case study 01
Reimagining the Mindbody App
✦
Disclaimer:
This case study is for educational purposes only and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mindbody. All insights are based on publicly available sources.
✦ Disclaimer: This case study is for educational purposes only and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mindbody. All insights are based on publicly available sources.
project overview
Outlining the problem, project goals, design process, and solution strategy.
Problem STATEMENT
Despite its position as a market leader in the wellness industry, the Mindbody app suffers from an outdated interface and cumbersome user flows that make it difficult for users to easily book and manage wellness activities. The app lacks the intuitive, polished experience that users now expect from top-tier wellness brands. This misalignment between functionality and brand perception not only diminishes user satisfaction but also threatens the app's ability to maintain its competitive edge in a rapidly evolving market.
Project Goal
This project aims to streamline the user experience of the Mindbody app by improving usability, modernizing the interface, and aligning the product with industry best practices. Through in-depth user research, competitor analysis, and iterative design, the objective is to create a more intuitive, engaging, and efficient platform—one that enhances the overall wellness journey and encourages continued user engagement.
DESIGN PROCESS
My 6+ week design process utilized tools like Zoom, Figma, and Photoshop. I started with 2+ weeks of user reviews and interviews to gather insights and define personas and problem statements. In the next 4 weeks, I brainstormed, created mood boards, and developed prototypes in Figma. I validated my designs through user feedback, ensuring a user-centered, functional, and aesthetically pleasing final product.
-
Figma
Google Forms
Zoom
Photoshop
-
UX Research
UX Design
UI Design
Prototyping
-
Overall: 6+ weeks
Discovery & Research: 2+ weeks
Design & testing: 4 weeks
-
User Feedback and Pain Points: Identified major usability issues such as complex navigation and outdated design through user reviews.
Persona Development: Created personas to align the redesign with user needs and preferences.
Visual Redesign: Modernized the app’s visual elements to enhance aesthetic appeal and functionality.
Simplified Navigation: Streamlined the booking process to improve user experience.
Engagement Features: Incorporated interactive and gamification elements to increase user engagement and retention.
-
RESEARCH
Analyzing competitors, developing detailed personas, and reviewing user feedback to guide improvements.
-
DEFINE
Mapping the user journey, identifying key pain points, and uncovering opportunities for improvement
-
IDEATE
Developing core interaction–based solutions and wireframes to address user pain points and explore design opportunities
-
PROTOTYPE
Creating high-fidelity mockups to visualize and refine the proposed solutions.
-
EVALUATE
Conducting a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues; Gathering user reviews to gain key insights.
SOLUTIONS
Users of the Mindbody app express significant frustration with its complexity and usability, finding it overly complicated and time-consuming, which serves as a barrier between them and their fitness studios. They report difficulties accessing schedules and integrating them with personal calendars, and criticize the app's search functionality as unintuitive and ineffective, particularly when searching for classes associated with specific gyms. Booking classes often presents challenges due to problems accessing updated schedules and pricing information.
Research
Gathering insights through competitor analysis, user feedback, and persona development.
COMPETITOR Research
To uncover strategic opportunities for improving the MINDBODY experience, I conducted a competitive audit of three wellness platforms: ClassPass, Alo Moves, and Glo. Each offers distinct strengths in class discovery, personalization, and user engagement—making them valuable benchmarks for evaluating MINDBODY’s current UX. Using a feature comparison matrix, I evaluated each platform’s onboarding flow, usability, content delivery, and engagement strategies. This analysis surfaced key gaps in the MINDBODY experience, particularly around personalization, emotional tone, and intuitive navigation.
Compared to its competitors, MINDBODY feels more transactional and less emotionally engaging. While it offers robust scheduling and backend tools, the app lacks the seamless onboarding and personalized recommendations seen in Glo or Alo Moves. Features like rebooking nudges and motivational prompts are inconsistently applied. These findings revealed opportunities to modernize the UI, improve re-engagement, and align the overall experience with user expectations in today’s wellness app landscape.s.
Key Findings
-
MINDBODY is designed for service-based businesses and focuses heavily on administrative tools. While the app offers solid booking and reminder functions, its UX feels dated in places, with a steeper learning curve for new users. It’s functionally rich but less engaging from a design and personalization standpoint.
-
ClassPass delivers a seamless and intuitive user experience with a credit-based booking system that makes discovering and scheduling classes easy. It stands out for its strong filtering tools and modern visual design, offering a motivating and flexible experience for users in major cities.
-
Alo Moves blends minimalism and calmness with a highly polished wellness experience. The app emphasizes personalized content, progress tracking, and elegant design. It’s especially strong in yoga and mindfulness, though premium pricing may deter casual users.
-
Glo offers an inclusive and intuitive wellness experience with tailored onboarding and clear navigation. It supports a wide range of fitness levels and class types, and stands out for its curated programs, playlist creation, and supportive tone. The interface is clean, and the content feels genuinely user-centric.
Users of the Mindbody app expressed frustration with its complexity and poor usability. They reported challenges in accessing schedules, integrating them with personal calendars, and finding classes through the search function—especially at specific gyms. Booking was complicated due to inconsistent schedules and pricing, while tracking workouts was limited to the current month. Many users also experienced disappearing passes and inadequate customer support, underscoring the need for substantial improvements in usability and functionality.
USER REVIEWS
During the research phase of this case study, I analyzed App Store reviews to gather valuable user feedback. This analysis revealed common pain points, including complex scheduling, search and booking difficulties, issues with tracking, and disappearing passes. These insights highlighted the importance of authenticity, accessibility, and specificity in user experiences, significantly contributing to the effectiveness of the research.
This research phase also involved iterative refinement of the persona as new insights emerged. Key activities included identifying behavioral patterns, understanding pain points, and mapping out user journeys to highlight areas of improvement. This structured approach ensured that the persona remained both relevant and impactful, driving user-centered design decisions across the project lifecycle.
Key persona
To better understand the goals, behaviors, and needs of Mindbody users, I created a persona that reflects a key user segment. This persona was developed through hands-on exploration and secondary research, which included analyzing competitor platforms, reviewing app store feedback, and identifying user motivations, goals, and frustrations. These insights were synthesized into a representative user model that served as a foundation for guiding design decisions throughout the project.
define
Defining the user journey, core interactions, and key pain points to uncover design opportunities.
Users of the Mindbody app expressed frustration with its complexity and poor usability. They reported challenges in accessing schedules, integrating them with personal calendars, and finding classes through the search function—especially at specific gyms. Booking was complicated due to inconsistent schedules and pricing, while tracking workouts was limited to the current month. Many users also experienced disappearing passes and inadequate customer support, underscoring the need for substantial improvements in usability and functionality.
USER journey
During the research phase of this case study, I leveraged App Store reviews to gather valuable, During the research phase of this case study, I analyzed App Store reviews to gather valuable user feedback. This analysis revealed common pain points, including complex scheduling, search and booking difficulties, issues with tracking, and disappearing passes. These insights highlighted the importance of authenticity, accessibility, and specificity in user experiences, significantly contributing to the effectiveness of the research.
Analyzing Core Interactions
To better understand the user experience within the Mindbody app, six core interactions were analyzed—ranging from discovering classes to rebooking after attendance. This interaction-focused approach helped uncover recurring pain points based on real user feedback, including a lack of onboarding guidance, overwhelming search experiences, inconsistent class details, booking errors, and limited post-class engagement features.
Based on these findings, targeted UX opportunities were identified to reduce friction and improve user satisfaction. These include personalized onboarding, enhanced search and filtering tools, standardized class content, more reliable booking flows, and features that support check-in and post-class reflection. The analysis, outlined in the adjacent chart, highlights actionable paths to improve usability, encourage repeat engagement, and create a smoother overall app experience.
IDEAtE
Translating insights into wireframes.
from insights to implementation
To guide the redesign of the Mindbody app, four core interactions were analyzed—from discovering classes to rebooking after attendance. This helped uncover recurring issues like generic content, scattered information, booking confusion, and limited post-class engagement..
The resulting wireframes implement targeted UX improvements: personalized discovery, smarter filters, clearer booking flows, and features like the “Journey” section that support progress tracking and rebooking. These changes reduce friction and promote ongoing user engagement.
Prototype
Bringing Concepts to Life
A Guided walkthrough
To guide the redesign of the Mindbody app, four core interactions were analyzed—ranging from discovering classes to rebooking after attendance. These revealed recurring usability issues like limited personalization, scattered content, and unclear booking flows...
The updated prototype addresses these gaps through streamlined navigation, smarter filters, and features like the new “Journey” section to support progress tracking and reflection. Each redesigned flow is grounded in real user pain points, helping reduce friction and promote ongoing engagement.
Evaluate
Evaluating design effectiveness through user-centric testing.
heuristic evaluation
-
I conducted a heuristic evaluation using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics to assess the overall interface of the redesigned Mindbody prototype. The evaluation focused on core user flows such as discovering services, comparing options, and booking classes. Key heuristics reviewed included Visibility of System Status, Match Between System and Real World, User Control and Freedom, and Consistency and Standards. The goal was to identify usability friction and opportunities to improve clarity, feedback, and navigation.
-
What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
COgnitive walkthrough
-
I performed a cognitive walkthrough to evaluate how a first-time user would interact with the redesigned Mindbody app — specifically focusing on key flows such as exploring classes, navigating support features, and completing a booking. The walkthrough was structured around the user goals and tasks within the Discovery & Exploration phase. At each step, I asked:
Will the user know what to do?
Will they notice the correct option?
Will they understand the feedback?
This method helped surface cognitive friction points such as ambiguous labels, unclear entry points, and areas where users may need guidance or reinforcement.
-
What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
Scenario testing
-
I conducted scenario testing to assess how effectively users could complete realistic goals using the redesigned Mindbody prototype. Each scenario was based on Elena’s journey and reflected typical needs — such as searching for a class that fits her schedule, comparing options, and rebooking a preferred instructor.
By walking through each scenario step-by-step, I was able to identify moments of clarity versus confusion, and whether the interface supported user decision-making. This method was particularly valuable for evaluating flow continuity, content timing, and whether users felt supported throughout their interaction.
-
What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.