Integrating a new feature to help athletes customize their home feed for preferred information
Successfully designed and led the process for the first global styles proposal for the ACLU design team, from initial audit and research to final tech team approval and preparation for future implementation.
Duration
July 2024
Role
Product Designer - Bootcamp Project
Process
Competitive Analysis
User Interview
Pov & Hmw
Personas
Features & Prioritization
User Flow
Low-Fidelity & High-Fidelity Wireframes
User Testing
Iterations
Background & Objective
Strava is a widely-used fitness app for tracking workouts, with a strong social component. Users can follow friends, view their recent activities on the home feed, and interact through features like giving "kudos." As a UX Designer student, this bootcamp project challenged me to design a new feature for the mobile app.
The 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 activities that athletes may find to be irrelevant or unimportant.
Solution
Integrated a search bar with filter tabs on the home feed, enabling athletes to customize their home feed with information tailored to their specific athletic needs.
Research Process
To begin this project, I wanted to understand why users choose to use Strava over other apps and see if I could discover any obvious or underlying problems users encounter. I utilized several research methods to identify my problem.
Competitive Analysis
Understanding Strava’s niche through researching four competitors.
I looked into MapMyRun, Nike Run Club, Runkeeper, and Endomondo. The goal was to understand how they differ and learn what makes Strava unique in the fitness app market. This analysis provided a clear understanding of why users choose Strava over its rivals.
Primary Research: User Interview
Interviewing five users to gather qualitative insights and uncover user motivation.
The questions focused on unique features, community aspects, and how the app helps them achieve their personal fitness goals. This research provided a deep understand of why users are connected to the platform.
Pov & Hmw
Using Point of View (POV) and How Might We (HMW) Statements to frame the problem.
Based on user research, these statements were developed to guide the design of a feature that addresses user needs for inspiration, new ideas, and community connection.
Personas
Developing two personas to define the range of users we are designing for, with varied athletic skill levels and dedication.
These personas highlight the varied athletic skill levels and different levels of dedication users have to their sport. Personas highlights the diverse motivation and needs within the user base.
Features & Prioritization
Prioritizing features for development with prioritization matrix, evaluating user value and implementation effort.
Based on research findings and user personas, I created a list of potential features. I then used a prioritization matrix to select the most impactful features for the final design by evaluating each one based on its user value and implementation effort.
User Flow
Creating user flows to test feature usability and user experience.
I designed two unique user flows to validate whether the proposed features were intuitive and aligned with user needs. User flows are helpful for thinking through the entire user experience and serve as a guide for usability testing.
Design Process
With synthesizing research and defining proposals, I began exploring how this feature could be designed.
Creating Interactive Prototypes
I explored multiple search bar versions, but survey feedback supported Strava's existing search bar to maintain a familiar and consistent user experience.
Based on the user flow, I explored multiple search bar designs through low-fidelity wireframes. I chose to use Strava's existing search bar design, as a survey I sent out showed a strong preference for familiar patterns that reduce the learning curve and improve ease of use.
High-Fidelity Wireframes: Features
Global Search & Filters
The search bar on the home page directs users to a secondary page where activities are condensed and filter tabs appear, helping them quickly find the activities they prefer.
Sports-Specific Metrics
This demonstrates the sport-specific filter, example here shows common workout types for runners. It allows users to focus on the most relevant data for their training.
Favorite Athlete's Filter
The “Favorite Athletes” tab filter includes profile images to help users easily recognize the athletes they follow.
Location-Based Discovery
The “Location” tab allows users to type in an address or location, offering suggestions based on the input. Users can then view activities from people they follow in that area.
User Testing
Conducting a hybrid usability study to validate the tabbed search bar.
I conducted usability testing with nine participants to validate if the tabbed search bar met user needs. The sessions were a mix of moderated video chat and unmoderated (Maze). This allowed me to gather both qualitative insights and quantitative data on user actions.
Iterations
Tab Reorganization
Once users found “Types” (different workouts for specific sports), the flow improved. Placing the filter closer to the left helped users see the relationship between types and sports.
Changing "Athletes" List
Renamed the "Favorite Athletes" tab to "Athletes" to include all athletes the user follows. This gives users more freedom to choose whose activities they want to see.
Active and Selected State
I added "active state" and "selected state" indicators to the filter tabs to show users which filters are selected. This helps remind users which filters they have chosen.
Learnings
A Deep Appreciation for the Value of User Research
I gained a deep appreciation for the value of thorough user research. Through user interviews and affinity mapping, I was able to uncover hidden user needs, which made designing a new feature for an existing app much more successful.
Planning to Measure Feature Adoption and Usage
My next step is to test how frequently users would actually utilize the search bar feature daily. While user research confirmed the need for this feature, I'm now interested in analyzing the percentage of users who would use it regularly.
Exploring More Design Solutions to Optimize the User Experience
Given the limited time, I would have liked to more deeply explore different search bar and filter tab options to find the most user-friendly solution. While the current design performed well, I am curious if a more efficient approach exists.