Mobile UI Design / UX Research

Situation

As a long-time practitioner of jiu-jitsu, I’ve come to learn from my peers that finding a new school that fits your needs can be a difficult task. Searching for a jiu-jitsu school can be a matter of trial and error which is time-consuming, and everyone has different criteria for what they look for in a school. I wondered if there was a way to improve the current user-journey and personalize the experience through an app.

Task

To kick off my research, I needed to collect data to better understand the users and what their typical journey is for finding a school. Through Google Forms, I created a survey and shared it on the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu subreddit. There were 140 participants in the survey.

Results and Rank of Importance

After reviewing the collected data, there were a number of notable insights:

  1. Searching is both digital and social. Word of mouth recommendations are invaluable.

  2. Online presence is critical. Schools are more likely to be visited when they have a strong online presence.

  3. No one-size-fits all. Participants cited cited varying qualities they wished their current school had (i.e.: more structure, competition classes, or more relaxed atmosphere )

  4. More classes. Many of the participants in the survey are hobbyists and and need to structure their training around their work schedule. A desire for morning classes and later night classes were frequently cited.

  5. More women. Every female participant in the survey cited they wished they could train with more women.

Competitive Analysis

In order to improve the user journey of searching for a school, I needed to find what applications did similar tasks successfully. Airbnb’s user journey played a huge role in qualities I wanted to incorporate in the design of the application.

  • Location and filters

  • Upfront amenities and features

  • Direct message host

  • In-depth reviews

Action

With my research painting a clearer picture, I looked into what the current user journey was and how I wanted to change it based on the results of my survey.

Current User Journey (Mobile Experience)

  1. Users pulls out phone

  2. User types “BJJ near me“ or “Brazilian Jiu--Jitsu near me” in Google

  3. User finds a BJJ School website

  4. User looks at the school’s schedule on said site

  5. User looks up location on Google Maps

  6. User drops in/schedules visit to a class

Desired User Journey (Mobile Experience)

  1. Users pulls out phone

  2. User opens phone application

  3. User types in current location

  4. All schools in proximity to user’s inputed location appear in UI of app

  5. User filters schools based on desired criteria (i.e.: schedule, types of classes, etc.)

  6. User books classes through school’s profile page

Result

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