Cycle Sync
As a self-taught UX designer I challenged myself to create a concept app to apply everything I learned so far into practice.
Duration
3 weeks
Role
UX/UI designer
UX researcher
Tools
Figma, Figjam, Miro, Zoom, pen and paper
Background
A 2021 study highlights the importance of considering the menstrual cycle phase when planning training programs for menstruating fitness enthusiasts. During my research, I discovered that the market lacks an app specifically tailored to the energy levels of menstruating users, rather than their fitness goals. This presents an opportunity to design an application that creates custom plans based on the individual’s fluctuating energy levels throughout their cycle.
What I Accomplishment
· Identified key reasons of why users were struggling to maintain there at home working out practice.
· Uncovered opportunities to develop a user centric app that considers the unique needs and preferences of menstruating people.
· Designed and implemented a fitness app within 3 weeks which satisfies the user’s experience.
01 Research
Since this is a concept project, I decided to take a closer look at the fitness app industry and see what it offers, and identify any potential blind spot suggested by the research. Here is what I discovered while conducting secondary research:
According to the secondary research I conducted, I decided that my app will:
· focus on a feature that tracks the menstrual cycle, since 66% of fitness app users identify as women.
· Create on fitness app users who are menstruating and aged between 25-35.
Conducting Interviews
At this point, I needed to understand market behavior, so I reached out to three friends who exclusively work out at home. I wanted to learn about their pain points regarding their workout routines, especially how they manage fluctuating energy levels while maintain an exercise routine. I concentrated the insights into a one affinity diagram.
Findings
· Time is an Issue
The participants found syncing their workouts to their periods is time consuming, and their busy schedule is a barrier.
· Mental Load
When working out from home, participants often found the process of browsing YouTube for the right workout with the fitting time very draining and lengthy especially when they don’t have the energy and enough motivation to show up for an exercise.
· Personalization
Participants emphasized on having a personalized c plan that aligns with their cycle and their energy level.
Defining the problem
Participants are facing significant challenges in effectively integrating their workouts with their menstrual cycles due to several factors such as time constraints, mental load, and lack of personalization.
Goals
· Reduce the time that takes a user to check their cycle tracker and plan their workout.
· Provide users with personalized workout plans that fits their fluctuating energy.
· Offer options, and reduce decision fatigue.
02 Empathize
I find it valuable to define my primary users, what helps here is ensuring I understand my main users’ goals and concerns. This typically leads to designs that address the root of the problems rather than satisfying superficial needs and nice haves.
Below, you’ll meet Emma, a user persona that is inspired from the interviews I’ve conducted earlier.
Improving Emma’s journey
Current Journey
Grabs her phone
Checks her period tracker
opens youtube
searches for a suitable workout
unsure about which video to click
checks out one and goes to other one
starts the workout
Desired Journey
Grabs her phone
Opens one app
she check her tracker
she inserts her energy levels
chooses a workout from the curated list
starts the workout
exists the app is she wishes
User flow
I created this user flow to understand how I expected users to engage with the app. This helped me visualize how someone like Emma would navigate through the app and identify any pain points she might experience.
The map of the App
I created an app map to determine which screens I needed to design before starting the sketching process. I began by identifying the necessary content, followed by card sorting, and ultimately created the app map.
03 Ideate
I love starting with a pen and paper, it keeps me flexible around ideas, makes me less committed to ideas, and induces my creativity.
04 Design
05 NEXT STEPS
New features such as nutrition would be one of the nice haves that I could explore when I revisit this app again.
I learned a lot while working on this project, it really solidified the knowledge I acquired during leaning UX. Following a YouTube tutorial is one thing, coming up with your own concept app from A to Z is a whole other story.
The key learning for me is prioritization, it is always better to narrow the scope and aim to build something usable instead of aiming to building the perfect app from the very start, and it taught me a lot about design thinking, and why that every visual element has a story and research behind it, it doesn’t evolve from the void.
I now have a solid foundation to move on to a different project and try to experiment with other great ideas.
06 What I’d do differently
One of the main points I realized quite late in the process is that choosing primary colors and finalizing a color palette early on ensures smoother progress and decision-making as the design process advances. I was so excited to start working on Figma that I began designing without giving enough thought to the visual elements. This led me to scrap my first draft and start over. Even though it felt like starting from scratch, this step was immensely important and ultimately solidified the final UI.
Learning from my shortcomings has become one of my top values, and learning UX has been the most rewarding and humbling experience I have ever been through. 😊
Behind the scenes went sort of like this:
The orange hazy background is catchy; however, it gives the vibe of a meditation app or so, it feels very Zen, and not dynamic. I need colors that express dynamisms and movement. This just didn’t do it.
The black font contrasts a lot with the background, it is very rough, which also defeats the purpose of the app.
This design is way too cluttered and busy. The eye is lost between the background, the amount of the elements in one page.
Why in the world would I add a photo with 2 locks and 4 keys? unsuccessful way to convey trust and security. So glad I changed it. :D
The picture wasn’t a good choice, the pixeled style would match a gaming app perhaps, but not a fitness app and a period tracker.