Fitness Spark

Overview

Role: Solo Designer & Product Developer 

Timeline: 3 months from concept to production 

Platform: Physical card deck with 52 prompts

Status: Initial production run complete, gathering user feedback

The Insight

That morning, work felt particularly daunting. I felt a sudden compulsion to do something physical. After nine hard reps of barbell back squats the dread that had been weighing on my mind noticeably diminished.This spontaneous two-minute intervention sparked a question that would shape this project: How might we help people harness brief physical interventions to transform their daily experience?


The Challenge

Despite decades of fitness industry innovation, we've largely missed a crucial insight: exercise isn't just about getting stronger or healthier—it's a powerful tool for intentionally changing our mental state. The problem is threefold:

As someone with five years of experience as a personal trainer, I'd seen countless people struggle with exercise adherence. But this insight suggested a completely different approach - what if instead of focusing on long-term habits, we could give people tools for immediate state change when they needed it most?

Design Approach

Rather than create another app in an already crowded digital wellness space, I chose to develop a physical card deck. This decision came from several key insights:

Why Cards?


Two Paths to State Change

At the core of Fitness Spark is a crucial insight: meaningful state changes can come through both physical action and mental reflection. This dual approach emerged from understanding that different moments call for different interventions:

Physical Interventions

These prompts leverage the direct mind-body connection through movement. Like my original squat experience, they create immediate state changes through physical action. The key is specificity - each movement is chosen for its particular psychological effect.

Reflective Interventions

These prompts create state changes through guided mental focus. Take the "Self Steer" card:

This isn't just journaling - it's a focused mental intervention with a clear time boundary and specific prompt that plants seeds for future change.

Two Paths to State Change

At the core of Fitness Spark is a crucial insight: meaningful state changes can come through both physical action and mental reflection. This dual approach emerged from understanding that different moments call for different interventions:

Physical Interventions

These prompts leverage the direct mind-body connection through movement. Like my original squat experience, they create immediate state changes through physical action. The key is specificity - each movement is chosen for its particular psychological effect.

Reflective Interventions

These prompts create state changes through guided mental focus. Take the "Self Steer" card:

This isn't just journaling - it's a focused mental intervention with a clear time boundary and specific prompt that plants seeds for future change.

Card Design: Intentional Minimalism

The anatomy of each card evolved through multiple iterations, challenging traditional exercise card formats. Here's why each element matters:


Action Prompt (Front) I deliberately broke from the typical exercise card format of showing step-by-step instructions with diagrams. Why? Because those create cognitive load - you have to process images, match your body to the positions, track multiple steps. Instead, I focused on simple, immediate actions that could be understood in seconds. The two-minute limit isn't just about time - it's about removing the "this will be too hard" barrier before it forms. When writing prompts, I found myself fighting the urge to be comprehensive. A trainer's instinct is to explain perfect form, give modifications, list benefits. But that creates the same overwhelm we're trying to avoid. Instead, I focused on what I call "minimum viable instruction" - just enough guidance to get someone moving safely.

Principle (Back) The back of the card was a controversial decision. Many early reviewers suggested putting multiple exercises or variations here. But that would've undermined the core goal: making state change accessible and immediate. Instead, I used this space to bridge the action-understanding gap. The principle explanation isn't just educational - it's permission-giving. When someone understands why a movement might help them, they're more likely to try it. The language intentionally avoids both scientific jargon and fluffy wellness-speak, finding a middle ground that respects users' intelligence while remaining approachable.

Principle (Back) The back of the card was a controversial decision. Many early reviewers suggested putting multiple exercises or variations here. But that would've undermined the core goal: making state change accessible and immediate. Instead, I used this space to bridge the action-understanding gap. The principle explanation isn't just educational - it's permission-giving. When someone understands why a movement might help them, they're more likely to try it. The language intentionally avoids both scientific jargon and fluffy wellness-speak, finding a middle ground that respects users' intelligence while remaining approachable.

Playful Name (Both Sides) The naming convention was a direct response to how intimidating fitness can feel. Compare "Gratitude Giggle" to "Body Appreciation Exercise #4." One feels like an invitation to experiment, the other like a homework assignment. These names do triple duty:

I specifically chose to repeat the name on both sides - a small detail that helps users quickly find specific cards they want to revisit without flipping through the whole deck.

Visual Design Decisions

The visual design emerged from both practical constraints and user needs: