Aonar

Train Alone. Rise Together.

OVERVIEW

Designing a fitness platform for people rebuilding their lives after trauma

AONAR is a fitness-tech startup I founded after going through my own divorce and finding the gym was the one place I could rebuild myself. The platform combines wearable motion tracking, AI form feedback, and emotional accountability tools for people navigating major life transitions. This case study covers the full journey from concept to launch-ready prototype, including brand identity, UX architecture, hardware design, and the app interface.

  • Project: Founding and Designing AONAR – Brand, UX/UI, and MVP Ecosystem
  • Current Status: Prototype Phase / Founding Stealth Mode.
  • Role: Founder & Principal Product Designer
  • Scope: Hardware + Software + UX
  • Duration: Ongoing (2024–Present)
  • TOOLS: Figma, Notion, FlowMapp, Photoshop, Midjourney, Webflow, Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite

THE SOLUTION.

Designing Strength and Self-Rescue

Most fitness apps track your reps. AONAR tracks your recovery. I designed a platform that treats physical training and emotional rebuilding as the same journey, giving users real-time form feedback from a wearable device, daily mindset prompts, and a community of people who understand what it means to start over. The goal was simple: make people feel strong again, one workout at a time.
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PLAN OF ACTION

DISCOVERY
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE

User Interviews
Market Research
Pain Point Mapping
(Fitness + Emotional Recovery)
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Persona Development
User Stories
Journey Mapping
(Trigger → Recovery → Empowerment)

Sketching
Experience Mapping
Low to Mid-Fidelity Wireframes (App + Wearable Integration)

Visual Id & StyleGuide
High-Fidelity
Prototype
Micro-Interactions
Onboarding Animations

THE CONCEPT.

THE CONCEPT

The idea for AONAR came from my belief that strength is built in solitude, but no one should have to recover alone. After witnessing how many people lose their sense of purpose and identity following divorce, burnout, or trauma, I wanted to design a platform that helps them rebuild both body and mind.

AONAR was created to transform pain into discipline, merging fitness, design, and technology into a system of self-rescue. Every feature is designed to remind users that growth starts the moment they decide to stand back up.

PROBLEM & SOLUTION.

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

  • Fragmented Recovery Data: Most fitness platforms fail to correlate physiological biometric data (wearables) with psychological recovery states, leaving a gap in holistic health monitoring.
  • Individuals recovering from divorce, addiction, or burnout struggle to rebuild consistent structure and motivation.
  • There's no platform combining strength training, mindfulness, and accountability into one cohesive system.
  • Users lack community driven support that respects privacy while inspiring longterm resilience.
  • Integrated Bio-Feedback Loop: Engineered a cross-platform ecosystem that synthesizes real-time AI motion analysis with wearable biometric data to provide an adaptive, state-aware recovery journey.
  • Built a motivational, minimalist interface that blends strength tracking with daily mindset prompts.
  • Developed adaptive training flows informed by emotional state and wearable feedback.
  • Integrated community accountability and storytelling, allowing users to train alone but rise together.

ARCHITECTURE.

How the System Works

Architected a low-latency pipeline for biometric ingestion, utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and ANT+ protocols to ensure persistent connectivity with wearable sensors (HR/VO2). By implementing edge-side normalization, the system filters 'noisy' sensor data locally, reducing cloud-compute overhead and extending device battery life.

The Orchestration Layer: Logic Engine

At the core of Aonar is a proprietary logic engine that performs real-time biometric orchestration. The system compares incoming physiological data against user-defined 'Safety Thresholds' and baseline health metrics. This layer handles the complex decision-making required to distinguish between high-intensity exertion and critical physiological distress.

HMI Output & Failsafe Feedback

Designed a high-visibility Human-Machine Interface (HMI) that delivers critical alerts via multi-modal feedback (Visual/Haptic). The architecture ensures that safety-critical notifications bypass standard notification queues, providing users with immediate, actionable data during high-stress biometric events.

DEFINE.

Understanding Who Needs This

I defined these System User Archetypes to map the diverse physiological and psychological requirements AONAR must navigate. By establishing these profiles, I was able to architect a state-aware experience that adapts to varying levels of recovery, physical capability, and biometric feedback needs. This ensures the system provides precise, low-friction support for every user's unique journey.

The AONAR mobile interface translates the wearable’s physical purpose into a digital experience. Designed in Figma, the app focuses on guided recovery, habit tracking, and emotional reflection. Each screen reinforces AONAR's core value: discipline through design. Blending strength metrics, journaling, and motivational visuals into one unified ecosystem.

IDEATE.

FORM & FUNCTION

Once I understood what users needed emotionally and physically, I started shaping both the device and the app. I sketched the wearable with comfort and motion tracking in mind, then built rough Figma mockups to explore how the app could surface that data in a way that felt motivating rather than clinical. The hardware and software needed to feel like one coherent thing.

RENDERS.

RENDERS

The final wearable concept brings AONAR’s philosophy of resilience and discipline into physical form. Designed for comfort, motion tracking, and seamless integration with the digital platform, the device features a minimal aesthetic that balances precision engineering with emotional subtlety. The 3D renders showcase the evolution from early sketches to refined models, highlighting material exploration, proportion studies, and the transition from analog ideation to digital realization.

Application Interface

USER INSIGHT.



Through interviews with individuals navigating recovery from divorce and personal loss, clear emotional patterns emerged. Participants described fitness not just as exercise, but as a means of regaining control, structure, and self-worth. Many expressed frustration with generic fitness apps that failed to acknowledge the emotional dimension of rebuilding ones life.

"After my divorce, I wanted to feel like myself again. Not just physically, but mentally. I didn’t need another gym app. I needed direction.

"The gym helps me stay sane, but some days it's just me fighting my own thoughts. Having a way to track that progress would mean a lot."

"Everything out there is about metrics. I want something that understands where I'm at and helps me stay consistent."

"Working out became the one part of my day I could control. It reminded me that I still had power, even when everything else felt uncertain."

These insights informed AONAR’s core principle: design shouldn’t just measure strength, it should help rebuild it.
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Principal Product Designer & UX Lead
Overland Park
KS, USA (GMT-5)
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JamesBlakeDesigns@gmail.com