Strava
Project
Duration
Role
Adding a Feature
1 month
Sole UX Designer
UX Research
Wireframes
Prototype Testing
Strava lets you track your running and riding with GPS, join Challenges, share photos from your activities, and follow friends.
Background
Strava is one of the most popular fitness apps, widely used for tracking workouts. It features a robust social element, allowing users to follow friends and view recent workouts posted on the home tab. Given the diverse goals of athletes, Strava faces the challenge of addressing various athletic needs. However, is there a more efficient way for athletes to access the information that truly matters to them?
Problem
Users with different athletic goals and reasons for using Strava seek information that benefits their fitness journey. The home feed often becomes overloaded with information that athletes may find irrelevant or unimportant.
Solution
Integrated a search bar with filter tabs, enabling athletes to customize their home feed with information tailored to their specific athletic needs.
Competitive Analysis
Began researching how competitors showcase running statistics and incorporate community aspects to help athletes organize their exercises. I explored four different sites: Map My Run, Nike Run Club, Runkeeper, and Endomondo.Websites varied in topics they shared.
User Interview
I interviewed 5 users to understand their reasons for using Strava, focusing on their enjoyment of the community element, competitive features, personal goals, and activity organization.
Finding Motivation
Users find motivation in Strava, whether from professional athletes they admire or friends who have achieved significant accomplishments but these posts can be lost among others.
Community
The Strava app allows users to stay connected with friends and be part of a community. Users enjoy seeing their friends' activities and photos, especially from different parts of the world.
Workout Ideas
Users want to use their peers on Strava to discover new running routes or exercises that are within their physical capabilities.
Training
Some users are dedicated to their sport and prefer to see only activities that benefit their personal goals.
Information Overload
Users enjoy the home feed for inspiration, ideas, and social connections, similar to social media apps. While some use it for training, the feed is often cluttered with posts that may not meet their needs.
Pov & Hmw
Understanding my users' needs, I created my POV and HMW statements to guide the development of design solutions. These statements were chosen to address athletes' needs for finding new ideas, inspiration, and community.
Pov
I want to explore ways to help athletes better access motivation and workout ideas through their peers because users use the Strava community as a valuable resource.
Hmw
How might we help athletes better access inspiration and work out ideas through their peers, given that users use the Strava community as a valuable resource?
Developing personas to define the range of user knowledge/ interest we are designing for.
Features & Prioritization
Based on our users' needs and goals, I developed and prioritized key features for implementation.
Must Haves
Search Bar & Filter Tabs
The home feed's search bar allows athletes to find content using keywords, similar to Strava’s existing filter tabs for individual activities. This addresses the user need to filter through the information overload on the feed.
Favorite Athlete's Filter (New Filter)
Users can select posts from their favorited athletes, fulfilling the need to find motivation or workout ideas from preferred athletes.
Location Filter (New Filter)
Athletes can discover activities in specific locations, helping users find new routes or ideas for when they're traveling.
Sport-Specific Metrics Filter (New Filter)
Metrics relevant to each sport (e.g., pace for running) will automatically update based on the selected sport, enabling users need to focus on the data that matters most for their training.
Site Map
User Flows
Key
The revised user flow illustrates how the process of selecting specific filter aligns with the needs of our users, who seek inspiration, ideas, and motivation through viewing activities.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Using my user flow, I began sketching various wireframes, including different search bar designs. Ultimately, I chose the search design used by Strava’s, as users I surveyed expressed they find familiar designs easy to use.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
High-Fidelity User Testing
To ensure the tabbed interface met user needs and provided relevant information, I conducted user testing with 9 participants. Four sessions were done via video chat, where I observed actions and thought processes, while the other five were tested through "Maze."
Task Flow: Find a short description of BJ’s (Retail Store).
Results
All task were completed by Users.
The first flow scored 7.8/10 for ease
Users forget which filter tabs they have selected when selecting multiple.
The second flow scored 6.75/10 for ease
User wished these filters exist on the current Strava app.
Users want to have all the people they follow listed under 'Athletes.’
Iterations
Reflection & Next Steps
As someone who takes running seriously, I enjoyed researching the relationship between sports and the technology that helps athletes achieve their goals. It was fascinating to explore the wide range of athletic needs, from those who simply want to see their friends' posts to those who want to analyze their data after each run.
Insight
I gained a deep appreciation for User Research. Adding a feature to a successful app became much easier when I thoroughly understood users' needs through User Interviews and Affinity Mapping. This process helped uncover hidden user needs.
Challenges
One of the main challenges was determining if my design solution was truly the best option. User testing was crucial in helping me understand what worked and what needed improvement, guiding me toward better iterations.
Things I Could Have Done Differently
Given the limited time for this project, I would have liked to explore different search bar and filter tab options more deeply to find the most user-friendly solution. Although the search bar and filter tabs performed well during user testing, I'm curious if there might be an even more efficient approach.
Next Steps
I plan to test how frequently users would utilize the search bar feature daily. While User Research confirmed the need for this feature, I'm interested in analyzing the percentage of users who would actually use it regularly.