Research

Research Goals

Understand the process and information requirements users have when evaluating trainers and their services.

Competitive Analysis

I identified multiple competitors to include in a feature inventory analysis, to identify current conventions and strengths and weaknesses in competitors.

User Interviews

I conducted and recorded three formal interviews and additional conversational surveys.

"I want an overall general health, not just fitness, but nutrition too."

"It's a trust factor. I trust a trainer who is knowledgable, more than I trust myself at the gym."

"Personality differentiates the trainers, if they have the same credentials. I want to like who I'm spending my time with. "

"I think most people look for a trainer at their gym, but I found mine through a friend."

"It was important to have them [trainer] to understand my injury and its limitations."

"What would make a difference is, knowledge of what I can do with my past injury, trust in them, and seeing that their training has made a difference for others."

"Education, knowledge and awareness of my goals, and focusing on what I'm doing and how I'm doing it for improvement. That's what establishes trust for me."

"I have a very busy schedule, so just having a phone call to talk with a trainer would do it [evaluation] for me."

"Personal training is looked at as an expensive luxury, but for me my goal was results. So results and expertise outweighed the price, but is still a big factor."

Research Synthesis

Content Grouping

In the interviews I discovered common themes among all of the participants. I then used notecards to group these themes into buckets to identify larger trends.


Research Findings

       - Establishing trust is the primary goal for a user when vetting a trainer

       - Trust is primarily established through education, certifications, and reviews

       - Users check to make sure location and services match interests first

       - Would like to see photographed results to gauge effectiveness

       - Personality of trainer is important, but comes second to trust/expertise

       - Prefer to see prices, but understand the norm is to not show

User Mental Model

The themes, trends, and insights pulled from the research helped me to define the mental model that users go through from the point when they search for a trainer to selecting the trainer.

Persona Development

A strong understanding of the user's mental model and evaluation process provided me enough information to define the primary persona for Sixth Union.

Defining the Content Requirements

Using the user evaluation model, I identified pieces of content that could contribute to a good experience in each phase of the process.

Product Design

Information Architecture

I merged the user content requirements, evaluation model, and business requirements into a site map. I then tested the sitemap through an open card sort to see how it matched the users' mental model. 

       - Discovered terminology differences between users

       - Grouped reviews and results together

       - Did not like the term "free consultation"

       - Grouped the week long programs separately from private and group

Hand Sketch Ideation

I sketched out multiple iterations of how the defined information architecture could be presented, with the user evaluation model in mind.

Concept Review and Paper Prototyping

I reviewed the concept sketches with Sixth Union and pulled different elements from each concept to arrive at a final concept. I created a paper prototype of the final concept before moving into Sketch wireframes and an interactive prototype in Flinto.

Usability Tests and Design Revisions

The feedback and observations I documented in the early stage usability tests with the interactive and paper prototypes led to my next iteration in the design. 

       - More welcoming entry text
       - Relabeling of call to action items
       - Breakdown of service options for easier viewing and business limitations
       - Rotating visual gallery of results and reviews
       - More prominent process overview information
       - Additional call to action for a less intimidating inquiry process