Garmin Connect CycleSync
Sync your menstrual cycle with your physical training. Feel better.
Feature and Product Design - 2024
BACKGROUND
Training for a race is daunting, especially with no running experience.
When I decided to run my first half marathon, I relied on the Garmin Connect App to guide my training. The app provided excellent insights into my progress, but my performance varied significantly throughout the month. Some weeks, I struggled to keep up and recover from the training sessions. Other weeks I flew through the workouts, feeling like I should be pushing for more.
After speaking (and complaining) to other runners in my community, it became clear that not only was this a user problem, but athletes were suffering from a lack of knowledge about training with their menstrual cycle.
I quickly began the design of Garmin CycleSync, a feature that allows users to sync their menstrual cycle with their physical training.
ROLE
UX/UI Design and Research
TYPE
Passion Project
TEAM
Individual
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Training recommendations can't be accurate without accounting for the menstrual cycle.
The Connect App cycle tracking predominantly focuses on predicting menstrual periods and fertile days, and training recommendations don’t take users’ cycles into account.
This limits the effectiveness of personalized recommendations sent to the user and produces a gap between their current and potential performance.
More than menstruation
The menstrual cycle has 4 phases: follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstruation. Hormones change through each phase, creating fluctuations in strength, endurance, recovery, metabolism, fertility, and more.
Athletes need the full picture of what their body is doing every day of their cycle, not just their period and fertile days.
EVALUATION AND SOLUTION
Heuristics of the existing cycle tracking feature and design solutions.
Garmin CycleSync presents the user with all the changes happening throughout the cycle in one place.
Dashboard With CycleSync Insights
Calendar Complete With All Four Phases
Symptom Filler Simplified
USER RESEARCH
100% of athletes with menstrual cycles reported that they...
- Have felt frustrated with fluctuations in physical performance throughout their cycle
- Feel their current tracking method doesn’t give a full understanding of their cycle
- Don’t fully understand how to adjust their training to fit their cycle
I interviewed 5 individuals, including climbers, runners, triathletes, and generally active people, to gain insights into their experiences with cycle tracking and training. I was curious to learn how they felt their menstrual cycles impacted their physical performance.
Athletes are frustrated that current apps lack information about three main areas
Training
Users said...
“I can feel the difference in performance every time I train. I just don’t understand it.”
Users need...
- Understand: how to adapt the intensity of training to match performance fluctuations throughout the cycle
Nutrition
Users said...
“I have no idea what to do when it comes to nutrition. I know I get intense cravings around my period, and that can be frustrating.”
Users need...
- Understand: which key nutrients are important during each phase
- How metabolism and cravings affect nutrition needs
Hormones
Users said...
“If I knew my hormones were going to be affecting me, I wouldn’t be as hard on myself about it. Because i’d know that’s why I was feeling that way.”
Users need...
- Predictive Insights: how hormones will affect each day
- Plan accordingly to hormone fluctuations
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
CycleSync would make Garmin the only sport wearable that offers menstrual cycle insights on training, nutrition, and hormones.
VISUAL DESIGN
When wireframing, I focused on my vision of creating a module based dashboard that was personalized to the user and their own cycle.
ITERATIONS
Training Suggestions
I initally wanted to suggest a specific training style for each phase.
To ensure Training Suggestions applied to anyone no matter their training goal, I modified the suggestions to be intensity-based.
I removed “Through January 1”, given phase info is listed in the graph above.
V2 shows improved readability with a single icon and text reading from the left.
Nutrition
Originally “Fueling Suggestion”, giving insight on how to fuel training sessions.
I struggled with making room in the card for the nutrient pills and suggestions in this version.
I split the cards up with nutrients on the first slide, and nutrition suggestions on the next slide of the carousel.
I decided on “nutrition” and additional descriptors to be more clear.
Appetite
Began with a circlular graph
Moved symptom to the top to be more consistent with the design
Adjusted card style to better match the Garmin UI and demonstrate improved information hierarchy
The Interactive Prototype and Design System
SUMMARY
A Complicated Problem
While this project started from my own experience, I wanted the finished product to reflect any person’s cycle and training. Creating a “one size fits all” model was difficult because needs vary so much from user to user.
Presenting CycleSync as a case study format was challenging because I wanted to present my design and simultaneously educate my reader on the menstrual cycle. I was tempted to dive deeper into the science of the cycle and hormones, but wanted to keep my design process at the focal point of the project.
Future Casting
When I started this project, I considered making an app of my own. I chose to expand on the existing Connect App because…
- Immediate impact. If Garmin integrated CycleSync into the Connect App, there would be millions of users who would benefit from foundational knowledge about their bodies, optimizing their physical and mental health.
- There was a solid start line. The Connect App had cycle-tracking, it just needed to be expanded upon.
There is so much more that could be done with CycleSync, and I hope to expand on it in the future. I would love to integrate it within training plans, providing cycle-based splits for specific sports. While this project was focused on physical performance, mental performance is certainly involved as well. CycleSync could be used to enhance productivity, mental well-being, and optimizing busy schedules so you always feel your best.