UX Design
User Research

Garmin

Jan 2018 - Apr 2018

Overview

Garmin sponsored a redesign project for our Experience Studio course at Purdue University. Our team was given the task to redesign the LiveTrack feature within the Garmin mobile app, Garmin Connect.

Process

Define

What is LiveTrack? Garmin LiveTrack is the feature within Garmin Connect that allows users to share their location and ride data with friends and family by sharing a link.

Heuristic Evaluation

Goals

    - Better familiarize ourselves with the product

    - Identify issues and pain points within the interface

Takeaways

    - Help Menu has no information architecture, and it contains too much text

    - There is no clear distinction between LiveTrack and GroupTrack

    - LiveTrack page design is too minimal and leaves out relevant information

    - Users have to remember from page to page who they are sharing with

Competitive Analysis

Goal

To gather information on how similar applications carry out their tracking function

Takeaways

    - A common method to familiarize new users with their LiveTrack features is through onboarding

    - Many fitness apps provide simple methods to sharing locations and ride data

    - Certain fitness apps allow users to view shared information and location data within the app, which simplifies the sharing experience

Survey

Goals

    - Gain insight into how many Garmin device users are familiar with LiveTrack or not

    - Better understand why people choose to use LiveTrack

Takeaways

    - Only 13% of 246 Garmin-using respondents have used LiveTrack

    - Garmin device users who use LiveTrack primarily use the feature for events and safety

    - Most users who were aware of LiveTrack but never used it stated their reason for not using it was because they didn't have a need for it

Interviews

Goals

    - Verify the results gathered from our survey

    - Gain insight into why some Garmin users choose to use LiveTrack and why some do not

Takeaways

    - LiveTrack was discovered by word of mouth for most Garmin users

    - Garmin Connect users tend to open the app once a day, usually in the evening to sync their data

    - Users primarily use Garmin Connect to track their activity data

    - Garmin users that don't use LiveTrack don't use LiveTrack because they feel nobody they know want to receive LiveTrack information

Personas

During our interviews, our team identified that there were three user groups that each had their own motivations. We decided to use personas to help identify these groups and align their motivations with their behaviors.

Monica Reyes

Female, 27

Uses Garmin Connect

Uses LiveTrack

"I like how LiveTrack connects me with family and friends. They can cheer me on and know I am safe.“

Callum Turner

Male, 32

Uses Garmin Connect

Does Not Use LiveTrack

“I know what Livetrack is, but I don’t think anyone cares to know where I am when exercising.”​

Angela Roberts

Female, 35

Uses Garmin Connect

Does Not Use LiveTrack

“I have heard about LiveTrack from my running club. I don’t use it because I don’t want to carry my phone during my run.”​

Design + Prototype

Discovery

Our survey results revealed that 51% of our respondents have not seen or heard of LiveTrack. We recommend that LiveTrack be placed in a high-traffic area of Garmin Connect, such as the My Day page.

Incentive

Our interviews revealed that users simply do not have a reason to use LiveTrack. In order to establish an incentive for users to use LiveTrack, we implemented a way for users to engage in group interactions while sharing their LiveTrack data.

Comprehension

Our heuristic analysis revealed that Garmin Connect's Help Menu is difficult to understand and cluttered with text. We recommend the implementation of an onboarding experience to help users understand what LiveTrack is and how they can use it.

Results

This is a video we created to show how LiveTrack's new redesign works. The video visualizes the process of sending and receiving a LiveTrack session. Information about the new features and the onboarding process are also included in the video.