Gym! (Redesigning the Emotional Experience)
Gym! is a mobile app designed for a no-staff gym, where users can enter the gym, make payments, receive notifications, and manage their gym experience—all through the app. The goal of this project was to redesign the app using emotional design principles to make it more functional, clear, and practical—while evoking feelings of joy, motivation, excitement, and satisfaction.
Team & Roles: Solo UX/UI Designer, with guidance from a mentor Sigmund Abou Chrouch
Date: March 2025
Project Objective: Emotions play a crucial role in UX design. The main objective of this project was to identify opportunities within the existing app and make meaningful design interventions to enhance the emotional experience—ultimately creating a more joyful and engaging user journey.
The process: Research, Ideation, Wireframing, Visual Design, Prototyping
OOUX Mapping
To begin the research phase, I conducted a design analysis of the current app using OOUX (Object-Oriented UX) mapping—a methodology that organizes digital interfaces around objects instead of actions. The goal was to identify core objects in the existing design and list their associated attributes. I mapped out the main objects users interact with, along with the emotions and actions tied to each, as well as the relationships between them.
User Review Analysis
To gain in-depth insight into users’ emotional experiences, I performed a thematic analysis of app reviews. I collected around 57 reviews from Google Play and 18 from the Apple App Store. Common emotional themes included frustration, disappointment, and satisfaction (when the app functioned properly). The contrast was striking—users felt satisfied when issues were resolved but often expressed negative emotions due to recurring bugs or functionality gaps.
Embodied Research
To explore how bodily experiences can ignite emotions in our daily lives, I conducted an Embodied Research experiment. The goal was to map my emotions and understand what types of experiences evoke specific emotional responses. I synthesized this research into a mood board, which visually represents the connection between physical experiences and emotional reactions.
Key Takeaways
Visual clarity often leads to calm, content, and joyful emotions.
Setting and accomplishing goals fosters motivation and excitement.
Organizing, planning, and completing tasks results in a sense of satisfaction.
Ideation & Wireframing
Once the research phase was completed, I moved on to ideation and wireframing. My goal was to make the Gym! mobile app experience more joyful, motivating, and exciting. I brainstormed several ideas, keeping the research objectives in mind.
My approach to the new design was to break down the current app's core functionalities and implement improvements across visual, functional, and reflective levels. For the visual redesign, I focused on the principles of simplicity, consistency, engagement, and practicality. Below are a few screens from the Gym! app before the redesign.
