Gym!
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Gym! ✧
2020 - UI/UX
In 2020, I initiated and conceptualized the "Gym! Fitness App" project, a complete redesign of the mobile app for Gym!, a gym franchise operating in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. This self-driven project stemmed from my passion for UX and my recognition of significant opportunities to enhance the app’s usability and overall user experience.
I began with an in-depth UX research process, identifying pain points in the existing app and understanding user needs. Based on my findings, I designed a fresh, modern user interface, developed a cohesive design system, and created interactive prototypes to showcase the new experience. My goal was not only to improve usability but also to craft a compelling proposal for the Gym! franchise, demonstrating how a well-structured UX/UI approach could elevate their digital offering.
This project reflects my expertise in research-driven design, strategic thinking, and delivering high-quality UX solutions that align with business goals.
Research phase
To ensure a user-centered redesign of the Gym! app, I conducted extensive on-field research using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The objective was to gain a deep understanding of how both gym members and staff interacted with the app, identifying pain points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. By engaging directly with users in their environment, I was able to collect real-world insights that shaped the design strategy.
One of the primary research methods involved conducting in-person interviews with both gym members and staff. Speaking directly with regular attendees, casual users, and class-oriented members provided valuable perspectives on their fitness habits, how they engaged with the app, and the challenges they faced when booking classes, tracking workouts, or managing their memberships. Additionally, interviews with gym staff, including personal trainers and receptionists, shed light on operational inefficiencies, such as difficulties in managing class schedules, checking in members, and assisting users with app-related concerns. These conversations revealed gaps between the app’s intended functionality and its practical use in a real gym setting.
To complement the insights gathered from interviews, I developed detailed customer journey maps to analyze each phase of the user experience. This process helped me visualize the typical journey of a user from the moment they consider joining a gym to how they engage with the app over time. By mapping out their interactions, emotions, and frustrations, I identified critical pain points that hindered a seamless experience. Understanding these moments of friction allowed me to propose targeted design improvements that would enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
In addition to customer journeys, I worked on defining user flows that outlined how gym members navigated key app functionalities. By mapping out step-by-step interactions such as booking a fitness class, checking gym occupancy, managing memberships, and tracking workout progress, I was able to pinpoint areas where users encountered unnecessary complexity. Analyzing these workflows enabled me to streamline processes, ensuring a more intuitive and efficient user experience.
To further strengthen the research phase, I conducted competitor benchmarking to evaluate best practices and industry trends in fitness applications. Studying how leading fitness platforms approached class scheduling, progress tracking, and community engagement provided valuable reference points that informed the redesign process.
Customer journeys
The customer journey analysis provided a clear understanding of how users interact with the Gym! app throughout their fitness experience, from discovering the gym to becoming loyal members. In the awareness phase, potential members explored different gym options, relying on online reviews, social media, and recommendations. During the consideration phase, they evaluated membership plans, class offerings, and app features, often facing challenges such as unclear pricing or limited trial options.
The acquisition phase focused on the onboarding experience, where users signed up, explored the app, and scheduled their first class or gym visit. A smooth and intuitive onboarding process was crucial to ensure engagement from the start. In the experience phase, members actively used the app for booking classes, checking gym occupancy, tracking progress, and managing their memberships. Pain points included inefficient booking flows, lack of real-time updates, and difficulty navigating workout tracking features.
Finally, the loyalty phase determined long-term engagement, where users expected personalized recommendations, rewards for consistency, and seamless membership renewals. Retention strategies, such as improved gamification, exclusive content, and social features, were identified as opportunities to enhance motivation and keep users engaged over time. The customer journey analysis helped pinpoint key moments of friction and provided actionable insights to refine the app’s experience, ensuring a smoother and more engaging interaction for users at every stage.
User flows
The outcome of the user flows analysis provided key insights into how gym members interacted with the Gym! app and revealed opportunities to optimize their experience. By mapping out essential flows such as booking a fitness class, checking gym occupancy, managing memberships, and tracking workout progress, I identified areas where users encountered unnecessary friction.
For the class booking flow, users needed a streamlined process that allowed them to quickly view available sessions, check instructor details, and confirm reservations with minimal steps. The existing process required too many interactions, which led to user frustration and occasional missed bookings. Simplifying this journey by introducing a more intuitive calendar view and a one-tap confirmation significantly improved usability.
The gym occupancy check flow was another critical aspect of the experience, as users wanted to avoid peak hours. The analysis showed that members preferred real-time updates with visual indicators of how busy the gym was at different times. Implementing a clear capacity status and predictive analytics based on historical data helped users make better scheduling decisions.
For membership management, many users struggled with understanding their subscription details, payment history, and renewal options. The redesigned flow ensured that key information was easily accessible, with clear renewal reminders and upgrade options to enhance user control over their membership plans.
The workout tracking flow was also a major focus, as members sought an intuitive way to log their progress. Many users expressed frustration with manually entering workout data or struggling to integrate with fitness wearables. Optimizing this process by incorporating automated tracking, quick-entry options, and progress visualization made the experience more engaging and seamless.
Overall, the user flow analysis played a crucial role in uncovering inefficiencies and shaping a more user-friendly app. By reducing unnecessary steps, improving navigation clarity, and enhancing personalization, the redesigned flows ensured a more seamless and engaging experience for both casual and committed gym-goers.
User Flow - Booking classes or personal trainers
User Flow - Sign up & onboarding
User interviews
The interviews with both regular gym-goers and staff members provided valuable insights into how the Gym! app was used in real-life scenarios, highlighting pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Speaking with gym members revealed that while the app was essential for booking classes, checking schedules, and managing memberships, many users found the interface unintuitive and cumbersome. Regular attendees often relied on the app for structuring their workouts and tracking progress, yet they felt that key features were either too complicated or lacked personalization. Class-oriented users expressed frustration with last-minute schedule changes and the inability to receive real-time updates, while casual gym-goers wanted an easier way to check gym occupancy to avoid peak hours. Many users also mentioned difficulty in navigating the app, citing inconsistent design and too many steps for simple tasks. These insights pointed to a clear need for a more intuitive, streamlined, and personalized experience.
Interviews with gym staff, including personal trainers and receptionists, uncovered operational inefficiencies that affected both employees and members. Receptionists frequently dealt with app-related issues, such as members struggling with account management or booking classes, which resulted in additional workload and long wait times at the front desk. They also highlighted the need for a smoother check-in process and clearer communication tools to notify members of schedule changes or facility updates. Personal trainers, on the other hand, faced challenges in tracking client progress digitally, as the app lacked proper integration for logging personalized workout plans and training history. They expressed a strong need for features that would help them engage better with clients and provide tailored fitness recommendations directly through the app.
Overall, the interviews provided crucial insights into user frustrations and unmet needs. Gym members required a more seamless and engaging experience, while staff members needed better tools to manage operations efficiently. These findings directly influenced the redesign strategy, ensuring that the new version of the app addressed both member usability concerns and staff workflow improvements.
User Interview - Member
User Interview - Staff
After observing the results from these research methods several observations could be pointed out regarding the flaws of the product's lifecycle, acquisition and usage stages. Not just the navigation was rather improvable but some key features of the app were lacking prominence due to these flaws that were generating that users wouldn't interact with them.
Considering all these insights a new approach for the app could be started in which these issues could be resolved and give the user a sense not of just accomplishment but also rewarding.
This multi-faceted research approach resulted in a comprehensive understanding of user needs, frustrations, and expectations. By combining on-field interviews, customer journey mapping, user flow analysis, and competitor research, I was able to gather actionable insights that shaped the foundation of a more user-friendly and engaging app experience.
Sign Up and Onboard
Based on my research, I identified several pain points in the sign-up and onboarding process that created friction for new users. Many gym members found the initial registration confusing, with too many steps and unclear instructions, leading to frustration or even abandonment before completing their sign-up. Additionally, new users often felt lost after registering, unsure of how to navigate the app or maximize its features.
To address these issues, I streamlined the sign-up process by reducing unnecessary fields, introducing a more intuitive step-by-step flow, and incorporating social login options for quicker access. Clear progress indicators and real-time validation helped users complete their registration smoothly, while a more engaging UI made the process feel effortless.
For onboarding, I designed an interactive and personalized experience to guide users through the app’s key features. A tailored walkthrough highlighted essential functions like class booking, gym occupancy tracking, and workout logging, ensuring that new users quickly understood how to integrate the app into their fitness routine. I also implemented onboarding customization, allowing users to set fitness goals and preferences from the start, which helped deliver a more personalized experience from day one.
By optimizing the sign-up and onboarding journey, I was able to remove friction, increase user retention, and ensure that new members felt confident and motivated to engage with the app immediately.
App features
The main features of the app were modernised, better structured and given a nicer and simpler approach. User could now search for clubs within his area and find out all the information about it such as trainings, coaches available and popular times when user can expect more people to be at the facility.
A new calendar and bookings system was also implemented having into account that it represented one of the most used and critical features of the app which is users being able to find out workouts or trainings and be able to book them. On this updated version of that feature users can apply different filtering options to refine their search as well as getting detailed information about the type of workout/training and in case of need contact the coach who carries out the selected event. It became easier as well for the user to keep track of his bookings as these are now saved on his calendar.
The Profile and rewards information also received a new look and more customised to the user approach, as the user should feel encouraged to make use of the app and get rewards that translate into "points" that he can later use for the Marketplace or to unlock special services or subscriptions.
Marketplace
The user research process played a crucial role in shaping the functionality and engagement of the Marketplace section by uncovering user behaviors, pain points, and expectations. Through interviews and usability testing, I identified that many gym members were interested in purchasing fitness-related products but found the previous shopping experience inconvenient, with cluttered navigation, limited product information, and a lack of personalization.
One key insight was that users wanted an easier way to discover relevant products based on their fitness goals. To address this, I introduced personalized recommendations, allowing users to see curated supplements, apparel, and accessories tailored to their training preferences.
Staff members also highlighted the need for product credibility, particularly for supplements and training gear. In response, I enhanced product pages with verified customer reviews, detailed ingredient breakdowns, and trainer-recommended sections to build trust. The research also revealed that users frequently abandoned purchases due to indecision or price concerns, leading to the implementation of wishlists, price-drop alerts, and exclusive in-app discounts to boost conversions.
By grounding design decisions in real user feedback, the Marketplace evolved into a more intuitive, engaging, and conversion-friendly platform, ensuring that users could seamlessly find, purchase, and track their fitness-related products with confidence.
