- CLASSPASS - ClassPass is a membership program that grants users access to multiple gyms and studios in their city and around the world.
- CHALLENGE & DURATION - Create a new digital feature or service for an existing brand and design it on a digital system(in my case, iOS), in two weeks.
- OBJECTIVES - Build a feature in the existing ecosystem that would effectively make the act of working out together, easier.
- ROLE - UX Designer.
- DELIVERABLES - Brief, hypothesis, research themes(drawn from empathy maps), user interviews, personas, competitive analysis, ideation process, wireframes, design solution(high fidelity), Apple watch, additional design solutions drawn from pain points discovered in usability testing on existing interface.
BRIEF
As a longtime fitness junkie, I tend to resort to exercise as a way of catching up with friends and family. For the purpose of this case study, I set to find out the premises in which people use ClassPass with their community, so that I could build something that will make the act of working out together, easier.
I developed a Hypothesis to articulate the problem I was interested in solving.
FRIENDS ENJOY TRYING AND DOING GYM CLASSES TOGETHER.
COORDINATING THIS IS A HASSLE.
I believe that by creating a feature that will allow friends to share the experience in a seamless manner, they will live a more active lifestyle.
THE AIM
When prompted to add a feature to an existing brand, I was excited to explore how ClassPass users would be able to enjoy a class together in a hassle-free way through a seamless user experience. The objective was to streamline this through quality design while adhering to the brands aesthetic, with consideration to the companies broader business goals of customer satisfaction and retention. From an emotional standpoint, part of my motives involved making it easier for users to be able to positively influence each other to exercise more and live a healthy, happy life. :)
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
How do ClassPass members use the service with their community?
WHAT MOTIVATES THEM TO WORK OUT?
Do they even like doing classes with friends?
HOW DO USERS SCHEDULE A GIVEN CLASS TOGETHER?
How do people schedule a given class together?
WHAT ARE THEIR HABITS?
IS ATTENDING A CLASS WITH A FRIEND A SOCIAL THING?
WHAT ARE THEIR PAST EXPERIENCES WITH COORDINATING A CLASS WITH A FRIEND?
USER RESEARCH
INTERVIEWS
Interviews were conducted with qualifying participants to discern key user patterns.
Early user interviews
I set out to understand users behavior around scheduling classes, and how they go about coordinating the booking of a given class with a friend.
““Doing a class with a friend is more fun. Plain and simple. Especially when I’m trying a new class and making a fool out of myself, it’s more to laugh it off with a friend.”
— Jennifer G.”
““I signed up for ClassPass a few months ago. A friend from college uses it all the time and kept nagging me to get it so that we could do classes together. She texted me to sign-up for a pilates class she had booked for after work, but when I went to do so, the class was full. This kept happening so I stopped using ClassPass because I didn’t love going to new classes and studios alone. In that case, I prefer to stick to the classes of my local gym, where I see familiar faces in a familiar territory.”
— Michele P.”
KEY FINDINGS
TRYING A NEW WORKOUT CLASS ALONE COULD BE INTIMIDATING
Given the nature of the ClassPass business model, where users are only allowed to visit a given studio three times/cycle, they are constantly trying new classes, in different vicinities and with new instructors.
USERS SEE DOING A WORKOUT CLASS TOGETHER AS A GOOD WAY TO GET TOGETHER
COORDINATING A CLASS WITH A FRIEND IS A HASSLE
Toggling between the app and messages makes coordination time consuming for the user.
TRYING A NEW CLASS AND SHARING THE EXPERIENCE WITH A FRIEND IS ONE OF THE MOST COVETED ASPECTS OF CLASSPASS
““Sharing the experience with a friend is one of the best parts about ClassPass.”
— Kim J.”
PERSONAS
For the purpose of this case study, Margo & Chelsea are a product of the real people I spoke to. These personas were kept at the forefront of all design decisions moving forward.
In an effort to synthesize all the data and pain points, personas(aka "fake" people) were created to exhibit ideal users of the design features.
OPPORTUNITY
I saw an opportunity for a ClassPass user to hold a spot on a friends behalf that they think may be able to join them in a given class.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Some key competitors were identified. I wanted to gain insight on the current marketplace for gyms or fitness service apps, and exploring whether or not they were able to share class reservations with friends, and if so, how?
IDEATION PROCESS
EARLY SKETCHING SESSIONS
Several time-boxed design studios were held to get some paper prototypes down and start testing user flows relevant to our personas needs. These quickly became apparent. When choosing which solution(feature) to implement, I also considered if it would fall in the realm of capabilities on the engineering front and features execution.
Early paper prototypes
WIREFRAMES
Several iterations of low-fidelity prototypes were created on Sketch once I was comfortable with the final iteration of the paper prototype. Wireframes were tested on clickable prototype and modified following insights from usability testing.
Primary screens for Margo's entry point.
Primary screens for Chelsea's entry point.
DESIGN SOLUTION
FEATURES & DESIGN DECISIONS
HOLD A SPOT FOR A FRIEND
Once a user has reserved a class for themselves, they are able to hold a spot for a friend. The friend is then notified.
I designed this feature not only to serve as an extension of the current apps interface, but a way to keep other members engaged while also encouraging an active lifestyle amongst the community.
HASSLE-FREE COORDINATION
Keeping engagement between two users confined within the ClassPass app revolved around the concept of coordination hassle-free. Therefore, the users won't have to toggle between their messages and app to plan. Given their busy lifestyles, and the fact that scheduling a gym class doesn't elicit excessive banter, this design decision aligned on the users needs.
WORK OUT WITH FRIENDS
An auto-populated list of ClassPass members from the users contact list makes it easy to know who to ask.
"Sharing the experience with a friend is one of the best parts about ClassPass." -- Kim J.
User research showed that there is a big social component associated with the ClassPass service. There is an opportunity here to help user meet their physical and social benefits.
USER FLOWS & ANNOTATIONS
USER SCENARIO // Primary Persona
Margo is feeling a little bit apprehensive about trying Barry's Bootcamp for the first time. She wants to see if her friend Chelsea would be free to do it with her.
Margo's entry point User Flow.
USER SCENARIO // Secondary Persona
Chelsea receives a notification from her friend.
Chelsea's entry point User Flow.
APPLE WATCH
I included an Apple watch design for this project because wearable technology has become a hot-button in fitness, and therefore I deemed it relevant to the persona's needs(and feasibility of features' execution). From a broader growth standpoint for ClassPass as a company, I feel strongly about this being an opportunity to step into the wearables market as a growth hacking and optimization strategy.
