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DESIGN ROLES
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UX/UI Design
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Visual Design
DESIGN DELIVERABLES
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User Research
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User Personas
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Wireframes
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User stories and flow
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Prototype
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Storyboard
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UI Sketches
TOOLS
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Figma
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Marvel
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Miro
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Google Forms
Overview
What is Pole Playlist?
Pole Playlist is an app that is a database of ready-to-use pole videos/tutorials to enable students to design their own combos and allows users to create their own combos.
The Problem
Because of studio shutdowns, many students have to resort to at-home training. Furthermore, most instructors are normal adults, with normal adult jobs, so they don’t have all the time in the world to help their students. The instructors wanted a tool to help students learn new poses and combos independently.
The Solution
The solution was to create an app that served as a database of pole/aerial tutorials and making a combo creation feature that had a similar functionality as a playlist creation feature on a music streaming site or service.
Research and Discovery
User Survey
To begin, I sent out a survey and was able to get back responses from 8 pole dancers/aerialists. In order to create an app that would meet my users' needs I asked the following questions:
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Which apparatuses do you train on?
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Do you train at a studio?
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How many days per week do you spend training?
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How do you find new shapes/combos?
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Have you used an app to track your pole/aerial progress or assist in your training?
My survey findings showed me that it would eventually be useful to go beyond pole and to include other apparatuses in my app, therefore broadening my reach among not only pole dancers but also aerialists. I also learned that all of those I've surveyed tend to learn new combos and moves through what they see on social media, and only 75% of them learn new combos and moves through in-studio teaching. However, none of those I have surveyed use an app to assist them with their learning or training. The next step for me was to look into why those I surveyed do not use an app, and for that I go into a competitive analysis.
Competitive Analysis
Currently, there are not a lot of apps for pole dancers to use to assist them in learning new poses or their training. However, these few apps seem to serve the same purpose--they teach the user how to get into certain poses as well as provide pre-made combos. It was very important to take a look either way, in order to create a product that's different from what's currently offered.
Polearn includes video tutorials with written instructions, gives the option to switch apparatuses, has combos (“choreos” in the app), and allows users to like, download, and create notes for different poses.
This app has a lot of stuff--there is a section for exercises (pole and aerial requires so much strength) and basics. It allows the user to view video tutorials in slow motion if they need.
The problem I and other dancers have with this app is that the tutorials aren’t totally accessible. There is no voiceover or closed captioning for the tutorials. Also, the written instructions are not very clear and worded strangely, but that might be because the writers of the app are from Germany and are not native English speakers.
The option to see different pre-made combos is really neat, but this could be made better if the user was able to create their own.
PDC Pole Dance Syllabus created by Pole Dance Community, an advisory and awarding body for the pole dancing industry established in 2009, is another app that has much of the same features that Polearn has. The app features a database of poses the user can execute, all categorized by 6 difficulty levels. The app also includes videos which are available offline for the user to view anytime, anywhere.
User Personas
After my research through surveys and competitive analysis, I needed to identify Pole Playlist's target audience. In order to accomplish that, I have created 3 different personas to represent Pole Playlist's diverse users to keep in mind as I build this app.
Grace
Digital Marketer/Pole Instructor
29 years old
Portland, OR
Motivations
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She wants to help her students reach their goals, no matter how big or small. She also likes to learn alongside her students, and acknowledging that every body is different and capable of different things.
Frustrations
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She can't help her students as much as she'd like--with a normal job, she can't respond to all of the messages her students might send in a timely manner.
Stefany
Healthcare worker/Pole student
25 years old
San Francisco, CA
Motivations
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She loves going into the studio and being truly herself and learning what her body is capable of on and off the pole.
Frustrations
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Since Stefany is a healthcare worker, she has to work odd hours and doesn't get as much studio time as she'd like as a consequence--the studio is sometimes closed when she has the time. She still wants to train, even if instructors aren't available.
Melynda
Journalism Student/Pole student
19 years old
Brooklyn, NY
Motivations
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For Melynda, pole is a way for her to unwind and differentiate from who she is as a student. Although, as a student she is always curious and wanting to learn more.
Frustrations
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Melynda wants to be able to learn more on her own time, in addition to in-studio instruction, but currently has very limited resources to do so.
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Information Architecture
User Stories and User Flow
After gathering data through research and creating my personas, I began to craft some user stories:
Sketches, Wireframes, and Initial Testing
Sketches
The next step after crafting user stories and flow was to begin sketching. I already knew what I wanted to go for in terms of how I wanted the information to be presented.
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This is my first on-paper sketch. I already had an idea of what I wanted my app to look like and how I wanted my information to be presented.
In the Crazy 8s sketch, I was given very little time to quickly iterate on one page of the app, and I chose the combo creation page, which I think is the biggest feature of my app.
In the 4up sketch, I focused more on four screens of my app--login/sign up, the home tutorials page, the combo creation page, and “add new pose” from combo creation.
Finally, the solution sketch is where I refine from the crazy 8 sketches.
Wireframing
From sketching, I went to work on wireframing my app in Figma. My wireframe had all my basic components--the tutorials page, a select/switch apparatus page, and the combo creation page. As I built my wireframe I played with the idea of having the menu condensed as a hamburger icon or having it at the bottom where it was easily accessible, but decided to have it condensed in a hamburger icon.
Clickable Prototype & Usability Testing
From wireframing, I decided to prototype in Marvel. I enjoyed working in Marvel because they seemed to have all the icons and prototyping assets I needed in order to make this possible.
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I made a few changes, but the most significant one was deciding to place the menu at the bottom of the screen for the user to easily access. This was suggested by my mentor, Marcela Checa-Sauermann. I also really liked the way it looks on the app--I feel like all the information is visible and accessible with the menu on the bottom as opposed as condensed into a hamburger menu icon.
After finishing up my prototype, which I was very proud of, I was able to let three people test my prototype and I was able to interview them. In addition to observing which of the tasks they were able to complete and recording their commentary on certain features, I asked how much time they spend training my themselves as well as how many days per week they spend studio training, if any. I observed that the one user who did not train in-studio, and spent about 7-12 hours training solo, had much to say about the features in the app and suggested that it would be helpful to make the tutorial videos more accessible by adding voiceover and captions.
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Next Steps
This project really feels ambitious to me, but I'm very passionate about pole dancing and the aerial arts. I definitely see this as a very big, collaborative project. I would need to communicate with lots of dancers and aerialists about getting the tutorials in for both pole and the other apparatuses, and consult about which moves can safely go into other moves. I would also need some back-end coding to help make combo creation, note saving, and a share feature possible.​