Case Study File #002 — Exhibit B
LiftBuddy.
Redefining fitness tracking — one product covering the plan, the session, the food and the check-in.
01 — The problem
Training lives in four apps and a notes file.
A serious lifter runs a programme in one place, logs sets in another, counts macros in a third, and tracks weight and progress photos somewhere else again. Nothing talks to anything.
So the question a lifter actually wants answered — is this working? — is the one question no single app can answer, because no single app holds all four pieces.
The data was never missing. It was scattered.
LiftBuddy's scope was set at closing the loop: plan → session → food → check-in → adjusted plan. One product, one week, one answer.
02 — Onboarding
From download to a plan that fits your gym.
Onboarding asks only what changes the programme: goal, experience, available equipment, and how many days a week you can train. Every answer narrows the generated plan, so the first screen after setup is already a real training week rather than an empty state.
03 — Dashboard
The whole week, above the fold.
The home screen answers the day in one glance: what phase you're in, whether the streak holds, what's left of your macros, and where bodyweight is trending. Anything that needs a decision is a tap; everything else is just legible.
04 — The session
Designed for one hand, mid-set.
The workout surface is the hardest screen in the product: it's used standing, sweating, one-handed, under a rest clock. Targets sit where the thumb lands, the rest timer takes over the screen when it matters, and logging effort is four taps — not a number nobody can estimate honestly.
05 — Nutrition
Food, in the same product as the training it feeds.
Nutrition isn't a separate app bolted on — it shares the dashboard, the goals and the check-in. Targets move with the training phase, so a cut and a bulk don't require the lifter to go and re-enter their own numbers somewhere else.
06 — The check-in
The screen that closes the loop.
Once a week, LiftBuddy puts the evidence back in front of the lifter: sessions completed, personal records set, bodyweight against goal. This is where the product earns its retention — not by reminding someone to train, but by showing them it worked.
07 — Control & sharing
Coached by default, overridable throughout.
LiftBuddy generates the plan, but an experienced lifter will always want to move a goal, swap an exercise or change an increment. Every automated decision has a visible control behind it — and a finished session can leave the app as a shareable log without exposing the rest of a profile.
08 — Disposition
Figures on record.
50,000+
Dedicated lifters
8
Connected product flows
1
Design system across all of them
Lifter count is the subject's own reported figure. What this file records is the design work: eight flows specified end to end, in one system, on a single dark interface.
09 — Takeaways
What the file establishes.
Design for the worst conditions
The session screen is used one-handed, standing, under a clock. Design that screen first and the calm ones look after themselves — not the other way round.
Automate, but never lock
A generated plan only earns trust if the lifter can override it. Every automatic decision in LiftBuddy has a visible control behind it.
Retention is proof, not nagging
The check-in exists because people stay with a product that shows them evidence it worked. Notifications ask for attention; evidence earns it.
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