New vs. Returning Users
Designing dual execution modes for new and returning clients.
Challenge
Beginner trainees join the gym with little understanding of the training plan, exercises, structure, and combinations.
After just a few sessions, they become familiar with their workout, and their training needs shift.
The challenge: designing a single experience that works for both the first workout and the tenth.
Approach
To reduce drop‑off among Return trainees, it was important that the product account for their future needs at the earliest stages of specification and design.
To understand how trainees' goals, confidence levels, and behavior change over time.
Collaborated with an expert team of psychologists, physiologists, and trainers who provided domain expertise and ongoing feedback.
Defined complex user scenarios and prototyped both low- and high-fidelity flows, mapping mixed parameters and combinations to validate logic, surface ambiguities, and ensure consistent behavior across modes.
The Solution
A Dual-Mode Experience
A dual‑mode workout experience for the same training program.
This allowed the product to support different levels of familiarity without duplicating content or flows.
Compact mode
for returning trainees. Optimized for efficiency: quick scanning, fast interaction, and a sense of full control.
Full mode
for new trainees. Focused on guidance and learning: clear instructions, execution cues, and habit‑building.
Listen
Understand trainee needs as they evolve — from the first uncertain set to the tenth confident session.
Map Edge Cases
Time-based sets, supersets, mid-workout state changes — mapped with the CTO to catch technical limits early.
Design Two Views
One program, two modes — Full for learning, Compact for executing. Shared data model, diverged surface.
Prototype Gestures
Trade button noise for gestures — swipe between sets, pull for overview, long-press for edit.
Validate in Pilot
Different trainees gravitated to different modes — qualitative feedback confirmed the need for both.
Key Design Decisions
From buttons to gestures
As the product evolved, the interface became visually overloaded for new trainees.
I shifted from visible buttons to gesture‑based interactions, which reduced visual noise in both modes.
As a result, the workout screen became clearer and more execution‑oriented, making it easier for trainees to follow and complete the session.
Persistent execution bar
In compact mode, switching to another exercise during time‑based sets caused the timer and controls to disappear, breaking the workout flow.
I added a persistent execution bar that remains visible even while scrolling, so trainees can continue the workout without pausing.
This made workouts more continuous and helped trainees complete each session in less time.
Pull‑down session overview
Trainees need orientation during a workout – without it, they lose confidence and tend to stop.
I added an on‑demand pull‑down session overview that gives context without disrupting the compact view.
This helped trainees pace themselves better and stay engaged throughout the session.
Pilot Validation
The pilot showed that different trainees preferred different modes: some stayed in full mode, others switched to compact.
This confirmed that trainees’ needs diverge as they progress, making long‑term adherence dependent on supporting both views.
Impact & outcomes
- Led end-to-end design from scratch as sole designer for a dual-mode execution system for iOS, Android, and mobile web.
- Designed and shipped two execution modes with gesture-based interactions and navigation between modes without losing progress.
- Worked closely with the CTO to translate complex user scenarios, program structures, and mixed parameters into a single data model.
- Deployed in a pilot program.