RC FITNESS SITE REDESIGN
Uncovering the friction between founder focus and user skepticism
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
December 2024 – May 2025
Team
1 Designer (freelance)
Skills
User Research
Branding
Overview
Transforming a personal brand into a trusted program
I led an end-to-end redesign of the brand identity and digital experience for a nutrition coach with 75K+ followers. Our goal was to shift the focus from the founder to the program itself, transforming a personal brand into a scalable, trusted entity.
This strategic rebrand and UX overhaul drove a 12% increase in conversions while successfully maintaining the high quality of leads in the first month.
Before: Founder-centric website using language such as 'my coaching' and 'train with me,' lacking user-focused messaging.
After: Evolved the branding to speak directly to users while keeping the founder’s voice.
UNCOVERING THE FRICTION
The program was trapped by its own success as a personal brand
Through stakeholder interviews, I was able to identify that while the founder's personality attracted an audience, it created three major barriers to growth:
CONVERSION LEAK 1
Hidden Conversion Path
The primary sign-up form was buried and long, creating friction for potential clients.
CONVERSION LEAK 2
Unclear Value Proposition
The "why" for choosing this program over others was lost in the founder's influencer presence.
CONVERSION LEAK 3
A Trust Gap
Users were skeptical they could get results without following a restrictive diet.
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Building a bridge between stakeholder goals and user needs
Beyond stakeholder interviews, I conducted a heuristic evaluation that revealed a user experience actively undermining its own goals through critical violations: a chaotic visual hierarchy with illegible text that broke principles of 'Aesthetic and Minimalist Design, coupled with a weak, hard-to-find CTA and broken navigation that violated 'Flexibility and Efficiency of Use,' a combination which destroyed user trust at every touchpoint.
Key insight: It was necessary to rebuild the narrative around client success to gain trust and justify the program's value before asking for a commitment.
I created Scott, a longtime follower of the founder’s content and potential client, to model the ideal user journey. He arrives with two priorities: proving the program delivers real physique changes and justifying the investment.
How might we increase sign-ups by shifting trust from founder to program?
DEFINING THE STRATEGY
Clarifying the offer, building trust, and reducing friction
Our strategy was to build a bridge between user needs and business goals. This meant navigating a critical pivot early on.
Pivot: Early discussions introduced a major conflict. Pricing transparency was a key user need, but the client strongly resisted displaying costs upfront, fearing it would scare users away.
My solution was to reframe the value proposition. Instead of showing tiered pricing, we positioned RC Fitness as 'the affordable middle ground' between impersonal apps and high-end trainers. This managed user expectations and justified the eventual sales call where final pricing would be discussed personally.
CRAFTING THE VISUAL IDENTITY
I designed a client-centric brand to earn user confidence
I created a new visual language inspired by client-centric brands like Lululemon—clean, professional, and built to signal trust. Every design choice, from WCAG-compliant colors to clear typography hierarchy, was intentional to make users feel confident in their decision to join.
THE SOLUTION
A frictionless path from interest to investment
Feature 1: The Value-Proposition First Homepage
I structured the homepage to immediately answer the user's core question: "What makes this different?" I prioritized a clear value proposition over testimonials to establish credibility before showcasing social proof.
Pivot: I initially explored a simpler CTA to reduce friction. But A/B testing showed that the form's friction was strategic. It served as a commitment device, weeding out unqualified leads based on price sensitivity and readiness. We optimized for quality conversions, not just quantity.
Feature 2: The Streamlined Qualifier Form
I transformed a clunky multi-step form into an intuitive, conversation-like experience. It auto-advances users and uses thoughtful questions that make them feel understood while giving coaches the precise data they need to personalize consultations.
Feature 3: Trust-Building Transformation Stories
I designed sections to spotlight trainer expertise and client success stories, helping potential users visualize their own success and reducing hesitation before signing up.
The new brand and streamlined UX drove a 12% conversion lift by building trust and attracting more qualified leads, all within a scalable new identity.
Key learnings
Design is a strategic compromise
A key challenge was aligning on the primary CTA. I advocated for a ‘Book a Call’ button to speed up the user's journey, but the stakeholder needed the form to pre-qualify leads. This, along with the pricing transparency debate, was a pivotal moment. It taught me that the goal wasn’t just increasing sign-ups—it was increasing qualified sign-ups.
By truly understanding the founder's workflow and constraints, we refined the flow to serve both the business need for efficiency and the user’s need for clarity, moving the brand further away from its founder-centric model.