VIKING CENTRO
A real case of the process of creating a digital ecosystem designed for the comprehensive management of a gym chain, focused on task optimization and time efficiency.
Project category: Mobile application (part of a SaaS project as B2B product)
Function: Exclusive UI/UX & Graphic Designer, Analyst, Researcher and Tester
Field: Booking and Scheduling
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Adobe Illustrator, Lucidchart
Duration: 20 weeks
Requirements Gathering
What is the main goal of the app?
Target audience for the application: needs, goals and motivations
Analysis
Defining principles and patterns
Functional and Design Insights: friendly interface and minimal steps to complete booking
Third-party integrations. What now?
Design
Expanding horizons through combination of design methods
Information Architecture aimed to simple and consistent navigation
Importance of calculating the amount of information that will be used
Development
Balancing frontend vs. backend: what is our Minimum Viable Product?
Building the app in a way that makes it easy to update and maintain
Testing and Quality Assurance
Minimal cognitive load on the user as main goal is aproached
Reducing user errors and improving satisfaction
App compatibility on various devices
Deployment
Focusing on continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)
Monitoring and logging app's activities, and why it is so crucial?
Maintenance and Support
Implementing options for continous feedback
User experience: universally iterative process
How can users perform the main task of the app without getting lost?
Although the app currently features core functions, the idea is to integrate new functions in the future without losing the main focus
Requirements Gathering
What is the Main Goal of the App?
The main objective of this product is not to create a mobile application intended for booking management.
The main purpose of this project is to develop a system that can be iteratively improved and integrated with different features, with the ultimate goal of offering a complete ecosystem aimed at continuous improvement of the user experience based on feedback from both internal and external users of the software.
Target Audience
Even though there was already a target audience for the product, it was still necessary to understand them. To achieve this, some practical methods were implemented, including User Profiling and Contextual Inquiry.
These two methods have allowed for a deep understanding of the users’ pain points, their daily situations in which they would use the application, and other preferences.
Demographics
Age: 25-45
Gender: All
Location: Spain
Occupation: Working professionals, enterpreneurs, and students
Pain Points
People who go to the gym usually prioritize finding conveniences. Their main problems are: lack of motivation, lack of knowledge about training routines and nutrition, and impersonal management of the services offered by the gym.
Personality traits
The clients are committed to a healthy and active lifestyle, but sometimes busy. They are people who are familiar with using technology daily for all kinds of tasks. They focus on activities that are convenient and flexible for them, and where a professional can guide them during their training.
Goals
Clients are looking for a closer relationship with the professionals at the center. Greater flexibility when booking training sessions or services. Supervision by a personal trainer and physical activities that are fun and help to stay in shape.
Analysis
Defining principles and patterns
Guiding the project towards simplicity by minimizing the number of steps to complete various tasks and offering visual consistency - the goal is to provide a self-sufficient product with flexible and adaptable features as it scales.
The application aims for sustainable and comfortable development for the coding professional. Having established its own design system and the way information is displayed in the software, it seeks to reduce errors and bugs in development.
Functional and Design Insights
We aim to provide the utmost convenience when using the Viking Centro App. To achieve this, a search feature with filters for both service bookings and invoices has been developed. Additionally, a notification system is included to alert the customer when their class will start within a specified time period, among other features.
To achieve a coherent system throughout development, a specific design system for the product was created. This way, it can be used in the future through the given guidelines and rules
Third-party integrations
Third-party applications have been integrated to enhance the user experience and convenience by using high-quality, secure APIs, thereby increasing the application’s quality.
For example, a payment gateway has been integrated to offer immediate service availability, focusing on the product’s effectiveness for the customer, as developing a payment gateway could extend the project’s duration by several months or even years.
Design
Expanding horizons through combination
Product design has diversified in terms of the interface, through research to determine the most concise and cost-effective way to prepare it.
A series of different design methods have been used, such as Atomic Design, Modular Design, Service Design, and User-Centered Design. The main purpose of this decision is to balance the most characteristic elements of each method and combine them to create a unique and versatile product for all parties: users, designers, and programmers."
Simple and consistent navigation
The design is primarily user-oriented, guaranteeing that all functions are accessible, intuitive, and visible to the user at all times, thereby facilitating a seamless and engaging experience.
The decision to integrate a combination of different design methods has been carefully planned and analyzed with a focus on maximizing the visual deployment of information in each section, while also ensuring a consistent and cohesive visual language throughout the application.
The amount of information matters
The creation of the application follows some essential details regarding design and programming. There is a lot of data to visualize, many of which are dynamic, so it is important to know what to display at the first level and what to work on in subsequent levels.
It is important to show just the right amount of data to avoid hindering user navigation and, above all, not to overwhelm their attention due to the cognitive load that such information can cause.
From service prices to data on trainers and centers - everything is displayed to maximize user focus and orientation.
Development
Frontend & backend as key to achieve the MVP
Despite having sufficient information to know how and where to direct the development, the nature of the application and its development method required defining the point at which the application can be considered a minimum viable product.
Through a mix of strategies offered by MVP Canvas and Lean UX methodologies, it has been possible to determine the exact point to achieve the desired basic, but robust product that meets the main needs of the clients and provides a clear and pleasant user journey.
Easy to update - easy to maintain
Owing to the coder's expertise, it was possible to create an organized product that meets the needs of the gym's clients. However, the crucial pillar of the project is the application's projection towards constant improvement thanks to the feedback provided by the stakeholders.
Thanks to the application's design, its preparation for both Android and iOS platforms, and its responsiveness - it allows for flexible security, design, or content updates at any time without risking the platform's stability or sacrificing consistency.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Minimal Cognitive Load
During the user journey, the idea of a clean and intuitive execution is prioritized with the intention of not creating anxiety or making the user feel lost.
Through techniques such as Unmoderated Remote Testing, among others; the users chosen to perform the test correctly carried out the actions that were planned for different end purposes, defining the application as:
‘perfect for the purposes for which it is intended'
More satisfaction - less errors
Functionality and usability tests were carried out with real users, where feedback was collected from those involved through studies allowing to neutralize a series of issues.
As expected, the connections within the application have also been tested and verified to maximize the security of transactions and customer data.
In this way, users, who are more secure in our environment, feel understood and more likely to become loyal, increasing sales closing.
Deployment
Focusing on CI/CD
Establishing an effective and balanced pipeline when implementing improvements and changes in terms of user experience and interfaces is crucial to maintaining a dynamic and growing application.
To this end, a series of gradual implementations have been defined to integrate improvements as the design system is updated or to test new integrations without taking unnecessary risks.
Monitoring and logging app's activities
Through statistics recorded by methods such as Session Recordings or User Interaction Tracking, it is possible to know how users move through the application or what the subsequent Pain Points may be.
In this way, the steps to follow to alleviate these errors are defined after reviewing the technical log files where the information is collected.
Maintenance and Support
Continous feedback
Once the application is launched, it is just the beginning of the product’s life. User feedback, complaints, suggestions, and other inquiries must be received, analyzed, and processed for continuous improvement.
To this end, feedback channels have been integrated into the application, as well as more common methods such as email, forms, etc.
The iterativeness of User Experience
User experience is a segment of design that is never fully researched, developed, and optimized. This is especially true for applications like Viking Centro App.
It is challenging to get everything right from start to finish. Some strategies work, while others are better suited for different types of projects. For this reason, there is a commitment to constantly updating the forms, strategies, and methods used in user experience and interface design.
The scope of the project allows for the expression of ideas and their transformation into something digitally tangible to meet the needs and requirements of users.
Figma
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