Does Peloton’s design actually help you exercise more?

In the Making

An entirely new user experience has been designed for people who want to exercise from home. By combining touchscreens and apps with stationary bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, punching bags, strength trainers - even smart mirrors - a new category of exercise has created millions of new fitness buffs. Long gone are the days of VHS fitness classes and Thigh Master infomercials. But is the UX of fitness something truly creative and revolutionary? Or is it just the latest fad from an industry with a history of fads? Host Khoi Vinh, and producers Pippa Johnstone and Dominic Girard dig into the brain-hacking and body-shaping UX designs that promise to help users break bad habits and break a sweat.

Software Designer Ariel Norling is a connected fitness fanatic. She explains how the UX of Tonal's strength training gear keeps her coming back for more. Jennifer Clinehens is a customer experience strategist, and a Peloton owner. She writes about the intersection of UX and behavioral science, and explores the psychology behind how Peloton's UX has turned so many couch potatoes into cycling converts. Then, UX designer Kevin Twohy explains how he helped design the user experience for Mirror, a connected fitness, well… mirror, and how their approach to designing a home workout is very different from the competition. Finally, UX designer and R/GA Creative Director Gene Lu offers a counterpoint to connected fitness. He tells us about his own creative approach to keeping fit with tech, but without the gadgets. (Tap here to see the artwork that Gene made just for this episode!)

Have a look at his Instagram to see the artwork resulting from his literal creative exercise - work he created specifically for this episode.

Find a transcript to this episode right here.