FinishMyRace

UX Design
Project Overview
FinishMyRace is an application that allows users to sell slots for running events they have signed up for at a discounted rate, and it also allows them to buy slots that other users have posted. A portion of proceeds from each slot sold would go towards the event organizers and hypothetical developers. After writing a proposal, I conducted a User Needs Analysis, and then sketched multiple iterations of the application before finally creating a high-fidelity prototype; I modified this prototype after user testing. The result is a prototype that not only allows users to buy and sell slots, but lets them find other users, edit their accounts, and save events for later viewing.

Figma Project Link
Project Background
Many people sign up for running events far in advance so that they avoid premiums that come with signing up the last minute. Since participants' lives are unpredictable, many of them realize that they will be unable to participate in these events after they have already signed up and paid the registration fee, and most events have a no-refund policy. Though event organizers keep the money the absentees have paid, they prefer to have as many of the registered participants attend as possible because they contribute to the ambiance of the event and its ultimate success. Many of these events are annual, and race organizers generally strive to grow the event year after year. Successful events often grow by word of mouth, so numbers matter. These events often seek to raise money for a cause, and they sometimes do not reach their monetary goals.
A picture of the prototype I created for FinishMyRace
Purdue University Northwest
Senior Design Project
August 2023 - April 2024
Goals
FinishMyRace’s goals were to increase runner participation, help last-minute runners save money, and increase revenue for the event organizers. For FinishMyRace to meet these goals, it would need to be a well-designed application with a favorable user experience.
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Research
I created a comprehensive literature review to find out more about the problems FinishMyRace aims to solve. This review suggested that people in the United States have a lower level of fitness today than in the past, and that different age groups experience different barriers to participating in physical activity. It also incorporated researching existing applications to find commonality in their goals and observed how they meet those goals. While there are no existing applications that serve the same function as FinishMyRace, some existing ones aim to solve similar problems or take a similar approach to solve different problems. A user needs analysis was conducted to further research users' needs, motivations, and goals. The UNA included personas, interviews, and conclusions from those interviews. It found that people need to have flexibility when signing up for events and know they are spending their money wisely. Their motivations are to improve their fitness, work towards a charitable cause, and achieve a feeling of success. Interviewees considered time, location, distance, and cost as the most important factors when signing up for a run, and aspects such as running conditions, expected weather, and sponsors are secondary factors.
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Implementation
The final prototype shows how users can sign on or create their accounts, post their slots, find posted slots and other users, and make changes to their accounts. It was made with Figma and used stock images from Pexels.com as well as a few assets from generous Figma community members. FinishMyRace would reduce the risk that people take when signing up for events because they know their slots will not go to waste. It also offers people greater flexibility when signing up for events because they can sign up close to an event’s date without paying a premium. At the same time, organizers will increase their revenue because a cut of each slot’s cost will go towards them.

Challenges
There were no existing applications that served a similar purpose to FinishMyRace, so I had to analyze applications in different sectors to determine how users complete certain tasks. Also, because of my limited coding skills, I sorted search results by date, distance, etc. instead of incorporating filters.

What I learned
While I was conducting my research, I found out about some differences between user demographics and about similarities between e-commerce applications in different market sectors. While building the final prototype of the app, I learned about some of Figma's features so that I could optimize its presentation.
This user flow of the slot-posting process shows the steps the user has to take to post his/her running event slot. It accounts for problems that may occur during the process using error prevention techniques.
A rough sketch of the slot-posting process shows the information the user must include before posting.
A more advanced sketch that shows the sign-up and slot-posting processes. A slot number requirement was added to prevent users from posting fake slots
One of the three personas I created is a busy dad like many of the users who would use this app. His life does not always go as planned, so he needs a way to make adjustments.
The project wireframe shows the ability to search for events and other users. The user is also able to view information about events that others are participating in so that he or she can sign up for a posted event or join an event that a friend is also going to.
Some low-fi screens show a more polished version of some of the screens, including basic information about the running events. Separate screens with more info were added later.
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