Will Neville
Case Study

Garmin Connect — insights that power everyday training

Garmin Connect houses years of workouts, sleep, heart-rate variability, and more for millions of athletes. My work focused on turning raw streams into understandable signals—training status, readiness, and habit loops—so people know what to do next, not just what happened.

Today → Train → Recover → Repeat
A daily loop that balances effort and recovery across mobile and web.
Overview

From numbers to decisions

We treated data as a storytelling problem: what matters today, what changed, and what action it suggests. The UI reduces cognitive load with consistent modules, clear deltas, and friendly language—so both first-time runners and data nerds feel oriented.

  • Daily "Today" card that summarizes status and suggested focus
  • Training Status & Readiness surfaced alongside schedule and fatigue
  • Goal loops that celebrate streaks and nudge lapses without shaming
  • Cross-platform components for parity between mobile and web
Problem

High-volume data, low-signal decisions

Users collected a lot of metrics but struggled to translate them into training choices. Important signals hid in charts, and terminology varied between surfaces—hurting comprehension and trust.

  • Fragmented language: the same concept named differently across modules.
  • Chart-first UX: insights buried under graphs rather than surfaced as statements.
  • No daily "north star": unclear whether to push, maintain, or recover.
  • Platform drift: mobile and web diverged, increasing support cost.
Before → After information pattern
From raw charts to "say the thing" modules: status, why it changed, and a next action.
Information Architecture

A daily loop that respects recovery

Home summarizes what matters now; detail pages explain why and provide tools to act. Components and copy are shared between mobile and web to reduce drift.

IA reduces context-switching: understand → act → come back tomorrow.
Solution

Say the thing, then show the proof

We standardized a pattern: a plain-language statement up top ("Training load is optimal"), a short why ("last 7 days balanced"), then proof (charts). Components carry the same structure across readiness, sleep, stress, and VO₂ Max so users learn once.

Training Status
Clear state with contributing factors and a next suggestion (maintain, build, or recover).
Reduces analysis paralysis on high-data days.
Readiness
Sleep, HRV, and load synthesized into a single dial with an explainer.
Helps adjust effort without deep diving every metric.
Goals & streaks
Habit loops with friendly tone; celebrates consistency and forgives misses.
Keeps novices motivated and veterans honest.
Cross-platform system
Tokens and components ensure parity between mobile and web.
Reduces rework and support; speeds new feature rollout.
Design details
  • Plain-language titles with short "why it changed" deltas
  • Accessible color and motion; chart fallbacks for reduced-motion users
  • Coach hand-offs from insight to plan with one tap
  • Localized copy patterns that keep meaning across languages
Results

Higher engagement, better training decisions

The unified Garmin Connect experience made it easier for users to understand their training status and make informed decisions about effort and recovery.

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Daily active usage

Unified experience drove more frequent engagement across platforms.

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Cross-platform sessions

Users seamlessly moved between mobile and web within the same day.

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Navigation friction

Consistent IA reduced time to find key features and information.

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Recovery feature usage

Elevated recovery metrics saw significant increase in engagement.

Notes: Metrics shown are representative and illustrate directional impact. Actual results may vary.

Research & Discovery

Understanding athlete behavior across platforms

We studied how users moved between mobile and web experiences throughout their training cycles to identify opportunities for cohesion.

  • Analyzed user flows between Garmin devices, mobile app, and web dashboard
  • Conducted interviews with athletes about their daily routines and planning habits
  • Tested early prototypes to validate cross-platform mental models
  • Studied recovery and training load patterns to inform feature priorities

A key insight: users wanted seamless context between "today's workout" and "this week's plan" regardless of which surface they were on.

Key Milestones

Bringing coherence across platforms

Cross-Platform Audit & Alignment

Mapped user flows and identified inconsistencies between mobile and web experiences that created friction.

Unified Information Architecture

Established consistent navigation patterns and mental models across platforms while respecting platform conventions.

Today-First Redesign

Reimagined the primary dashboard to surface today's training context alongside recovery metrics and upcoming plans.

Lessons Learned

What this project taught me

  • Platform parity doesn't mean identical interfaces. Respecting platform conventions while maintaining conceptual consistency created better experiences than forcing identical UIs.
  • Context matters more than completeness. Users valued seeing the right information at the right time over having access to everything, everywhere.
  • Recovery is as important as training. Elevating recovery metrics alongside training data helped users make smarter decisions about effort and rest.
Recognition & Achievements

Platform impact

The unified Garmin Connect experience improved user engagement and established patterns that influenced future product development.

User Impact
  • Increased daily active usage across both mobile and web platforms
Platform Influence
  • Patterns and components adopted across other Garmin products