The Challenge: Rethinking Performance from the Wrist Up
Prototype: Provide on interview due to content sensitivity.
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Platform: Wearable OS (embedded system) + Garmin Connect Mobile App
Duration: 11 months
Tools: Figma, Jira, Zeplin, Miro, Usertesting.com, Garmin Dev SDK, Adobe XD
The Garmin Forerunner 645 wasn’t just another sports watch — it marked a pivotal moment in the lifestyle-meets-performance space. Both elite athletes and casual runners expected precision and simplicity in equal measure.
Our task was to design an experience that could deliver advanced metrics like VO2 Max, lactate threshold, and cadence — all on a compact 1.2-inch display — without overwhelming users or disrupting the natural rhythm of a run. Every pixel and every interaction had to count.
Performance tracking couldn’t stop once the run was over. The design had to extend into Garmin Connect, making post-run analysis effortless and engaging, while reinforcing Garmin’s promise of trust, endurance, and precision.
Empathize – What Athletes Really Need
Designing for athletes meant leaving the desk and stepping into their world. I joined runs, attended coaching clinics, and observed training sessions to experience what they felt: the solitude of a 6AM run, the pressure of race day, and the frustration of mid-stride UI misfires. These firsthand experiences revealed the stakes—runners couldn’t afford distractions when every second and every stride mattered.
To capture deeper insights, I conducted interviews and diary studies with everyday runners and competitive athletes. Themes emerged clearly: don’t make me think, don’t break my flow, and give me only what matters when it matters. Runners wanted feedback that was intentional, interruptible, and instinctive. From these experiences, one guiding mantra became the foundation for the entire project: never break the run.
Research – Digging into the Data and the Competition
To understand how runners interacted with wearables, I dissected competing devices from Apple, Fitbit, Suunto, and Polar. I studied unboxing flows, setup steps, dashboards, and in-run displays, then logged dozens of miles wearing each device. The patterns were clear: features were abundant, but clarity was scarce. Devices overloaded runners with data, buried core functions, and often failed at the very moment athletes needed them most.
Beyond competitive analysis, I ran diary studies and usability audits with a mixed group of runners. Participants documented training sessions, syncing frustrations, and mid-run interactions. These studies revealed recurring pain points: battery anxiety during long runs, disorienting interface layers, and inconsistent feedback loops. Together, market benchmarking and real-world testing painted a clear picture: Garmin’s next watch had to simplify, anticipate, and support momentum—becoming a reliable co-pilot for athletes in motion.
Analysis & Planning – Blueprinting the Path Forward
Armed with research findings, I mapped the runner’s end-to-end journey—from pre-run setup to mid-run feedback to post-run review. This blueprint exposed the moments that mattered most: setting a goal quickly, accessing real-time stats without friction, and syncing results afterward. By plotting every interaction, I could identify where clarity, anticipation, and recovery needed to be prioritized.
Next, I translated insights into personas and feature hierarchies that balanced simplicity with depth. Data-Driven Dan needed performance metrics and advanced analysis. Structured Tasha valued pacing and training frameworks. Just-Run Julie cared most about getting started fast and finishing with confidence. By aligning features to these distinct needs, I worked with product and engineering to prioritize functionality—ensuring Garmin built not just another watch, but one tailored to the ways runners truly train and perform.
Wireframing – Sketching for Speed and Clarity
With blueprints in place, I moved into low-fidelity wireframes to translate flows into tangible interactions. I stripped away polish—no gradients, no colors—focusing purely on usability under motion. Wireframes tested if a runner could glance mid-stride, understand the next action instantly, and stay focused on the road. Each grayscale sketch became a rehearsal for real conditions: tired eyes, sweaty fingers, and high-motion environments with no room for distraction.
I explored both core interactions and edge cases. Core flows included starting a workout, viewing live stats, and ending a run with summary data. Edge cases covered GPS dropouts, low-battery alerts, and rerouting mid-race. These wireframes weren’t just diagrams—they were conversation starters with engineers and stakeholders, validating logic paths before investing in high-fidelity design. By prioritizing clarity and resilience, wireframing grounded the watch experience in the realities of running.
Design Systems – Building the Visual Language of Speed
Once the wireframes proved the flows, I established a scalable design system tailored to athletes in motion. Typography, color, and iconography were structured into tokens and reusable components, ensuring consistency across the watch and companion app. Every decision was tested against real-world conditions: fonts had to be legible mid-stride, colors visible under bright sunlight, and icons instantly recognizable at a glance.
This system wasn’t about flash—it was about reliability. High-contrast color states conveyed pace zones and alerts, while haptic confirmations reduced the need to check the screen. Components were optimized for split-second recognition, minimizing cognitive load while reinforcing brand identity. By giving engineers a robust system, we accelerated delivery while ensuring athletes experienced Garmin’s promise of clarity, resilience, and trust—every time they looked at their wrist.
Design – Bringing It All to Life
With the design system in place, I translated patterns into high-fidelity screens built for athletes under pressure. The main dashboard prioritized essentials—heart rate, pace, and distance—delivered in bold typography and simplified icons. Color-coded zones made intensity instantly recognizable, while subtle transitions signaled progress without breaking flow. Each design decision was tested against one question: would it empower or distract a runner in motion?
Beyond the watch, I extended the experience into the companion app. Modular layouts surfaced post-run insights like effort heatmaps, milestone graphs, and progress wheels—celebrating achievement while avoiding information overload. Together, the watch and app formed a connected ecosystem, designed not just for tracking runs but for motivating athletes to improve. The result was a performance partner that supported clarity, confidence, and resilience with every stride.
Prototyping – Testing the Limits of Interaction
To move from static screens to real experiences, I built interactive prototypes in Figma that simulated mid-run scenarios. These prototypes let stakeholders, engineers, and athletes tap through core flows—starting workouts, checking stats, and navigating alerts—before a single line of code was written. By making interactions tangible early, I aligned teams quickly and reduced risks later in development.
I validated these prototypes in both simulated running environments and live tests. Athletes wore the watch while navigating scenarios like low-battery warnings, GPS loss, and pace alerts. Their feedback revealed subtle but critical refinements: bigger tap targets, clearer recovery messaging, and haptic cues that reassured without distraction. Prototyping ensured the design didn’t just look good—it worked under the real pressures of motion.
Testing – Failing Fast and Learning Faster
To ensure the watch experience held up under real conditions, I conducted moderated field tests and remote usability studies with runners of different levels. These sessions measured how quickly users could access critical stats mid-stride, whether haptic cues improved confidence, and how glanceable the interface remained in motion. Observing athletes in the middle of a workout gave me invaluable perspective—design had to perform under sweat, fatigue, and pressure.
Insights from testing revealed friction points and opportunities for refinement. Button misfires on bumpy terrain, unclear recovery flows when GPS dropped, and distraction caused by over-cluttered screens all surfaced during sessions. Iterating on these insights streamlined the design, delivering larger tap targets, simpler menus, and clearer alerts. The result was a product tested against the realities of running—not just designed for it.
Launch – Handoff and Hype
After months of research, design, and testing, the Garmin Forerunner 645 launched as more than just a smartwatch—it became a trusted running companion. The launch emphasized what mattered most to athletes: clarity in motion, durability in training, and motivation through connected insights. By aligning engineering, product, and marketing, the rollout delivered not only a device, but a seamless ecosystem across watch and companion app.
The launch strategy focused on early adopters—serious runners and brand loyalists—before expanding to the wider fitness market. Feedback confirmed the success of the design principles: athletes trusted the interface mid-stride, valued the syncing improvements, and relied on the watch to keep them focused during long runs. The launch validated the guiding mantra that drove every design decision: never break the run.
Iteration – The Design Race Never Ends
The launch was only the starting line. Post-release, I worked with Garmin to gather feedback through athlete communities, product forums, and usage analytics. Patterns revealed opportunities to refine the experience further—simplifying navigation menus, improving visibility of charging status, and making pace alerts more responsive in different training contexts. Iteration kept the product evolving alongside the needs of its runners.
In parallel, I tackled and designed the mobile companion app, refining how post-run data, achievements, and predictive insights were surfaced. Updates included clearer progress dashboards, simplified syncing, and streamlined goal tracking. Each iteration reinforced the principle of designing for motion, not just aesthetics. By treating both the watch and its mobile companion as living products, I ensured the Forerunner 645 ecosystem continued to meet athletes where they were—on the road, in the gym, and mid-race—delivering confidence and clarity with every stride.
