Competitors and inspiration.

Before putting pen to paper, I did a quick audit of how other competitor gyms built their websites. While they all had a variety of diffferent voices and tones, every site I looked at (for both small and large gyms) had one thing in common: a fractured information architecture that split information across many tabs.

To long scroll or not?

Yes, long scroll pages are an overused pattern these days. However, this format presented a few different advantages that were especially well-suited for Session. First, Session's main draw is its narrative: an Australian-owned gym with charismatic trainers, a beautiful space, and an inclusive environment. A long scroll page allows for this story to be presented to users in a single flow, without fragmentation. Second, Wordpress pages take a few seconds to load, meaning that a fragmented UI would result in long load times.

Incorporating the brand.

Capturing the essence of the space, culture, and people on the site was the primary focus for the visual design of the site. One of the owners had a background in print and magazine, so we worked towards a wireframe that drew influences from editorial websites to put the studio photography on display.

"Aesthetically it’s wonderful. Better then I could have dreamed of."

Working with Wordpress was both a gift and a curse. While the client was extremely pleased with speed of build and quality of design, the site is heavily limited by Wordpress's clunky UI. For continued design, I will be exploring better ways to integrate the site with its back end booking system Mind Body, as well as further customizing components such as the carousels and contact forms.

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