Context

As Lead Product Designer at The Body Coach, I’ve helped evolve a digital fitness platform — improving discovery, strengthening community-led motivation, and extending the experience beyond the product to support long-term engagement.

Alongside core product work, I lead design on initiatives that help us reach new audiences, including live events, performance marketing, out-of-home campaigns, and free content. My focus is on creating clear, supportive, and accessible experiences that help people to build healthier lives.

Discovery and personalisation

Each year, The Body Coach produces a wide range of workouts, challenges, and recipes. As the library expanded, we needed to design new ways for users to discover content that aligned with their goals, fitness levels, and cooking experience.

Regular user research highlighted where the experience needed to better support this range of needs. I focused on simplifying discovery, designing search and filtering journeys so users could quickly find content that was right for them.

Long-term goals informed personalisation, while weekly goals supported consistent progress. We introduced ways to hide unwanted content, added community recipe ratings, and used behavioural data to improve recommendations.

This created a clearer, more supportive experience that helped members focus less on searching and more on maintaining healthy routines.

Strengthening motivation through community

Sustaining motivation is one of the biggest challenges in building long-term health habits. Community has always been central to The Body Coach, and we saw an opportunity to support members further by strengthening the sense of connection and shared progress within the app.

Research consistently showed that people were more likely to stay engaged when they felt part of something beyond their individual routine. Community became an important way to reinforce commitment, celebrate progress, and reduce the isolation that can accompany personal fitness journeys.

I led the design of community features with a focus on support — creating spaces where members could encourage one another, share experiences, and recognise milestones without introducing unnecessary pressure or comparison.

Careful consideration was given to psychological safety, and privacy. We prioritised interactions that felt positive and inclusive, ensuring the experience remained aligned with The Body Coach’s accessible and encouraging approach.

Strengthening community helped shift the product from one centred primarily on content to one grounded in participation — supporting greater consistency over time.

Design beyond the product

We wanted to meet people where they already were, creating touchpoints that clearly communicated what The Body Coach offers and how it supports healthier lives.

The brand extends well beyond the app, and I worked alongside talented teams to bring The Body Coach to new audiences through physical and campaign-led experiences. This included designing for large-scale live fitness events such as Move Manchester, a two-day programme hosted at Factory International, and The Joe Wicks Festival at Kew Gardens.

Alongside this, I contributed to performance marketing efforts, partnering with external agencies to help shape creative direction across paid channels and maintain consistency between brand and product experience.

Impact

This work helped simplify discovery, strengthen community, and improve consistency across product and brand experiences. Together, these efforts contributed to increased subscription retention, supporting more members to stay engaged and maintain healthier routines.

It strengthened my belief that design has a role to play across the whole experience, and that working as a generalist allows me to create impact in many different places — from product journeys to brand touchpoints.