Joina
Client: Joina
Timeline: (Oct–Dec)
Role: UX Researcher & UI Designer
Team: 6 UX Designers
Joina is a health and fitness app that helps people build a habit of exercising through daily challenges. Even though the app has a strong community and fun features, many free users were not becoming paying subscribers. To solve this problem, the team decided to learn more about what users need and like. The goal was to make the app better and get more people to subscribe.
Problem statement
Joina wanted to understand how users talk and connect with each other inside the app. They wanted to improve these social features to make the app more fun, interesting, and rewarding for users.
Solution
We focused on making the “Create Your Own Challenge” feature easier and more fun to use. We redesigned how people pick exercises, added more flexible time options, and let users create private challenges with friends. This helped people make their fitness journey more personal and stay motivated by connecting with others.
Project Timeline
Design Process
Research
At the beginning, I wanted to understand how people use fitness apps and what social features they like. I did a survey with over 30 people, including Joina users and non-users.
I also talked to 8 people in interviews – 3 Joina users, 3 non-users, and 2 expert users.
Sacrificial Concepts
From these interviews, we made a few early ideas called sacrificial concepts – simple versions of features that we could quickly test. I helped brainstorm and design these. The “Create Your Own Challenge” idea was the most popular, again showing that users really liked this feature.
User Flow
I worked with the team to make a simple and clear process for the “Create Your Own Challenge” feature. It helped users pick exercises, choose a schedule, and invite friends. We added helpful tools like filters, a drag-and-drop calendar, and easy invite options.
Iteration
Testing was a big part of our work. We did over 15 test sessions in total, and I led 8 of them. Since it was hard to find Joina users, we tested with non-users – which still gave us useful feedback. In the end, we made changes to over 80 screens based on what we learned.
Final Product
In the final version, users can now “create Your Own Challenges” and invite others to join. This made the app feel more social and gave users more control. They don’t have to wait for ready-made challenges anymore – they can start their own.
Result
Joina was satisfied with the research and features that we created. After that, they started taking the initiative to implement it into the app
Learnings
This was my first experience working on a UX design project with a real client, and I gained a lot of insight. As a UX researcher, I learned how to ask the right questions during user interviews and discover the problems people truly face. These interviews helped me understand users’ needs and what isn’t working for them. As a UI designer, I learned how to take those ideas and transform them into simple, clear designs that are easy to use. This project taught me how research and design complement each other and how early ideas can improve when I listen to feedback and continue enhancing them.