Posts from Experience Design

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April 21

Experiencing adidas miCoach: Working Out and Sharing Results

by Margaret Wong

This is a series of posts about what it’s like to use the system after designing for it all this time. See previous post on Setting Up.

So my first workout was supposed to be redoing the Assessment Workout on Saturday – but the weather was frigid for outdoor running in Boston so it didn’t happen. I figured I couldn’t have deteriorated that much and my previous results were probably fine.

My Assessment Workout

I created a public view of my latest Assessment Workout using the Share functionality, so you can see the full workout screen shot with the coach’s feedback too.

Armed with my existing assessment, I proceeded with doing the first plan workout that was scheduled for Monday morning.

Workout Preview

I was still on east coast time, so woke up early enough to do a run before starting the day. I put on my heart rate monitor, clipped the stride sensor onto my shoe, and headed down to the hotel treadmill with my iPod and Pacer. I forgot that I had previously left Pacer on Mandarin, so was pleasantly surprised by a female Mandarin speaking coach welcoming me to miCoach. I did a short 7 min free workout first because I found in the past that the heart rate signal is best after I start sweating. After finishing that workout I started up workout #1 of my lose weight plan.

It was a fun workout actually, and wasn’t too long either so I had time to sync the data to my account before jumping in the shower. I remembered that I wanted to hear my coaching in English next time so I changed that on the web first.

Gear Settings

Then I plugged Pacer into my computer via the USB cable and synced via the miCoach Manager.

miCoach Manager Downloads New Narration

Sync Success

When that was done I went back to my Dashboard to see that it updated with my latest data.

Track Dashboard

That’s when I noticed I had a new achievement!

New Achievements

Turns out I had reached my first 10,000 calories since I started using miCoach! That’s pretty sweet. :-)

10000 Calories

Clicking on the big 10000 took me to my workout results that gave me this achievement.

Workout 1 Results

I overlaid my pace info on top of the heart rate info before using the Share functionality to create the public page of workout #1, which also shows my notes and ratings too.

First workout done, and 32 more to go! According to the plan tracker at the bottom of my dashboard I’ve completed 3% of my plan. Feels good!

Plan Tracker

posted to: Experience Design | No Comments »

April 16

Experiencing adidas miCoach: Setting Up

by Margaret Wong

As a designer on a project we don’t always get the luxury of actually experiencing the products we have worked countless hours, sweat blood and tears to help create. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to use the product (and no, not just in testing) after all the hustle and bustle around launching a new phase. I figured it would provide an interesting perspective to  share my experiences actually using the adidas miCoach training platform for all to see, so here goes!

I’ll be traveling on Sunday, so I’m figuring I should set my plan up before I go. It’s almost summer, so it’s time to shed some of the winter layers and go for that lose weight plan. It says it’s about 9 weeks long, ~35 workouts, so if I start now I’ll be done just in time for 4th of July.

Lose Weight Plan

I set up the new plan and the calendar shows me what my schedule looks like for this plan.

Lose Weight Plan Schedule

The first run is an assessment workout, which will determine what my heart rate zones should be during the training. Although I’ve done one before, I think the last few weeks of cold and rain in Boston plus perhaps some adding on of winter layers probably contributed to my lack of fitness, so I’m going to do a new and fresh one to see if I’m still up to snuff.

Assessment Workout

Here’s hoping the weather holds tomorrow when this all starts. Stay tuned!

posted to: Experience Design | No Comments »

April 7

adidas and Isobar Unveil Exciting New Enhancements to adidas miCoach

by Anne Curtin

On Monday, adidas and Isobar unveiled a series of exciting new enhancements to adidas miCoach, the interactive training service that delivers audible coaching while you run. Already one of the most advanced and personal applications on the Web today, miCoach.com incorporates new features and functionality that help runners better manage their training programs, and reflects adidas commitment to listening to the needs of consumers and creating a better experience for their miCoach users.

Key enhancements to miCoach.com include:

  • A robust Routes management tool that enables users to create and edit routes, add ratings and notes to existing routes, and add, move or delete route points.
  • New community tools that provide a forum where runners can share training tips with other runners, get tips and tricks on using miCoach, see upcoming events, access miCoach-related videos and get updates on the latest gear.
  • Custom workout capabilities that enable runners to build their own custom workouts from scratch.
  • A new Achievements section that recognizes key personal milestones, records and overall workout stats, such as fastest mile run, most calories burned, and more.
  • Updated Reminder functionality that enable users to choose when they want to be reminded of workouts and when they’ve been inactive.

The enhanced site also provides adidas with sophisticated content management capabilities that enable each market to showcase featured products, as well as localized content, pricing and store locations to meet the needs of individual markets.

posted to: Content Management, Experience Design, Molecular News, Technology | No Comments »

January 5

Recent IxDA discussions of interest

by Karen Lin

I recently caught up on some interesting IxDA threads highlighted below that may interest you as well. Wishing everyone a wonderful and happy new year!

o1. Firefox Home Tab Challenge

IxDA has partnered with Mozilla Labs and Johnny Holland for a design challenge. The submission deadline is February 14 for a concept video explaining how the new Firefox home tab should work. Anyone interested in forming a Molecular team to tackle this??

02. GLIDE ’10 Call for Papers

This is a biennial virtual conference sponsored by the National Science Foundation and AIGA UP ST NY dedicated to research on topics related to interaction between designers and global communities. The theme this year is cross-cultural collaboration with indigenous and underserved communities. Abstract submissions are due February 15. Conference takes place on October 27.

03. Google’s Above-the-Fold App

This new app let’s you see in a transparent gradient kind of way which parts of your site is viewable by percentile.

04. Shopping/ecommerce trends

Someone asked the group about what trends people were seeing with online shopping and here were the recommended resources:

o5. Andrew Daniels on uxSEARS

A virtual meeting featuring the UX director of Sears hosted by IxDA Chicago called “The $50 Billion Startup Revolution and How UX Leads the Way”:

posted to: Experience Design, Industry Trends | No Comments »

October 16

Turn off the Lite: Apple Allows In App Purchases for Free Apps

by Bryan Maleszyk

Tap Tap Revenge 3's In App Purchase

Even though my team was swept by the Angels, I still follow MLB’s postseason games when I’m out and about with their great app for my iPhone. At 10 bucks, it’s not exactly cheap, but MLB provides a free “lite” version of the app to try it out before getting the full-featured version. Finding and downloading the free version was the only way I could try it  before I went ahead and bought the full app, because Apple didn’t allow “in app” purchases within applications that were offered for free.

Until yesterday.

This is great news. No longer will users need to download two apps to try before they buy — a true “freemium” app will allow upgrades and add-ons seamlessly, without having to leave the application. iPhone developers will no longer have to worry about the time and expense of maintaining two redundant applications, and designers can now think of unique and innovative ways to take advantage of the freemium model that meets users’ increasingly demanding expectations.

There are some limitations, however.

Apple won’t allow the sale of non-digital goods in the app itself, so dreams of one-touch storefronts for offline retailers will have to remain on hold. They also won’t allow any form of virtual currency, such as the Linden. And while subscription purchases are allowed, rentals are not − Netflix no doubt noticed this caveat.

Even so, the potential for in app updates is enormous. The difference between free and “nearly free” is vast — for every one person who bought Galaxy Impact (iTunes link) for $.99, roughly 400 downloaded it for free, according to their great case study. Offering the free version with seamless upsells, such as a game application that offers new levels or playable characters for a small fee, will likely prolong their app’s potential for user engagement.  Similarly, publishers such as the New York Times or NPR can charge for their premium content but can now offer the delivery mechanism for free.

And as Greg at MobileCrunch pointed out, pirating apps will be more difficult now that they can simply be free.

posted to: Experience Design, Mobile | No Comments »

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