Gentler Streak: Fitness with Humanity – Design Approach
Gentler Streak: A Story of Personal experience & Award-Winning Design
This article details the journey of Gentler streak, a fitness app that recently won the 2024 Apple Design Award for Social Impact (and was previously named 2022 Apple Watch App of the year). The app’s origins lie in the success of its predecessor, Lake: Coloring book for Adults, which earned its creators, katarina Lotrič, Jure Orešnik, and Luka Krmelj, an Apple Design Award in 2017.The team – all athletes themselves – began to explore their own relationships with fitness,leading to the creation of Gentler Streak. Lotrič experienced an injury that impacted her mental health, while Mihelič found himself overtraining and needing a way to understand when “enough” was enough.
Mihelič initially developed a simple internal app to guide movement while prioritizing recovery. This prototype, though “not very gentle,” formed the core idea behind Gentler Streak: guidance without pressure, and an emphasis on understanding rather than simply tracking numbers.
The team recognized the app’s potential when they consistently returned to the prototype themselves. They then formed Gentler Stories (with Mihelič joining Lotrič, Orešnik, and Krmelj) to develop the app further. Krmelj was particularly drawn to the company’s focus on mental well-being.
Early testing through TestFlight showed incredibly promising results, with unusually high user retention rates. Users responded positively to the app’s “gentler” approach and its focus on making fitness statistics understandable and approachable.
Key takeaways from the article:
Personal Experience Drives Innovation: The app was born from the team’s own struggles and needs related to fitness and mental health.
Focus on Interpretation, Not Just Data: Lotrič emphasizes that “Statistics are just numbers. Without knowing how to interpret them, they are meaningless.” Gentler Streak aims to provide that interpretation.
Gentle Approach to Fitness: The app prioritizes guidance and recovery over pushing users to extremes.
Strong User Engagement: Early testing showed exceptionally high user retention, indicating a strong product-market fit.
The article highlights how Gentler Streak leverages HealthKit data and presents it in simple, easy-to-understand charts, ultimately aiming to promote a healthier and more balanced relationship with fitness.