Stride Walking App
PERSONALÂ UX PROJECT
Project Overview
When the pandemic began in 2020, exercise and social habits changed. Stride is a concept for an app that would help encourage easy physical activity and safe socializing by allowing users to schedule virtual walks with their friends.
My Role
I designed this app as part of a UX certificate program. I was the sole designer and researcher, responsible for:
- Ideation and User Research
- Low Fidelity Designs and Wireframing
- Design System and Branding
- Prototyping
- Usability Testing
The Challenge:
How to encourage physical activity during a pandemic
With many working from home during Covid 19, exercise habits have changed. Through my interviews and surveys, I learned that users prefer walking most when they are in their own neighborhood with a friend. The challenge that I am trying to solve is how to encourage this exercise safely during a global pandemic.
DISCOVERY
Affinity Mapping
After conducting interviews with four individuals, I used affinity mapping to summarize their input into 3 key findings:
- Users want a way to stay active during quarantine.
- Each user has individual needs and wants.
- Users want purpose when exercising.
DISCOVERY
Survey Findings
After conducting my interviews, I asked more specific questions to a larger audience in a survey. Two key findings are:
- Most users prefer walking with another person in their neighborhood.
- Most users prefer low intensity workouts.
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DISCOVERY
Feature Prioritization
After my initial research, I ideated on features of Stride and used a feature prioritization matrix to determine the most valuable and feasible features of the app. They were:
- Voice call with friends during walks, because users prefer walking with another person but desired safety during the pandemic.
- Schedule walks with friends, because the ability to schedule ahead of time will help keep users accountable in their goals.
- View calendar of upcoming walks, because users should be able to see and edit what they have scheduled.
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DESIGN
Low Fidelity Prototyping
DESIGN
Design System and Brand
I designed the brand elements and design system for this project. It was my goal to make the UI feel fresh, intuitive, and inviting. Since my research revealed most users preferred low intensity work outs, I wanted to make the brand more relaxed and focused on personal improvement.
ACCESSIBILITY
Designing for Everyone
When building the design system for Stride, it was important to consider accessibility. I followed WCAG AA color contrast requirements, so that all important elements would be visible to low vision users. I also designed buttons to be 50 px tall, making them easier to tap. Considerations like these improve user experiences for everyone, no matter their ability.
DESIGN
High Fidelity Designs
TEST
Unmoderated Usability Testing
Since scheduling walks is a core feature of the app, I tested the flow using unmoderated testing. This allowed me to observe 7 participants go through the flow, and revealed a key pain point: over half the participants struggled to arrive at the schedule page with one click from the home screen.
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DESIGN
Iteration from Usability Results
To quickly schedule a walk on the original home page design, could tap a small add button. More than half of the usability participants missed the small button on their first try. To help with this pain point, I swapped the add icon for a more prominent "Schedule a Walk" button and made the "Start a walk now" button less prominent.
Takeaways
From this project, I got first hand experience in multiple UX research and testing techniques. I applied my visual design skill set and gained more experience in the design tool Figma.
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