Role
Timeline
Sep - Nov 2023
UX Designer & Researcher
Figma, FigJam, Teams
Prototyping, User Interviews, UI
Tools
Skills
Background
An Anime-Inspired Gamified Workout Experience ✨
Plus Ultra Fitness is a mobile app prototype designed to merge anime, gaming, and fitness, creating an engaging and motivating workout experience for enthusiasts.
During my Interaction Design course, which emphasized Goal-Directed Design methodologies, I collaborated with a team to create a gamified fitness app tailored to anime lovers, gamers, and gym enthusiasts. The project focused on integrating accountability, personalization, and community engagement to help users succeed in their fitness journeys.
Overview
Anime fans and gamers often struggle to stay consistent with fitness due to lack of motivation, structure, and engaging workouts.
Plus Ultra Fitness bridges this gap by creating an immersive fitness experience that leverages gamification, anime themes, and social connections.
Design Method
Goal-Directed Design
My team and I followed the process of GDD, created by Alan Cooper. As students familiar with procrastination and lack of motivation, we aimed to mitigate these challenges by creating an app that integrates personalized workout plans, themed tutorials, and community engagement. Over the course of a month, we designed Plus Ultra Fitness by following the five phases of GDD:
Market Research
80% of young adults struggle to maintain consistent fitness routines
Literature Review
We explored studies on motivation, habit-building, and gamification to inform our design decisions. Research highlighted the effectiveness of rewards, accountability, and social engagement in promoting consistency. Studies also emphasized the importance of visual themes and personalization in maintaining user interest, principles we prioritized in our app design.
Competitive Analysis
We analyzed fitness apps like Nerd Fitness, Playfitt, SuperheroJacked, and Peloton. While each offered elements of customization, community, and progress tracking, none fully integrated anime-inspired themes or social features tailored to anime fans.
Our findings emphasized the need for deeper personalization, interactive challenges, and accessible pricing—key differentiators for Plus Ultra Fitness.
Research Goals
Our research set out to answer:
How do anime and gaming themes influence fitness motivation?
What features keep users engaged and accountable?
How can gamification improve consistency in workouts?
We aimed to design an app that not only provided workouts but also inspired users through themes and community engagement.
User Research Interviews
”Working out is easier when it feels like a game.” - Jordan
Jordan, like many others, finds that interactive and engaging elements make exercise more enjoyable and sustainable. Before we began the user research process, we recognized that it’s important to know who to interview. So, we created a persona hypothesis to try and better understand who we could possibly interview.
Personal Hypothesis
We would probably have one main type of user: someone looking to organize their life. We imagined our product would be primarily targeted towards young adults, specifically students and individuals leading busy lives.
The primary persona would embody behaviors such as procrastination and a lack of organization while the secondary would be more comfortable with organization and productivity.
Interview Sessions
To find potential people to interview, we all reached out to classmates, acquaintances, and friends. We found six candidates and held interviews over the span of a week. Participants included a mix of anime fans, gamers, and fitness enthusiasts. In these interviews, our team asked questions regarding daily routines, fitness habits, motivation levels, and barriers.
Affinity Maps
Following each interview, we gathered to analyze the results using Affinity Mapping. We individually took notes on key themes and patterns mentioned by interviewees and then grouped them into categories. Consistent themes emerged across all six interviews, helping us better identify what features would motivate users and meet their needs.
Observations
All six interviewees valued customization and personalization to keep them engaged. Many wanted progress tracking, rewards, and reminders to stay motivated. Most participants also mentioned that a sense of community, such as forums or challenges, would make workouts feel less isolating and more fun.
Persona Development
The Casual Gamer & The Competitive Trainer
Behavioral Variables
Our team compiled data from our six interviews and analyzed responses to identify patterns of behavior. Using affinity maps, notes, and observations, we recognized several behavioral variables shared by our participants:
Workout frequency (low-high)
Motivation levels (low-high)
Engagement with gaming/anime themes (med-high)
Personas
Because we discovered two main patterns, we agreed Plus Ultra Fitness would have two personas: a primary and secondary persona. The primary persona represents interviewees 1, 3, and 5, who were motivated by challenges, rewards, and community engagement but needed structure and accountability to stay consistent. The secondary persona represents interviewees 2, 4, and 6, who were already more structured and self-motivated but desired customization, progress tracking, and fun themes to keep workouts interesting.
Designing
Brainstorming First, Prototyping Second
Low-Fidelity
Our team began the design process by brainstorming ideas and sketching possible layouts for screens. We wanted to ensure the app offered clear navigation and engaging visuals, so we created low-fidelity wireframes in FigJam to map out features like themed workouts, reward systems, and community spaces.
Style Guide
We wanted the app to reflect the vibrant and adventurous nature of anime and gaming while maintaining usability. The primary colors used were purple and blue to evoke creativity, energy, and focus. Accent colors like neon green were added for interactive elements to highlight progress and achievements.
Typography choices focused on futuristic and bold fonts to complement the theme, while icons and buttons were designed to be clear yet playful. This ensured a cohesive visual language that balanced excitement with ease of navigation.
Usability Testing
Improving Engagement & Usability
Testing Process
After completing the first iteration of Plus Ultra Fitness in Figma, we recruited two participants from our earlier interviews to conduct usability tests. Testing sessions were held remotely using Microsoft Teams. We provided participants with task lists to guide them through the prototype, focusing on completing workouts, tracking progress, and exploring community features.
Participants used the Think Aloud Protocol (TAP), which allowed us to observe their thought processes and identify points of confusion or friction. This approach helped us gather direct feedback on navigation, feature clarity, and overall user experience.
Findings
Users found limited customization options for avatars and progress tracking.
The home screen lacked a clear focal point, making it feel cluttered and overwhelming.
Some buttons were unclear, causing confusion during navigation.
The leaderboard and community features were difficult to locate quickly.
Refinement
Based on feedback, we made the following changes in Figma:
Added more customization options for avatars and progress tracking.
Redesigned the home screen to include a “Welcome Back” message and clearer categories.
Simplified button labels and improved navigation pathways.
Enhanced visibility for leaderboard and community sections to encourage engagement.
Reflection
Leveling Up Fitness for Anime Fans and Gamers
Reflection
Learnings
Design systems matter. Establishing consistent typography, colors, and spacing early in the process made development more organized and the final product cohesive. Using styles saved time and minimized errors.
User research shapes design. The insights we gained from interviews directly influenced features like customization, community challenges, and reward systems. If given more time, I’d like to expand interviews to include users with different fitness levels.
Testing reveals what we can’t see. Usability testing highlighted areas for improvement, from navigation clarity to customization options. More tests with larger groups could uncover even more valuable insights.
Gamification works. Rewards and challenges motivated users during tests, confirming that blending fitness with entertainment engages users and keeps them coming back.