Studying the brand

Equinox, one of the top luxury gyms in the world, is an undeniable signal of status. Its innovative, industry-leading approach to health and fitness has put it in a class of its own. 

I conducted a deep dive into the Equinox brand by studying the pre-existing user experience and interfaces found on their various digital products. Taking note of the information architecture, messaging/copy, and voice/tone. 

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User interview

To get a better sense of our end users’ concerns, goals, and experience in the league, I conducted user interviews. To ensure my research led to insights, the following questions guided my process.

• What do you enjoy about the league and the experience?
• What challenges do you face with the current experience? (registration, receiving weekly scheduling updates, staying engaged with stats and standing) 

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Competitor analysis & Content audit

The adult sports league space has become competitive over the years. To learn more about the industry and discover best practices, we identified our competitors and performed a competitor analysis and content audit of the digital experiences. Individually, to ensure my analysis led to insights, the following questions guided my process.

• Who is their audience?
• What is their unique selling point?
• How are they guiding users to and through the registration process?
• What information are they sharing about their league? 

This exercise allowed me to uncover the industry’s recurring theme and identify each companies unique attributes, including our own. 

Synthesis

After studying the brand, performing user interviews, and conducting a competitor analysis and content audit, I synthesized all the various insights which helped me discover our positioning and began thinking through the experience I aspired to create for our users.
I subsequently did brainstorming a session with other team members (UX Designer, Developer). The goal of this session was to reinforce alignment with the goal and the problem we were solving and discuss the insights we gained from our individual research. The outcome of this session was a low-fidelity wireframe.
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Crafting the copy

More than just page spanning hero images and distinct color palette, the Equinox website has copy that enhances the overall user experience. Charged with brand and user insights, I created an inspiring and consistent narrative that welcomes new members to the league without neglecting current members already invested in the brand.

Content hierarchy

To ensure the website had a cohesive, easy-to-use, and approachable interface, we mapped out all the information essential for aspiring and current league members – this gave us the framework for the user experience. We created two user journeys – one for aspiring league members to learn about the various leagues and another that allowed current members to stay up to date with their team.

To determine the content hierarchy, I asked myself: What questions are users asking and in what order?

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Social proof

Client testimonials were integrated into the experience. The competitor analysis revealed that hearing from real league members/participants about their experience was critical to the sales process. On each league breakout page, we featured a testimonial from a current league member.

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