I often think about gym equipment when it comes to first time user experiences. Fitness machines need to provide setup for people with a limited amount of time, they aren’t often configured to remember returning members, and they have to deal with constant member turnover.
Due to the first point, most machines have a “Quick start” button which acts as an equivalent to the “Skip tutorial” button. This allows people to jump into a workout and then fiddle with settings later.
On the other hand, selecting a built-in program means having to make selections through several input screens.
In the above photos we see a StairMaster machine that requests 4 different pieces of information after selecting a workout goal. Of particular question is the “Intensity” screen, which might be very unclear for a new user. As it says at the top, you can change your intensity at any time during your workout, so perhaps this setting would be best left changed once a person gets to feel the intensity when the machine is in motion.
Fitness machines are of particular interest to me, so I imagine I’ll be sharing several more of these kinds of experiences–especially if I come across one that handles setup very well.