Public Recreation · 2017 to 2020

Building an outdoor fitness service and the platform behind it

Public Recreation offered instructor-led fitness classes in public spaces. As co-founder and Product Lead, I helped turn a physical installation into a class-based service, developed its business model and designed the web platform for members and staff.

My work: Company building, from strategy and partnerships to business modeling, service design, product design and delivery
Team: Co-founders, instructors and an engineering team
Delivery: Production web platform, payments and operational tools · YC Summer 2018

Four people exercising on an agility ladder at an outdoor Public Recreation site — Public Recreation combined outdoor group classes with membership, reservations and check-in. Photograph: Michelle Pattee Photography.

Mission

Making physical activity part of everyday city life

Our mission was to help people move more and connect with their surroundings and community. We brought together experience in outdoor fitness and designing projects in public space, with the aim of making exercise easier to reach, afford and take part in.

We began with an installation of fitness furniture. Feedback led us toward instructor-led classes, and business modeling helped me see how those classes could work with a much simpler physical setup. That progression shaped the platform: memberships, booking and attendance had to connect people to a service operating across outdoor sites.

The concept map connects physical spaces, digital tools, teaching and events to people’s bodies, environments and communities. It records the wider ambition, including ideas beyond the service we built.

Public Recreation concept map connecting physical and digital platforms, classes and community experiences to wellbeing — Original mission and service concept map. Proposed programs and partner categories describe the ambition, not a list of delivered services or signed partners.

Our secondary research included Designed to Move, a framework from ACSM, ICSSPE and Nike that examined how everyday environments could support physical activity. It provided context for the mission; our own feedback and experiments determined the service direction.

From installation to classes

Key learning: people needed guidance to use the equipment

The first concept was modular outdoor furniture that people could use for exercise. Our August 2017 business plan proposed selling the equipment, with sensors and usage data as a possible later business. We were approaching the problem through the design of the physical environment.

1 / 4 The urban-space concept

Concept rendering of modular fitness furniture and bars in a tree-lined urban alley

Concept rendering: exercise equipment integrated with seating and the public space around it.

Feedback from users exposed a problem: people did not know how to use the equipment. We began offering classes to give them that guidance. Interviews about fitness habits and conversations after pop-up classes also brought up time, motivation and the value of exercising with other people.

That changed what we were designing. The instructor and the shared class became central to the experience. The physical site needed to support teaching, gathering and equipment storage, while members needed a clear way to find a class and show up.

Classes gave people a way to take part

An instructor, a group and a shared routine gave people guidance on what to do. The site became a place to attend a class.

People taking part in a guided outdoor group exercise at the Public Recreation site

Business model

A class, a locker and a relationship with the property owner

I used business modeling to work through what the service needed to cost and earn. A class-based model in public spaces offered a simpler option: an instructor, portable equipment and a locker at the site. We could reduce the physical installation while keeping the guided experience people needed.

The key was the relationships we formed with property owners. Those arrangements gave us access to sites and made it possible for us to cover insurance for our employees working there. Owners gained an activity for their spaces, and we could run classes without building out an indoor gym.

Avoiding the construction costs and ongoing overhead of a conventional studio created room for cheaper subscriptions and higher instructor pay. There were still costs for staff, equipment, insurance and operating the service. The goal was to direct more of what members paid toward the people delivering the classes.

Connecting the member offer to instructor pay

My working sketch puts classes between members and instructors, supported by a site, equipment and the brand. The notes link lower overhead and capital costs to more affordable memberships and better pay.

Hand-drawn service model linking members and instructors through classes, with lower overhead supporting cheaper memberships and better pay

A recognizable place to meet and store equipment

The outdoor site brought storage, ground markings and a patterned wall together around the class. These physical elements gave the service a presence without an enclosed studio.

Outdoor site with a patterned storage wall and exercise markings on the ground

Platform scope

Building the front desk for an outdoor service

As we developed the class-based business, I worked across the service model and the software needed to run it.

The class model gave the platform a clear job. Members needed to find a nearby session and manage their booking. Instructors needed a schedule and an attendee list. Managers needed visibility into classes and site performance. These were the operational requirements behind the member and staff experiences.

The budget did not support a native app, so I designed for mobile web. The browser became the common point of access for prospective members, returning members and staff working at the outdoor sites.

Separate first-time visitors, members and staff

The information architecture connects a public introduction to member, instructor and administrator tools. A returning member needed a direct route to classes; a first-time visitor needed to understand the service.

Information architecture separating prospective members, current members, instructors and administrators

Website and trial

Show the service, then help someone try a class

The website introduced the outdoor experience, the community and the membership offer. Someone new could try a class before joining, while returning members had a route into their account.

I connected that introduction to class selection, a short reservation form and a confirmation with the information needed to arrive. These December 2018 design exports show the interface and its visual language; some copy and data are placeholders.

Swipe to explore the screens. Tap an image to enlarge it.

Introduce the service

Public Recreation mobile homepage with All classes, All outside and Join now messaging — The homepage introduced outdoor classes and offered routes to membership and a free trial.

Reserve a trial

Trial reservation form asking for first name, last name, phone and email — A short form collected the details needed to reserve a trial class and send a reminder.

Confirm the details

Trial confirmation showing the class, location and time with calendar links — Confirmation brought class details, location and calendar actions together. Placeholder copy remains in this design export.

Member experience

From class discovery to a confirmed check-in

I developed the member workflows around location, workout type and time, then the actions around a reservation. Class selection, confirmation and self-check-in formed one connected journey from deciding to attend to arriving at the site.

Swipe to explore the screens. Tap an image to enlarge it.

Find a class

Add classes screen with location and workout filters and reservation buttons — Choose a location, workout and time, then reserve a place from the class list.

Reserve a place

Class listing with a lime check mark confirming the selected reservation — A check mark confirms the reservation beside the selected class.

Check in on arrival

Member dashboard with a highlighted current class and checked-in status — Return to the current class to check in, with upcoming reservations below.

Instructor operations

Giving instructors tools to manage attendance

With no reception desk at the sites, attendance management belonged in the instructor’s workflow. The staff tools connected each scheduled class with the people arriving for it, alongside the wider work of instructor preparation, curriculum and community activities.

Swipe to explore the screens. Tap an image to enlarge it.

Upcoming classes

Manage attendance

Class attendance list with individual check-in buttons and an add-new action — Check in members and add someone new to the class. Names and counts are sample content.

Delivery and learning

Scaling depended on the quality of each site

I worked with engineering to bring the web platform into production, including member workflows, a Stripe payment integration and operational tools. We also designed and built reporting dashboards for class and site performance.

The bigger challenge was scaling the service. Sites needed the right density to support classes and the right atmosphere: they had to feel good to spend time in. We had not invested enough in the physical sites themselves to make the experience feel premium. The quality of each location needed to be a more central part of the model.

When COVID hit, we had to shut down our sites and began working toward a purely digital service. That pivot led to Workout Daily, a separate application.

Building an outdoor fitness service and the platform behind it

Making physical activity part of everyday city life