PulseGo. The new technically advanced gym experience.
PulseGo is a new gym experience that recycles old second hand gym equipment that allows gym users to connect to Pulse Fitness gym equipment with their mobile devices.
PROMO VIDEO
Overview
Client
Pulse Fitness & Staffordshire University
Team
Stuart G (Product Designer)
Tony W (Hardware Engineer)
Duration
Sep 2020 - Jan 2020
My Role
User Research - Questionnaires & Product Research
Wireframe lo-fi & hi-fi generation
Hi-fi prototyping
Usability testing and feedback sessions
Created promotional content & explanatory animation
The Problem
Gym equipment can have various types of connectivity depending on the spec and age. The highest spec equipment can cost gym management tens of thousands of pounds per machine. Even with the highest spec equipment, connectivity to social media, video streaming services and online games can be limited. Along with the functionality of the equipment, all Pulse Fitness equipment are currently manufactured in Asia resulting in a large carbon footprint.
The Goals
UX Research User Questionnaire
Discover the pros and cons with the current Pulse Fitness Console
Find out what connectivity apps and services users want in the gym environment
Investigate if the users want access to live gym content like virtual spin classes
Find out how users think when it comes to their privacy, logging into personal accounts from gym equipment.
Questionnaire Overview
21 Responses
12 Questions
Mixture of full time & part time workers, students and retired.
Mixture of male and female
Ages between 18 - 69 years of age
Summary Results
Most users answered that they needed some sort of entertainment to keep them motivated when workout out in the gym. Example given included: TV, Netflix, or Spotify. Some users commented that they would need a personal trainer to keep them motivated.
When asked if a user was happy to login to their personal accounts such as Netflix, Facebook or Spotify on a gym console, 50% of users answered; No they would not login due to the risk of their personal data being stolen, where as 50% of users said yes they would if the console wiped the cache at the end of their workout.
Almost all users answered that they would happily connect their bluetooth headphones to third party gym equipment, but 75% of these users did express they would prefer to keep connected to their own devices as a priority.
Users expressed that when using gym equipment they would like to have access to virtual personal training sessions, intense fitness tests, connection to their smart watches, sharing to Fitbit or similar and finally detailed fitness stats.
When asked if users would pay an extra premium cost for access to these additional features above, 60% said no they would expect these in the cost of their gym membership.
The Solution
When breaking down the costs of the current top spec machinery, the most expensive part is the equipment consoles. The logical solution was to remove this as a feature and replace with the users apple or android device. By doing this would mean the users would have direct access to any app they would like to use whilst working out, ie. video streaming services, social media and many more.
A device holder would need to be introduced to the machine design to make it easy for the user to view their device.
From here, a new motherboard would need to be designed to incorporate a bluetooth module. With updated firmware the device app could speak back and forth with the machine to control and display useful information.
This system could be fitted in all active Pulse Fitness equipment as a retro fit upgrade. Alternatively, to reduce Pulse Fitness’s carbon foot print, this system could be installed into second hand equipment, saving the environment and providing new, cheaper equipment for gym owners.
Lo-Fi Wireframe
When assessing the user research, I incorporated the simplest way for the app and machine to connect. It was also imperative to give the users access to their own personal apps and optional training extras.
Wireframe User Testing
3 Responses
8 Questions
Mixture of full time & self employed users
Mixture of male and female
Ages between 24 - 30 years of age
Testing Goals
User to signup for a new account
Login and follow the process to connect to a piece of equipment
Review workout screen
Review connection to third party apps
Testing Outcome
User successfully signed up for a new account and logged in.
The overall feel of the connecting process was quick and straight forward.
The workout screen was very clear but lacked detail (detail to be shown in Hi-Fi).
Connection to users apps was received well.
Hi-Fi Final Design
With the PulseGo app having hundred of screens, please see a selection of the Hi-Fi final screens below.
Hi-Fi Prototype
The Hi-Fi prototype was created for he user testing section, this was created on InVision and incorporates both portrait and landscape Ux flow.
Hi-Fi UX Flow
Explanatory Animation
This animation explains the full PulseGo concept in a simple way.
