Elite Plus
iOS APP | 10 Day sprint | Team research, Solo Design
THE CHALLENGE:
Professional athletes have a very busy schedule. From practice, to games, to marketing and charity events, time is of the essence. It’s very easy for a player to forget about activities that are out of the scope of their daily routine. Most athletes are their own personal assistants and organization across platforms can be difficult. Athletes are anywhere from 21 years old to 30 years old and so communication and organization may not be their strong suit or top priority. The goal is to help these players organize their calendars, be informed of upcoming pertinent events and help them better utilize their time both on and off the field.
THE COMPANY:
Elite Athlete Management is a premier sports agency that represents top NFL players including Odell Beckham Jr. and Deejay Dallas. Operating nationally, they offer a superior package of personal service, dedication and expertise to their clients that is second to none.
THE CUSTOMER:
NFL players, including recently graduated college level players who are in the transitional period from college to professional level football
Potential recruits
BUSINESS GOALS:
Elite would like to help their current clients organize their time more efficiently and assist in the transition from college level to professional football more seamlessly and successfully. They would also like to add value to the recruiting process by ensuring they sign one top athlete each year to their client list. Having this app would be an additional incentive to an already successful company and make them more enticing to sought after rookies.
DISCOVER
I began the Design Thinking Process in the Discover Phase by analyzing the available space within the marketplace. As there were two sides to the competition- rival sports agencies and scheduling applications- I started by researching scheduling apps. This led me to create a Competitive Feature Analysis Chart. Comparing these secondary competitors-some of the most successful scheduling apps available- I was able to conclude the standard practices currently in use.
Analyzing the secondary competitors showed where there was room for unique functionality design. Highlighted are the features not currently utilized: Gamification, Information about upcoming events and Syncing with other devices.
Detailed information about upcoming events stood out as something that would potentially help with both business and customer goals.
Upon this preliminary investigation I saw the open space in the marketplace as a highly detailed yet customizable app that would provide players as-needed information to help them successfully navigate their schedules.
Conducting User Research was key in understanding the mental models of these players. I sent out a survey that garnered 38 responses and completed 5 interviews. My interviewees included stakeholders, agents within the company, Division 1 college athletes and Sport Recruiters. Through this research I found:
73% of users have missed at least one event due to forgetting a deadline
71% of users prefer a mix of personal and automated input into their calendars
66% of users would like to have reminders to keep them on track
My interviews provided valuable quotes and qualitative data including:
“Communication is mostly through emails and group chats” -Player
"I ignore most notifications because I get so many. I need to improve time tracking and organization skills.” -Player
“My thing is like you are not going to forget a meeting, there’ll be some real serious consequences”-Player
“We want these guys to be able to talk football, sound articulate and sound intelligent-like they did their homework. But I don’t want to overload them with information” - Agent
DEFINE
With all the data collected and broken down, I created an Affinity Diagram to help me to synthesize and find patterns within my research. My users were mostly concerned with being successful at communicating, managing scheduling mishaps, and the hardships of being a full-time athlete.
I created a User Persona to represent the thoughts and feelings of my user and help to provide a mental model based on my collected data. Overwhelmed Omar’s biggest pain points were:
adjusting to becoming professional so quickly after college
missing events and risking damage to his reputation
needing a way to be informed of scheduling changes
I utilized a User Journey Map to further dissect the lowest points of Omar’s experience.
He is overwhelmed and feels left in the dark because his schedule is constantly changing and needs to check texts and emails to keep up to date with it.
He is scattered and out of the loop when it comes to being informed of upcoming events and what information he will need at each appearance.
He is frustrated because if he ignores an important text or email he can miss an event that can result in loss of revenue and tarnished reputation.
From these tools I was able to establish the most problematic issues for my user and moved on to brainstorming possible solutions.
DEVELOP
I changed my problem statements into How Might We questions and brainstormed all possible solutions for how to help my users better keep track of their schedule, stay informed of upcoming events and appearances and be alerted of schedule changes that they won’t lose or miss.
Utilizing the MoSCoW Method I filtered my brainstorm ideas into a Must category which led me to confirm my initial findings from my preliminary research. I ensured my users goals were matched in the Value Proposition Canvas.
Through this tool I confirmed that I indeed was filling the fit of both the business goals and the needs of the user by matching pain relievers and addressing gains and jobs to be done. From here I formulated my Value Proposition Statement:
When an NFL player is confused about their schedule, Elite’s scheduling app will help them keep informed of their daily task breakdown, provide need to know information about upcoming events and send them alerts and notifications so that they won't miss anything and they can focus on improving their game both on and off the field.
This in turn led me to a culmination of my research, defining and ideating and I determined my Minimum Viable Product:
A scheduling app with a daily dashboard that showcases differentiated event types, provides information on upcoming events and customizable alerts so players can be informed of all daily and upcoming events.
DELIVER
I began prototyping by creating a low-fidelity mock-up which I created in InVision. I tested this using Maze with 6 users who found it easy to follow but that some of the language used and placements of buttons were confusing.
With this in mind I built out my mid-fidelity prototype. This I created in Figma and built out more of the dashboard features and added icons to represent event types. I again tested in Maze with 5 users who found the app easy to use but that the selected icons were chunky and out of date.
I created my hi-fidelity prototype in Figma changing the icons. I used Elite’s existing color scheme and logo.
Hi Fidelity Prototype