Pvolve
Elevating a fitness brand’s product, digital experience, and growth strategy
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Fitness company Pvolve wanted a fresh burst of energy to drive expansion and growth after its start-up phase. As well as overhauling Pvolve’s digital experience and product design, our team saw the chance to plot a new direction for the business by clarifying its brand positioning and focus.
The impact has been transformational as Pvolve’s business has grown exponentially with at least 22 new franchised workout studios set to open in 2025 and a partnership with global icon Jennifer Aniston driving growth in new customers.
Pvolve is built around a unique workout method using proprietary resistance equipment that exercises different parts of the body in live-streamed, on-demand, or in-person sessions at their branded studios. Founded in 2017, the New York-based business had attracted a loyal membership, but was ready to expand into its next phase of growth.
We were looking to further streamline our digital experience and continue to refine the design of our exercise equipment. We’d heard PA’s design team specialised in sports, fitness, and wellness, so that made them a go-to for us. Once we got to know one another, we realised the depth of their expertise was exactly what we needed to write the next chapter of our growth story.”
Spotting a chance to stand out
As our design experts started tackling the digital and product design, they realised there was a more fundamental brand strategy challenge at hand. “Pvolve was at a fork in the road and needed to make important decisions about who it should become,” explained David Knies, PA brand and innovation strategist. “That meant agreeing on key strategic questions like whether the brand should be for both men and women, or sharpen its focus on women, or if it should provider a smaller set of workout types, and focus on the quality of each.” Our team knew we had to help Pvolve align around one clear direction.
Our brand strategy, digital, and product design experts got to work.
Through all our work in the fitness sector, we could see a clear opportunity for Pvolve to differentiate and innovate by focusing on women at all life stages, first and foremost. Among other things, that led to a new workout series called Phase & Function, optimised for every week of the month, which wouldn’t have happened if they’d continued to focus on both men and women.”
Designing a better digital experience
Our team used a human-centred design process to get to the bottom of how best to improve both the digital and product design. Knies said: “We attended workouts ourselves, interviewed members about their live workshop and digital experience, and watched them using the Pvolve streaming library and workout equipment.”
From our observations, one of the key opportunities we identified was how to improve the digital experience. “The streaming library was organised in a way that made it hard for people to find the workout they wanted,” explained Corey Dinopoulos, PA user experience design expert. “There was no search facility, but there was still a filtering function in the centre of the screen, which made the experience more complicated. We’ve made things clearer, with the workouts now in fewer categories and with an easier to understand labelling system.” It’s now easier to find foundation classes and others that modify the exercises for users who are pregnant or have injuries. Any workout in the library is now only two clicks away.
Additionally, the team developed a refreshed and modern visual brand language for the user interface. The original colour palette, with its bold and intense hues, felt disconnected from the overall brand identity. So we refined it to better align with the cohesive new brand language established by Pvolve’s brand team.
Evolving product design
To guide the re-design of the exercise equipment, our team created product attributes that reflected the evolving brand’s purpose ‘to help each woman feel powerful in her mind and body throughout her entire life’. “We wanted the equipment to be easy for users to put on and take off, and inclusive so they meet users’ needs wherever they are on their fitness journey,” noted Seth Frankel, PA product design expert. “We also wanted them to be powerful and scientific, to reflect the science behind the workout system.”
A key piece of equipment is the P-Ball, used for core and lower body strengthening, which users attach between their legs. Our team observed some users found it difficult to put on and either needed help or had to sit down to do that. We made it easier by replacing a series of hooks and loops with a single side release backpack-style clip so users can put it on in one motion and remove the ball with one hand.
To be more inclusive, we recommended easy to interchange resistance bands for the P-Band so users can tailor the force to their fitness level. As well, we addressed known durability issues of the upper body strengthening latex P-Band by identifying areas of stress concentration in the band and redesigning the latex attachment mechanism to mitigate this effect.
Growing fast with a clearer direction
Since our team’s work with Pvolve, the company is set to double its number of studios nationwide in 2025.
PA’s advice came at a critical moment in our development. The clear strategic direction to focus on women also gave us the confidence to partner with Jennifer Aniston in 2023. In general, we now have a much clearer shared sense of who we are, and that’s helped us move forward with confidence and unlock explosive growth.”
