Indoor Cycling Program Re-Design
THE PROBLEM: How can indoor cycling Be re-Designed to both be competitive against other programs and easy to sustain for members?
The Club is a new gym in the town of Los Gatos, CA that offers many different fitness programs for their members to participate in. Indoor Cycling is among them, and, with the growing popularity of this mode of exercise, The Club is faced with the problem of how to differentiate their program from the rest. Through this project, I sought to research and learn more about the industry and its participants (users) to find gaps that can be filled or qualities to expand from. Below is the process of this project.
*The Club at Los Gatos was the subject of my project while I was a student in the DesignLab UX Research & Design Strategy course (http://trydesignlab.com/ux-design-course/).
1.) Research Plan
Research plan defining the goals, background, questions to guide the interview sessions, the methodology for research, and also who the target participants will be.
2.) INTERVIEWS
Five different subjects were selected and interviewed according to the parameters and questions outlined in the research plan. The responses and outcomes varied, which made for a great variety of accounts on each person's experience and relationship with indoor cycling and fitness. This was especially helpful in creating the following Empathy Maps and Story Boards.
3.) EXPLORING THE USER SPACE AND DEFINING THE USERS
Empathy Maps:
Responses to the interview questions (outlined in the Research Plan above) from each participant are organized and mapped in the below empathy maps. The problems and mindsets of the users were brought to light, helping to better understand their perspectives and experiences with indoor cycling and fitness.
STORYBOARDING: The story of each interviewee was illustrated in each storyboard to understand them in the context and problem space of study (fitness and Indoor Cycling). Setting them in the problem space helped to better understand the catalysts or influencers of their behaviours, decisions, reactions, actions, and opinions/thoughts.
4.) Finding insights and creating the Actionable problem statements
Taking the data collected from interviews, empathy mapping, and story boarding, insights were noted to find where the gaps in existing indoor cycling programs could be filled and/or expanded upon meet our users' needs in the re-designed indoor cycling program. Multiple statements and solution questions were drafted:
One statement was chosen from this exploration to proceed into brainstorming and prototyping:
How might we infuse more variety or broaden the scope of Indoor Cycling to be worth the travel, mark-up, or time?
To further simplify and ensure the design of a meaningful program, two personas were synthesized into one. Since Esther and Eleanor's personas seemed to overlap and compliment each other well, they were combined to create a versatile persona to be used in the next stage of UX research and design for solutions exploration.
5.) Brainstorming and Prototyping
How might we infuse more variety or broaden the scope of Indoor Cycling to be worth the travel, mark-up, or time?
Brainstorming:
After brainstorming, it seemed the best solution would be to create an Indoor Cycling program made up of different classes with different intensities and fitness goals. The range of classes would include recovery ride classes for users who prefer an active recovery day workout, a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) type class for those who want to burn fat and build muscle, an upbeat and energizing class with club-type music for those who want a social and fun ride, and more according to the preferences of the personas.
Prototyping: User Journey Storyboarding was utilized to iterate solutions for different contexts of the cycling program.
6.) Testing and User Feedback
LANDING PAGE TEST: Launchrock.com was used to create a landing page to gauge the interest that people may have for the new re-designed Indoor Cycling program. The concept and main content were the focus of this launch, more so than the look and feel.
Landing Page Testing Feedback:
STORYBOARD REVIEWS: Three users were recruited to give feedback on how the solutions presented in the storyboards would fit into their lives.
7. PROJECT CONCLUSION & NEXT ACTION ITEMS
Test the program/product on users who fit into the target persona.
Including a video to present the re-designed indoor cycling program would communicate the concept better in the Landing Page Test. This would be a more effective way of testing the level of interest in the program.