RUNMATCH APP
UX /UI/Art & creative direction
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Introduction
I've designed Runmatch as a part of my UX course at General Assembly. Apart from lectures and workshops, we had to do a project that is either improving an existing product or creating a new one from scratch. I've decided to choose the latter as I enjoy generating new ideas and developing the whole brand around them.
The initial idea
Our course director suggested to look for ideas in our immediate surrounding, search for a real-life problem and how could it be improved.
I've realised that:
• Quite a lot of people in my office and also my friends run
• I would like to start running as well
What were the issues they were facing?
• Finding an appropriate running partner to train with (same speed/distance for example)
• Struggling with motivation and consistency
• Need for guidance and advice
How could I improve it?
• Create an app that will help users to find a running partner in their location (Tinder for runners!). The partners will be matched by their running ability, but users will be able to filter the potential partners by age and gender.
Users
Who is the audience?
• Age 20-45
• Mostly full time employed or students
• Financial background is mixed from unpaid intern, bar managers to creative directors of big corporations
• Struggling with their work-life balance, therefore, appreciate time-saving solutions
• Either already running or are willing to start, but both express interest in running with a partner either to motivate or to guide them
Their needs:
• Run with better users to push themselves harder while training
• Compete with users on similar skill level
• Run with more advanced users for support and mentoring (usually new starters)
• Run with people with the same abilities for social reasons
• Meet new people
Research:
I've started with interviewing people in my office, then I went to a few coffee shops and engaged with people there. I've tried to interview people running in London parks but this proved to be quite difficult as they were reluctant to pause their training. First rounds of interviews focused on their running regime, apps they are using, what do they struggle with, and if they would be interested in finding a training partner.
Competitor analysis
There were a lot of tracking devices available on the market. Runners that I've interviewed were mostly mentioning Strava and Nike Run. They both had a social aspect to them and enabled user interactions however there were mostly focus on statistics and analysis of their performance. There was no app at that time that offered runner - matching functionality.
Content principles
1. Enable interaction
• Enable users to interact with each other
• Share things like location, stats and advice
2. Tone of voice
• Playful, inspirational and personal
• Like a personal trainer, praise the user for their achievements
and provide motivation when they lack it
• Short and informative
3. Context
• Mobile-only - ease of access at any time and situation
4. Adapt content to the user
• Constantly update content and test its quality
• Filter content so it’s relevant to a particular user
5. Focus on the primary task
• Other features and usabilities don’t stand on the way on
the apps main focus which is finding a running par
Prototype testing
Initial feedback was based on paper sketches which were presented to my course mates. I've incorporated their comments and created a prototype using POP app and tested it again at General Assembly and with my work colleagues. The main concerns were that the journeys were a bit too long so I reduced the number of steps between the user and their main goal- which was to find a running partner.
Next steps
Obviously, this is only a side project and next steps are purely hypothetical, but the app would definitely need more testing, especially field testing, to see how users interact with the product in real-life scenarios when there is the pressure of time - for example, because they are running during their lunch break.
The other idea I had for the future of Runmatch is to sell it to big corporate companies as a white-label app in order to improve their employee's well-being and motivate them to meet people from other departments in their offices.