BOULDERDASH

OVERVIEW

Boulderdash is a social, fitness tracking app designed for indoor and outdoor climbers. It allows users to track their progress, share and discover new climbing spots and interact with their community, while inspiring healthy competition.

PROBLEM

Both the climbing industry and the fitness app market have been on the rise, but apps designed specifically for rock climbers are extremely limited. General fitness tracking apps are great for at home workouts or outdoor runs, but these do not fit the specific needs of climbing. As a climber, I would often see others in my community using pen and paper, notepad apps and their camera phones to track their progress. While this is somewhat helpful, it's ultimately inconvenient and uninspiring.

RESEARCH

Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted among climbers aged 20-35 at a local climbing gym in NYC. Based on feedback, I learned that people were primarily interested in tracking their own progress, comparing their climbing trajectory to others, and offering climbing tips to friends. Initially, I only planned to create a fitness tracking app but these insights inspired me to create a more social experience for users.

PERSONAS

JAMIE | Age 25 | Advanced
Lives in Brooklyn, NY and often spends her time in coffee shops working as a freelance writer. She goes between climbing gyms in Brooklyn and Queens and tries to visit 3-5 times a week. Bouldering is her primary form of climbing but she also practices lead climbing and attends fitness classes like yoga and bootcamp. She mostly climbs solo but will participate in climbing games when her friends are around because she loves the friendly competition. As much as she loves climbing indoors, she said the most frustrating aspect of climbing gyms is the huge difference in setting styles and grades across the different companies.

FRUSTRATIONS

Climbing injuries
Inaccurate grading systems

KEY GOALS

Climb with friends more often
Share pointers with friends
Become a better climber
Get the most out of a workout

SEAN | Age 32 | Intermediate climber

Lives in Queens, NY and works as a software consultant for a treasury management company in Manhattan. With such a busy schedule between work and the gym, he tries to keep his life organized with simple and easy-to-learn apps like Toshl and Colored Note. He visits the gym 2-3 times a week and tries bouldering spots in Central Park about once a month. Bouldering is his go-to type of climbing but he'll do top rope with his partner every once in awhile. Lately he feels frustrated with his climbing abilities but his friends' encouragement inspire him to keep going.

KEY GOALS