Deep dive into UWorkout
Date
Location
Team
Role
Oct 2021 – Dec 2021
Human-Computer Interaction -UW CSE 440
Justin Trinh,
Jasmine Yuan,
Matthew Shull,
Yujing Zhang
UX Designer, UX Research, User Interview
The problem
Working out at a busy gym can be intimidating. The majority of college students do not exercise enough despite the crucial mental and physical health benefits. Students feel pressured by gym intimidation which deters them from coming to the IMA, the University of Washington’s Intramural Activities Building, a facility requiring all 45,000+ UW students to pay membership into quarterly which many of them opt not to use.
Isopure survey of gym goers finds that half of all gym goers feel some level of gym intimidation.
And that 1/3 feel intimidated when working out near more experienced people, when examining a pool of participants about their gym experience.
Brief
We examined the IMA (the University of Washington Recreational Gym). We had 8 weeks with the University of Washington in Intro to Intellectual Foundations of Informatics to research, design, and prototype an application helping an unhelped population.
The IMA facility is required for university students to purchase quarterly for $32 per quarter, offering unlimited access for 45,000+ students. However, many students feel intimidated and discouraged from using it.
Our approach
Conducting Surveys 📝
Gain many perspectives from students on their general experience of working out at the IMA for the first time with multiple choice questions. We included some open-ended questions that let us further explore hidden pain points and better understand their experiences surrounding the gym.
Survery Topics 💬
- Describing one’s first time at the gym
- How many days they use the gym a week
- General experience/knowledge about the gym
- Missing information, unanswered questions, helpful staff, etc.
40 Survey Respondents
In less than a week we gathered 40 respondents, 9/10 of which are current UW students. ¾ of respondents use the gym 3 times or less a week. Infrequent gym goers are more representative of our target users. Gym intimidation greatly affects beginners rather than experience.
Most respondents report a lower level of experience working out (rating of 2 or less)
Most respondents are not too familiar with the areas of the gym.
Survey Insights
Gym intimidation is prevalent. We learned that a majority of respondents don’t go to the IMA at all and most have minimal experience working at the gym. Students first going to IMA generally reported feeling nervous, confused, intimidating, and self-conscious. The primary methods for getting information about workout machines included the internet and friends, which were one of the types of existing solutions that we had researched. One factor that was emphasized was the need for a map of the IMA to make it easier to find machines and equipment.
What Students Think about the IMA
- “Uncomfortable being there for the first time”
- “Size of gym is intimidating”
- “Don’t know where to start”
- “Overwhelmingly too many machines”
- “Can’t find the maps, specific rooms and machines”
- “Self-conscious when around more experienced people”
Behaviors
- Nervous
- Confused
- Lost
- Self-conscious
Conducting Interviews👥🎙️
To gain familiarity with the experience around using the University of Washington’s recreational activities building (IMA), and identify pain points students face, we conducted 3 user interviews.
Interview Topics 💬
How often do you go to IMA?
Describe your first time going to IMA. How did you feel?
What activities do you mainly engage in at the IMA?
What IMA information is missing that would be helpful?
What do you think can be improved in IMA?
What could deters you and other people from going to the IMA?
Elijah
3rd-year student and IMA staff member at UW. Elijah is 20 year old and likes to ski and swim in his free time. The purpose of interviewing Elijah was to get a deeper insight on problems at the IMA. Staff members work closely with the workout equipment and can provide useful feedback. Since employees like Elijah are active and use the IMA recreationally, they can provide insight on their own experiences at the gym as well.
We learned that not having a group to go with can deter beginners from working out at the IMA. Many students feel very nervous when seeing older and more experienced lifters at the IMA, which deters many of them from going to the IMA. As Elijah started going to the IMA more
often to workout, he felt like he was doing the same exercises and didn’t know how to expand. We learned that people of all experience levels experience this problem. Interactive information on how certain machines work different muscles would be
very useful to both staff and students. We also learned that it can be tricky to navigate the IMA unless you are a staff member who already knows the location of everything. The maps are only posted in some locations and do not show the location of workout machines/equipment. Information on the location of exercise equipment would be very useful to people of all experience levels.
Vi
4th-year student at UW “Vi” has some gym experience at the IMA. Vi uses the school gym sometimes but gets clustered by the number of machines, rooms & floors, without any way to identify where machines are and which are which.
We learned that starting to work out at a new gym can be a nervous process for a female, especially in a proportionally male setting. Since the gym can be a large and difficult building to
navigate, Vi wants a way to know the purpose of each machinery, its location, and the spaces available to students. For example, Vi was not aware of the empty rooms her gym provided, which could be used for anything ranging from
stretching, gymnastics, dancing, etc. Overall, there needs to be more information about the capabilities that the gym can offer.
Wayne
2nd-year student at UW. Participant “Wayne” has just started going to the IMA by himself, and does only a few machines when he works out. He uses YouTube or looks at what others are doing to figure out how to use the equipment.
First, we learned that students do have a lot of machines they don’t know how to use at the gym. Normally they might search how to use the machine online and see video instructions. However, it’s hard to tell the exact muscle movements from the video. There’s normally no staff at the gym so it’s hard to find someone to ask. Also, the personal coach is too expensive to hire so they often choose not to use machines they are not familiar with in case of getting hurt. There’s normally no staff at the gym so it’s hard to find someone to ask. Secondly, although the sections of different machines are clear, it’s hard to find a specific machine. It would be helpful if there’s a map that allows people to search a specific machine in IMA. Furthermore, students who go to the gym for the first time report they feel a sense of overwhelming and nervousness being surrounded by people who look very professional. To ease the feeling, they often choose to stare at the phone while waiting for the machine or go with friends.
Defining Features
Problems preventing students from exercising ⚠
- Don’t know where to start working out, feeling overwhelmed
- Difficult to navigate to many floors, rooms and machines
- Impossible to search for a specific machine on map
- Lot of machines they don’t know how to use.
- Search the web
- Personal trainers are an expensive solution.
- Tends to opt not to try new machines, in fear of misuse/injury.
“I use the school gym occasionally because it gets clustered by the amount of machines and rooms/floors, without any way to identify where machines are and which are which.” ~Vi, a 4th Year UW Student
Defining our users
Key Findings from Interviews
Based on the user research that the team has conducted we learned that many people often feel intimidated and overwhelmed when going to the gym for the first time because of information inadequacy.
- Not knowing where machines are located.
- Not knowing how to use machines.
- Don’t know where/how to start a session.
- Social Anxiety. For ex., seeing very experienced people and feeling judged
- No motivation/Personal trainers are expensive/No friends to go with
- Gym is “vast” and can be difficult to navigate.
Competitive Analysis 🤺
Based on the reviews of popular fitness apps including Fitness Buddy, Fitness & BodyBuilding, and Nike Training Club, we found that video instruction is helpful for new gym goers. UW does not provide sufficient online resource on the IMA in general, and especially on workout equipment.
Our users noted about competitors how easy they learned new gym equipment by scanning a QR code on the Planet Fitness app. UW students say they would be more comfortable knowing how to use the machines before coming into the gym
“Planet Fitness’s QR scanner feature for machines is helpful, but hard to find” says 4th year student Vi.
Tasks to Defeat Gym Intimidation 📝
Navigate the IMA 📍
Access to maps of the IMA is inconvenient. Participants from interviews have described gym upon first contact as scary, uncomfortable, “I don’t know where to start”, too many machines, etc. Maps are rarely posted inside.
Scan and Learn Machines 🤳
The main way to learn how to use new machines was the internet and friends. However, many participants would opt not to use new machines. In addition, there is no way to learn about the machines before coming, as there are no lists or maps with the machines available.
Quick Start a Workout 🏃
Beginners noted not knowing where to start, especially with the large amounts of different machines and stations. It would be helpful to be pointed in the direction without needing to find an experienced person/trainer to meet their specific fitness goals.
Learn More 📚
Including gym etiquette, warming up, cooling down, stretching, nutrition and diet, are important to reducing injury and increasing confidence about going to the gym for the first time, as participants noted that they would rather know how to do their activity before coming at all.
Designing an app to help college students
We chose an app design because students are very comfortable with using their phones to access information to feel more at ease in the unknown environment. Students almost always bring the phone with them. It is the most common device kept in person and would provide modality for input and output (workout generator) that other solutions like a pamphlet or website would not be able to implement as efficiently.
Sketching Tasks
Map 🗺️
Navigate the IMA easily: The sheer size and complexity of the IMA building is intimidating. With a detailed and interactive map of the four different stories at the IMA building, students are able to find the machine that they are interested in, or a featured facility, or where the restrooms are.
QR Code Scanner 🏋
Learn machines: A QR code scanner allows users to quickly learn how to use workout machines. Users can quickly access clear instructions and reduce risk of injury.
Workout Generator 🏃
Quick-start a workout: Input their experience level, body constraints, and goals to quickly generate a new workout routine based on their metrics. It serves as a guide for beginners a way for experienced gym goers to expand their workout routines.
Resources 👨🏫️
Learn more: The resource page for our app will have a list containing resources on nutrients and diet, stretching, warming up, cooling down, and gym etiquette. It will also contain direct links to the IMA websites which can be used for bookings, hourly schedules, and contact information. Resources fill in any remaining information gaps for our users.
Refine
Our team created wireframes in Figma highlighting the 4 distinct tasks for UWorkout.
Map – Navigate the IMA
QR Scanner – Learn machines
Workout Generator – Quick-start a Workout
Resources – Learn more
The Look and Feel
We needed a font that matched our goals for the user. The font must:
- Be simple
- Be friendly
- Visually Appealing
- Fully Accessible
- Variety of font weights
IBM Plex Sans was the final choice after researching current design trends and doing small-scale testing because of how well it met our criteria.
Final Color Scheme
Main (Primary) color: Lavender purple. Meant to stay consistent with the University of Washington colors and to ease the feeling of trying something new by using a color that represents innovation and transformation.
Background (Secondary) color: Pastel purple. Second color to create a monochromatic theme to signify one place, secure with all the information needed for anyone to work out.
Neutrals: Gray, used for small details to add balance and a sense of comfort and calmness.
Text: Black, to contrast against the white background and balance out the design with the text.
Creating a Smooth Landing
Navigating the gym easily
The sheer size and complexity of the IMA building is intimidating. With a detailed and interactive map of the four different stories at the IMA building, students are able to find machines that they are interested in, or a featured facility, or where the restrooms are.
QR scan machines to learn easily
We made the QR code more accessible from the start. Participants noted lack of information for movements, proper form, and activated muscle groups for machines in the gym. Phones are more helpful for showing videos with specific movements as well as proper form for beginners.
Generate a workout for you
Beginners noted “not knowing where to start”. Advanced gym members “want to expand exercises”.
The workout routine generator allows users to input their metrics. It then generates a new workout routine based on their personalized profile. Page shows maps and which machines to go to. This and acts as a guide to workout.
Resources contain useful info
The primary goal is to fill in any remaining important information gaps that would be helpful to know before going to a gym. Information that is not readily available and usually learned only through experience such as: gym etiquette, diet and nutrition, stretching and warming up.
