Under Armour · Case study
One identity, across three apps.
- Cross-platform Product Design
- iOS · Android
- Design Systems
- Identity & Account UX
- Pattern Library Authoring
- Stakeholder Alignment
- Role
- Sr. UI / UX Designer
- Timeline
- Dec 2018 — Apr 2019
- Platform
- iOS · Android
- Surface
- MapMyRun · MyFitnessPal · UA Shop
Overview
Three apps. Three logins. Three profile experiences.
MapMyRun, MyFitnessPal and the UA Shop each owned their own login, their own profile screen, and their own settings model. A customer of all three appeared as three different people to Under Armour.
The goal was a Unified Profile: one identity, one set of preferences, one design language across iOS, Android and web. Frontend and backend strategy had to move together.
Profile audit: a side-by-side of every settings surface across the three apps. The overlap was real, but so was the divergence.
Strategy
Three pillars to land one profile.
- 01
A shared identity service
A single login and account model, backed by one identity service across all three frontends.
- 02
A profile pattern library
Reusable components for header, settings, privacy and preferences, defined once and consumed by every surface.
- 03
Platform-correct visuals
A shared language that still respected iOS, Android and web conventions where it mattered.
Research
Patterns first, then a shared language.
Before drawing screens, the team surveyed how the rest of the industry handled identity, settings and profile headers on mobile. Reachability, header treatment, and settings density were each tested against real device contexts.
The pattern grid became the alignment artifact. It let product, design and engineering argue from the same set of references rather than from preference.
Design
From wireframe flow to a Unified Profile pattern.
A wireframe flow shared across iOS and Android
The unified flow covered sign-in, profile view, edit and settings, with platform-correct interaction notes layered onto a single skeleton. It became the spec engineering built against.
A profile language that survived three brands
The shared profile header had to read as Under Armour without overriding the host app. Type, density and structure were unified, while accent and imagery stayed brand-local.
Settings, simplified and re-grouped
The audit revealed dozens of duplicated and contradictory settings across the three apps. The new IA consolidated them into clear categories: account, preferences, privacy, and connections.
Outcome
One profile, three apps, two platforms.
3 → 1
separate profile experiences consolidated
2
platforms unified under one design language
1
identity service backing every surface
Reflection
The frontend was the easy part.
Three product teams meant three roadmaps, three sets of priorities, and three definitions of what a profile even was. The pattern library mattered. The cross-team operating model mattered more.
The audit chart did most of the political work. Once teams could see exactly where they overlapped, the argument shifted from territory to ownership.