Team Challenges, a feature concept for Strava Android
Work together in reaching a common exercise goal while having the freedom to work at your own pace and schedule.
My Role
- Sketched wireflows and translated them into high-fidelity mockups
- Created value for the business and end user through analysis of target audience and the app's existing UI patterns
- Identified opportunities for new features by planning and conducting user interviews
Problem Statement
Strava is a social network that brings people closer by sharing activities. However, the activities and challenges are individual, with social involvement only after you share a post. In this feature we leveraged Challenges to explore how the social aspect can be integrated more fully throughout the before and during stages of exercising.
User Research
Social Motivation
Some athletes are motivated by knowing and seeing other people participating in the same activities, and through social feedback such as likes and comment on their activities.
User Research
Progress Tracking
Many athletes want to keep track of their personal progress. Some share their progress with their friends to receive social motivation, while others track it for personal motivation.
Users
The app experience is freeform, with little guided exercises, which made it not ideal for beginner athletes. Additionally, the emphasis on social features and community events meant that the app would be most appropriate for athletes of casual to intermediate skill level, rather than pro athletes. With this in mind, we formed our persona as a semi-experienced social runner.
Initial Sketches
Because we were on a time crunch, I fleshed out the interactions as much as I could while sketching the wireflows, so that we could save time when translating the sketches later into mockups. Checking in with my teammates regularly allowed us to stay on the same page about the visualization of our idea, and I was able to pivot quickly and make adjustments on the go.
Fitting Into Strava's Design System
Our analysis of Strava's existing interface came in handy as we turned my sketches into high-fidelity mockups. We were careful to maintain consistency with the interaction and visual design patterns we observed so that our feature could live comfortably in Strava's existing design system.
Finding a Team
We placed team challenges on the same page as individual challenges so users can naturally discover the new feature as they use the app. At a glance, simple icons help identify what kind of athletes are required for each challenge. When inviting a teammate, users are shown a targeted list of friends and club members who have experience in that sport, so it's as easy as one tap to add a teammate.
Tracking Progress and Staying Updated
Once a user has joined a team challenge, a Teams tab appears under their Feed where they can easily see at a glance both their own progress and their team's progress in a simple and clean interface. This also provides a place for members of a team to socialize and share content with each other, a necessity for a subset of users who may only be acquainted on the platform.
Teamwork and Sportsmanship
We wanted to create a way for teammates to encourage each other even while exercising separately. When conceptualizing the form of the cheers, our priority was making sure that it wasn't overly intrusive, as we didn't want to distract athletes from their surroundings as this could be dangerous (eg. runners crossing the street).
Considerations for Implementation
Though we weren't actually required to implement our design, we designed with implementation in mind. Components of the design are easily scaled and modified based on desired user experience: types of activities in challenge, number of team members, cheers UI, etc. And because we leveraged mostly existing interaction and UI patterns, this require less resources such as manpower and cost to create the feature.
Reflection
With only three weeks to learn an entire app and create a concept for a feature that could plausibly live in it, time was definitely a challenge. I did my part by facilitating an app teardown to start the project, meticulously going through every page and possible userflow. In just one workshop, we were able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the app's interface, navigation, and interaction patterns. This really helped us move forward quickly, giving us more time to spend on brainstorming and iterating.
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