Tiempo

Reshaping how you interact with your fitness app.

Selected Projects

Eagle Eyed Painting

T

Tiempo

Nova

Alternative work

The Emerald Gala

Branding

Illustrations

Contact

Email

LinkedIn

About me

Josh Foulkes

Project Type

Solo concept

My Role

Concept, Research, Branding, UX, UI, Prototyping

Project Focus

User interaction and data logging

Tools

Figma, Figma Make, Claude

Project Type

Solo concept

My Role

Concept, Research, Branding, UX, UI, Prototyping

Project Focus

User interaction and data logging

Tools

Figma, Figma Make, Claude

01 - OVERVIEW

01 - OVERVIEW

Fitness, but frictionless

Fitness, but frictionless

Tiempo is a fitness ecosystem designed to help users stay focused throughout their training. By combining intuitive workout planning, progress tracking, community features, and Apple Watch integration, the experience aims to make capturing and improving performance feel seamless without disrupting the flow of a session.

Tiempo is a fitness ecosystem designed to help users stay focused throughout their training. By combining intuitive workout planning, progress tracking, community features, and Apple Watch integration, the experience aims to make capturing and improving performance feel seamless without disrupting the flow of a session.

02 - THE PROBLEM

02 - THE PROBLEM

Tracking costs focus

Tracking costs focus

Physical activity significantly reduces both physical and cognitive load, similar to driving or being in bright sunlight, apps designed for these environments need to cater to the situation not the other way round.


Tracking progress is an essential part of training, but the process often forces users to repeatedly switch between their workout and their phone. Unlocking the device, navigating the app, and logging each set creates small interruptions that accumulate throughout a session.


Tiempo's starting point: logging a set should never require more attention than the set itself.

Physical activity significantly reduces both physical and cognitive load, similar to driving or being in bright sunlight, apps designed for these environments need to cater to the situation not the other way round.


Tracking progress is an essential part of training, but the process often forces users to repeatedly switch between their workout and their phone. Unlocking the device, navigating the app, and logging each set creates small interruptions that accumulate throughout a session.


Tiempo's starting point: logging a set should never require more attention than the set itself.

03 - RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

03 - RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

Why use an inferior tool?

Why use an inferior tool?

After multiple interview and years spent training in different gyms the same two behaviours surface between sets: people reaching for their phones, half to log, half just to burn off the rest period - and a smaller group still logging by hand, with a notebook and pen.


That second group is the more telling one. A notebook they've organised themselves takes almost no cognitive effort — scribble two numbers, done. An app with a dozen fields asks them to stop, read, and locate the right input first. The notebook doesn't win on features; it wins by removing the decision entirely. That gap became the brief

After multiple interview and years spent training in different gyms the same two behaviours surface between sets: people reaching for their phones, half to log, half just to burn off the rest period - and a smaller group still logging by hand, with a notebook and pen.


That second group is the more telling one. A notebook they've organised themselves takes almost no cognitive effort — scribble two numbers, done. An app with a dozen fields asks them to stop, read, and locate the right input first. The notebook doesn't win on features; it wins by removing the decision entirely. That gap became the brief

04 - THE SOLUTION

04 - THE SOLUTION

What you need in the moment

What you need in the moment

To address the initial friction of unlocking and navigation, Tiempo utilises native iOS features by enabling users to log sets directly from the lock screen, bypassing a large portion of the issue - logging a set is not a cause for security concern hence the decision.


Second is to completely strip large parts of info that is commonly disclosed to users when tracking a workout. When completing an exercise the user does not need to know what their last exercise is or have the ability to enter data for it when they might not come to it for over an hour.

To address the initial friction of unlocking and navigation, Tiempo utilises native iOS features by enabling users to log sets directly from the lock screen, bypassing a large portion of the issue - logging a set is not a cause for security concern hence the decision.


Second is to completely strip large parts of info that is commonly disclosed to users when tracking a workout. When completing an exercise the user does not need to know what their last exercise is or have the ability to enter data for it when they might not come to it for over an hour.

Fitness first, not a feed

Fitness first, not a feed

Many fitness apps have grown into content platforms feeds, influencer-style extras, brand promotions, all competing with the workout itself for attention. A fitness app should not try and compete with the likes of Instagram or TikTok for retention as they are highly for doing so as it is their main function.


The home screen is built to be fully self-sufficient: everything needed to start and log a session lives there, complete on its own. Community and social features exist, but they sit in other tabs, opt-in rather than default.

Many fitness apps have grown into content platforms feeds, influencer-style extras, brand promotions, all competing with the workout itself for attention. A fitness app should not try and compete with the likes of Instagram or TikTok for retention as they are highly for doing so as it is their main function.


The home screen is built to be fully self-sufficient: everything needed to start and log a session lives there, complete on its own. Community and social features exist, but they sit in other tabs, opt-in rather than default.

Going the extra mile

Going the extra mile

Many professional athletes or even enthusiasts want to know just how much they’re pushing themselves when training, do this tracking has to go beyond ones own entries and use biometric tracking to pull things such as active and resting heart rate, reps in reserve and rate of perceived exertion so users can have all they need for a complete analysis.


Whilst using a watch accessory to track reduces the tap zone availability, it opens the horizons to a much more convenient option for more mobile training such as cardio based activities and circuit training.

Many professional athletes or even enthusiasts want to know just how much they’re pushing themselves when training, do this tracking has to go beyond ones own entries and use biometric tracking to pull things such as active and resting heart rate, reps in reserve and rate of perceived exertion so users can have all they need for a complete analysis.


Whilst using a watch accessory to track reduces the tap zone availability, it opens the horizons to a much more convenient option for more mobile training such as cardio based activities and circuit training.

Focused or freedom

Focused or freedom

Whether for extended rest period or just out of habit, many users still want full access to their devices, the app offers a reduced compressed lock screen view and a status bar for when unlocked. This gives users the option to trade external factors at the expense of workout features and sheer ease of input, better for more casual training.

Whether for extended rest period or just out of habit, many users still want full access to their devices, the app offers a reduced compressed lock screen view and a status bar for when unlocked. This gives users the option to trade external factors at the expense of workout features and sheer ease of input, better for more casual training.

There when you need it

There when you need it

Streamlined doesn't mean stripped. The home screen covers everything needed for a workout, while three additional tabs sit within the main navigation for anyone who wants more.


Tiempo+ is the subscription layer which transforms to rewards once enrolled. Progress holds session history, PRs, a photo gallery, and achievements. Explore rounds it out with challenges, difficulty-graded workouts from in-app coaches, friend activity, and articles for building fitness knowledge.


This strengthens the concept of not trying to compete with a dedicated content or social app. If someone wants to browse fitness content to pass time, they'll choose a media app over a workout tracker almost every time. These features exist for people already using Tiempo, not as a reason to open it.

05 - IMPACT

05 - IMPACT

Small test, clear signal

Five users completed two short workouts each, once on Tiempo's prototype and once on an established competitor app. It's a small sample, and testing your own product carries an obvious bias worth naming outright rather than glossing over.


Even accounting for that, the results were consistent. Logging a set took 3 to 4 seconds in Tiempo versus 9 to 11 seconds in the competitor, roughly three times faster, with occasional input errors pushing the competitor's time past 15 seconds. All five users said they preferred Tiempo's input style. One user couldn't figure out how to log a set or start a workout in the competitor app at all, a result kept out of the speed comparison but worth noting on its own.

3X~ Faster

Tracking

5/5 Preferred

versus competitor

NEXT STEPS

User testing + optimising inputs

The impact test above is a signal, not proof: five users, self-run, with the bias that comes from testing your own product. The logical next step is validating input methods properly. A/B testing the scroll-and-type toggle against alternatives across a much larger, independent user base would confirm what actually reduces friction at scale, rather than what performed best in a small sample.

The impact test above is a signal, not proof: five users, self-run, with the bias that comes from testing your own product. The logical next step is validating input methods properly. A/B testing the scroll-and-type toggle against alternatives across a much larger, independent user base would confirm what actually reduces friction at scale, rather than what performed best in a small sample.

Refined micro interactions

Current prototypes are fairly static and do not have the same fidelity to the likes of apple fitness which I would seek to achieve, UI refinement and interaction design would be considered greatly

Current prototypes are fairly static and do not have the same fidelity to the likes of apple fitness which I would seek to achieve, UI refinement and interaction design would be considered greatly

NEXT PROJECT

NEXT PROJECT

Eagle Eyed Paining

Eagle Eyed Paining

Eagle Eyed Paining

Responsive site

Go next

Josh Foulkes

About me

Want to learn more about a case study or discuss a project? - Get in touch!

You can reach me via email or Linked In

Want to learn more about a case study or discuss a project? - Get in touch!

You can reach me via email or Linked In

Want to learn more about a case study or discuss a project? - Get in touch!

You can reach me via email or Linked In

Email

LinkedIn