UX Research & Design Case Study of FitMate Application

5 min readJun 17, 2021

Do you feel lazy and uninterested when there’s no one to workout with? Do you fail to keep a track of your workouts and need guidance?
Then FitMate is the perfect place for you! Find your ideal workout partner according to your preferences and interact with them whenever you want! Take timed challenges updated daily to suit your needs, read blogs about health and lifestyle, and be a part of numerous communities too!

PROCESS

Problem Statement

Roughly 36% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the third week. While choosing a resolution is easy, sticking to it can be impossible. And, It can be incredibly easy to make excuses not to visit the gym or to exercise daily. This is especially true if you’re doing and planning out the workouts all by your own. In addition to it, sometimes the goals we are trying to achieve seem far away even after being consistent and that is mainly because we do not have proper guidance or know correct methods to do so. In this scenario people usually tend to get confused about what diet to follow or what are the correct ways of doing the workouts which are channeled to attain the aims they dream of.

Understanding the Problem Statement

If I were given one hour to save the world, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it” Albert Einstein

To understand and solve the problem effectively, I need to narrow it down and understand the root cause of the problem. I framed the 5Ws — Who, What, When, Where, Why and answered them to get a broad idea of the problem and give a direction to further research.

Who : People who need the motivation to workout and remain healthy
and connect with like-minded people for guidance and exchanging thoughts.

What : In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and have a platform that promotes consistency and perseverance.

When and Where : In general people prefer to workout in gyms and outdoors, but in challenging times like the ongoing pandemic, health can not be compromised and platforms like these come to the rescue .

Why : Physical activity or exercise can improve your health and reduce the risk of developing several diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Physical activity and exercise can have immediate and long-term health benefits. Most importantly, regular activity can improve quality of life.

User Research

Statistical Insights

- Through ongoing studies, Stanford University has found that simply receiving a phone call every two weeks can boost the amount of exercise you do by up to 78% (on average).
- One study had some interesting findings : participants perform better when they are paired up with a workout partner who is fitter than they are. Furthermore, the study found that to maximise motivation your workout buddy should be about 40% better than you are — a challenging, yet achievable goal for you to meet. When you pair up with a partner who is fitter than you it produces an effect known as the Köhler Effect, or simply put: not wanting to be the weakest link.
Survey Insights

Empathy Map

After user research, I got a clear overview of user pain points and what can be the optimal solution to our problem. Now it was time to list down the features of the application and make a basic structure.

Feature Set

Taking up Challenges : The user can choose from a variety of timed challenges, updated daily to suit your needs. The challenges can be chosen according to the level of user’s expertise and he/she can earn badges on completing them.
Find Partners : This is the main feature of the application. This feature allows the user to look for workout buddies based on the preferences(community, gender etc.), the user can view their profiles and also make requests which can be accepted or declined. The chat feature allows the partners to communicate with each other.
Join Communities : The user can explore different communities as per the interests. Sports, athletics, yoga and many more! The user can interact with people and gain tips to keep yourself in shape. The group chat feature allows the people who have joined the same community to interact and plan out activities together in one place.
Insights : The user can explore a world of daily insights where he/she can gain knowledge about daily diet and workout needs, and also ways to keep oneself calm throughout the day!