the first iteration of the app. This design was inspired by applications users had indicated they used or liked during the research phase.

STAGE 3: Listen

Hi-fi Prototyping

Once the first iteration of the design was finished I wired it together to create a working prototype to allow testing with potential users. The objective of this testing was to gauge the users general feel for the app but most importantly if they were able to quickly achieve the tasks that we posed to them. Seeing as this project was completed entirely during a pandemic all the testing was remote.

Findings

1. Users responded that they were much more likely to sign-up for a subscription if this came after inputting their details on the app.

2. Users strongly indicated the preference to have a free trial option.

3. The fitness test users complete on sign-up needed to have an option to skip and complete at a later point in case the user was not in a position to workout.

All of the feedback highlighted above as well as other minor tweaks were incorporated in the final user interface. 

STAGE 4: DELIVER

Interface Design

Delivering the final design allowed me to work closely with the founders and balance the perspectives of all stakeholders involved (the internal team and the potential users) while also incorporating the already created brand guidelines. Another balance that the design needed to strike was between cleanliness of design and representing all relevant information.