Fitscript: GlucoseZone

Product Development, Consultation, UX Design, App Design


Fitscript is a New Haven-based startup whose mission is to help people with diabetes reach their fitness goals. Love Local Design first connected with the Fitscript team when they were building the beta version of their GlucoseZone mobile app. This was a very special project for Love Local Design, as our founder Heather has a father with late-onset Type 1 diabetes. Having witnessed the impact of diabetes in her father’s life, Heather’s knowledge of diabetes not only helped the development team understand Fitscript’s needs, but also helped LLD design an accessible and encouraging experience for users.

GlucoseZone Client App

Love Local Design started this web & mobile design project by meeting with Fitscript and their development team, Advanced Decisions. The founder of Fitscript, Charlie O’Connell, had a very specific vision for the GlucoseZone app, a vision based on his own experience both as a Type 1 diabetic and as a personal trainer who has worked with countless Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Once LLD had an overview of the current state of the project and where Fitscript wanted to take the app, LLD got to work. After a series of designs and discussions, the new app began to form.

Love Local Design became a translator for Charlie’s vision. He has a wealth of knowledge from research and experience that guided key aspects in the app’s web & mobile design. For example, the app’s clear controls and large lettering make the app more accessible and safer for people with diabetes. Blurred vision is one of the first symptoms of low or high glucose levels. Additionally, people with diabetes frequently have other vision problems. This is just one of the many needs the GlucoseZone app had to fulfill to make sure the app was accessible for its users.

Love Local Design also worked to adapt Charlie’s vision for the development team. Advanced Decisions and Love Local Design became a cohesive force, working together to solve challenges and problems as they arose. What started out as a bare skeleton of an app with minimal functionality soon became a viable product studied in a medical trial at Yale. The results of this 90 day trial were amazing: overall, there was a 2.2% average A1C reduction and an average weight loss of 9.7lbs, and some participants even reduced their dosage of insulin.

After these promising results, Love Local Design continued its work with Fitscript and Advanced Decisions to make the newest version of the app, as seen here. With a few months of user research due to the medical trial, Fitscript compiled a comprehensive list of hits and misses based on the trial. Over the course of several months, and many long meetings, the newest version of the product is nearing completion. The app allows users to track their blood glucose levels during workouts, log their medication and food intake, and follow along with prerecorded and live workout sessions with Fitscript trainers.

The Trainer App

This most recent phase of the web & mobile design and development has also included the GlucoseZone Trainer app, a tablet app designed for fitness professionals. The GlucoseZone Trainer app is tailored specifically for Fitscript’s team of personal trainers. Fitscript’s personal trainers do a lot more than your average trainer: they are educated thoroughly on working with people with diabetes, in order to answer their clients’ questions and concerns. They also learn how to handle issues and crises people with diabetes may experience while training. The trainer app is designed to make the client’s experience as discreet as possible while still allowing him or her to clearly signal their trainer for assistance.