Les Mills Release App – UX/UI Enhancements

Client: Les Mills International
Role: UX Lead
Project Phases: 2021 & 2023
Platforms: iOS & Android

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The Mission

The Les Mills Release App is used by over 130,000 fitness instructors worldwide to learn, prep, and teach new workouts each quarter. Every three months, new music, videos, and notes are released. Problem was—downloads were clunky, support tickets were piling up, and the overall experience felt stuck in the past.

Les Mills needed help to sort the core download flows, reduce the noise from frustrated users, and start shaping a better, more intuitive experience. I led the UX direction across two major phases, helping them reshape the product without losing its purpose.

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Phase One – Fixing the Frustrations (2021)

This kicked off with a tight UX sprint focused on streamlining downloads for music, videos, and notes. The old setup had too many steps, unclear statuses, and zero testing with real users. We sorted that.

I led the UX strategy and UI redesign, working through:

• New user flows (6–8 clear paths across the core actions)
• UX/UI improvements, including better status messaging and simpler re-downloads
• Prototyping and testing with instructors (Maze and face-to-face sessions)
• Clear documentation and dev handover

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Results:

• Reduced user confusion around downloads
• Laid the groundwork for better scalability
• Aligned key product behaviours with UX patterns users already knew from Netflix, Spotify, etc.

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Phase Two – Scaling and Evolving (2023)

By 2023, the app was still doing its job but the home page was outdated, playlists were inconsistent, and the design felt like two different apps stitched together.

I was brought back in to lead a full product refresh, this time focusing on:

• Homepage redesign – making it feel alive, relevant, and engaging
• Playlist experience – bringing consistency to how content was discovered and consumed
• User flows and testing – continuing the test-and-learn approach with Maze and hands-on feedback
• Full design system build – aligning iOS and Android, making future updates easier and faster

This phase also included A/B testing recommendations, improved accessibility, and helping the team think modularly—like designing with Lego blocks so they could reuse and scale elements properly.

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What I Did

• Led UX strategy and product direction across both phases
• Ran workshops, user testing, prototyping, and flows
• Created a component-based design system across platforms
• Partnered with the Les Mills team to align design with product and business goals
• Supported dev handoff and QA to make sure what we designed actually shipped

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The Result

The Les Mills Release App now delivers a cleaner, more confident experience for instructors globally. It’s easier to use, works harder behind the scenes, and sets the foundation for smarter updates going forward.

More importantly, it helped reduce support load, improve download behaviour, and solidify Les Mills' trust in me as their go-to for UX. They came back for more because the work delivered more than expected—and because I kept it sharp, practical, and focused on what actually matters.

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“His innovation and strategic thinking made the whole process a breeze and his communication through out the process was top notch. He pushed the whole teams thinking on possible solutions and was a key figure in the success of the App redesign.” Les Mills Product Owner

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