TOUGH MUDDER MOBILE APP

Skills: UX, UI, IA, Research, Content Coding, Visual Design, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Agile Methodology

Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, Axure, Unfuddle, Dropbox, Slack, Trello

My Role: Team lead, facilitated an Agile Workflow, Research (User Interviews, Comparative Analysis, Heuristics Evaluations). Planning (Concept Maps, Affinity Diagrams, User Flows, Wireframes). Design (Usability Testing and Iterative Improvement).

Timeframe: Two weeks

Client: General Assembly

THE PROJECT

What is Tough Mudder

A team oriented 12-15 mile obstacle course designed to test physical strength, mental grit and forge team bonds.

The challenge

Increase the number of Tough Mudder participants and Mudder loyalty by providing a new mobile app which promotes camaraderie and facilitates planning for an event.

OUR TEAM

My role

Team lead and Agile Workflow facilitator. I was also responsible for implementing the training features, overall design patterns and spearheading stakeholder presentations.

Shared responsibilities

• Initial Research (User Interviews, Comparative Analysis, Heuristics Evaluations)

• Initial Design (Concept Maps, Affinity Maps, User Flows, Wireframes)

• Visual Design Implementation

• Usability Testing and iterative improvements

RESEARCH

Qualitative user research

Starting with seven Tough Mudder veterans—we encouraged them to tell us their event stories. The conversations were guided by an ever narrowing set of questions to understand motivations, needs, likes and pain points.

Content coding

All data gathered from the interviews was run through Affinity Diagram and Concept Map exercises. Several repeating themes began to emerge. 

IDEATION

Competitive analysis

We executed a Competitive Analysis and Heuristic Evaluation on the three most widely-known competitors. We discovered that the bar was high—the Spartan Race in particular had a highly usable an attractive website.

Sketching

Several whiteboard sessions helped to define and refine User Flows, Use Cases, Sitemaps and Wireframes. Once a minimum workable solution was achieved we moved to Design.

DESIGN

Fast and good

With only a week until the deadline, we built out three features in the initial Prototype from our three key user insights.

• Obstacle based with customizable training

• Team communication with instant messaging

• Team photo library with team social media posts