Kairos
Mental toughness for young athletes
Problems addressed
Help clients define the product goals for first release
Help users track mental strength in sports
Key Contribution
Conducted surveys and created critical user journey
Providing goal setting and self assessment drills
Scroll to see the whole journey below
INTRODUCTION
Project Background
The project was done as a flreelance for a startup called Applied Inner Science that focuses on emotional health and emotional strength. This application was designed to help tennis players develop mental strength for peak athletic performance, I worked on the product from scratch- defining goals, making user journeys and wireframes to screens.
Initial Brief: An application to help budding tennis players develop mental toughness for better performance in the sport
PRODUCT GOALS
Defining Goals
Initially, the goal seemed to be very abstract and vague. How could we help in developing mental toughness through an application. The app was also an initial version for the organization which they planned to build upon. Hence, there goals and ambitions with the app were plenty to begin with. While closely collaborating with them, I helped them to narrow down the focus and break the goal down into more concrete elements with a top-bottom approach of thinking from User goals to User activities to User tasks.
Redefined/ focused brief: An app to help track emotional and behavioural variables for tennis player to decode the mental game
Critical User Journey
The CUJ helped to cut the clutter and focus on the necessary concrete steps to reach the goal. It is a simple linear path that was detailed later. After some secondary research and with the help of the organization's knowledge of developing mental strength, I decided to focus on planning and tracking the most as initial steps for decoding the mental game and realizing the need to improve that is met using the coaching program.
DEFINING THE JOURNEY
Onboarding and Setup
For educating the user about what we do and what is the importance of mental strength for athletes, quotes from famous personality was used on the first screen and they were asked to select some goals related to mental game like team player, strategy, stress management, coping with failure, to help anticipate how we will help them.
Emotional Coaching During a Match
This was the most critical part. Mental coaching accompanies physical coaching during a match. The steps of the CUJ are narrated in more detail out here.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
Fresh, Playful, Energetic Yet Calm
The look and feel had to be sporty and energetic and at the same time calming and earthly. There is always a notion of aggression, uncontrolled energy, power, etc. with sports but the aim of the product is to educate the importance of being calm and in control and not recklessly energetic in sports. Hence, I took inspiration form the green lawns, blue skies and earthly peach from the sports field that create and energizing yet calming effect. The overall feel was a little playful with softer touch.
Developing Screens
FINAL USER FLOW
Signing up
A quote from Djokovic to set the context and make users realize the need for the product (value proposition).
Setting up
Starting with goals helps motivate the user for the rest of the journey and also helps anticipate how the application will help them.
Scheduling
The schduling is simple and inspired from familiar apps but customized for the purpose fo our app. There are set templates and suggestions to incorporate our training material to help users focus on it.
Self Reflection
Tasks appear on homescreen and reminds the user to execute them. The self report and emotion tracking is the most crucial part of the app. There are set templates to help users reflect on themselves and the activities during the day. They can reflect on what to improve and those points are added to the goals section and related coaching material is suggested like the breathing exercise.
CONCLUSION
Future Scope (Under Development)
The product is still under development and requires a lot of improvement as it has a unique and abstract aim. From the current user testing and feedbacks, we have realized to make the app interesting even for the demotivated users. The current methods require the user to really be interested and take initiative but adding reward and feedback mechanisms could help others stay hooked to it.
Learnings
There was a lot to learn about working with clients not very familiar with the design process. I learnt to collaborate, think of concrete goals and communicate my ideas systematically. It was also my first experience to work with the programmers. This phase is currently under process and I have to be very clear with the interactions, economy of time and thinking about the feasability.
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