Beachbody OnDemand
Client: Beachbody Role: Lead Designer Platform: Multi-platform Release Date: June 2015
About the Client
Beachbody is one of the most popular fitness and weight loss companies out there with a large number of users worldwide. They are most well known for fitness plans like P90X, INSANITY, and Hip-Hop Abs. Up to this point the majority of their business was done through DVD sales.
What they wanted
Internally, at Beachbody, they were working on a new OnDemand product that would give users access to their workouts on any connected device that has access to a web browser. The one problem with this was that they wanted a way to give users the choice to watch these workouts on a TV through Roku, FireTV, and Chromecast. That's where we came in!
Key Challenges
• The client had an extremely tight deadline, to launch on all platforms in just three months.
• They had a tight budget which meant we couldn’t get too crazy with custom designs.
• This needed to work for all versions of Roku, Fire TV, and Chromecast.
The Approach
Normally I would begin a project like this with sketches and wireframes, but since the deadline was so tight and we had to use existing templates from previous projects.
For Roku, we ended up using a Roku system template with some modification and then applied Beachbody’s branding to it.
For FireTV, we took a template we had created for one of our European clients and modified it to meet the needs of the client. Then applied the same branding that we used for Roku.
For Chromecast, I had to do a bit of research as I was unfamiliar with this platform. I worked with our lead developer, going back and forth until we found a design that would offer a great user experience. While still allowing us to meet the client's deadline.
After a couple weeks of back and forth with the client and developers, we locked designs and I wrote up UX documentation for each platform. This documentation was used by the developers to help them understand how the layouts worked and where everything linked within the app.
We ended up meeting our late June deadline and launching with a week to spare before the clients big event. Overall it was a great experience and I learned a lot about the things that can and can’t be done with the templates we chose. As well what can be done on Chromecast. If you have the chance, check out the Beachbody OnDemand app on Roku, FireTV, or Chromecast.
