UX Designer
4 Weeks
Project Summary
As a retired tennis coach, I am often asked to help friends improve their game. Recreational and advanced players can benefit greatly from simple corrections and tips that will elevate their game and their enjoyment of the sport. Many players are unable to get coaching because it can be expensive, they can’t fit it in their busy schedules, or there may not be any coaches in their area. Rise Tennis is an app concept that allows players of all levels to submit recordings of their strokes in order to receive constructive feedback, simply and affordably.
How can we make it easier for anyone to become better at tennis?
My Process
Interviews
Interviewing and observing players and coaches gave me important insight into driving motives for players seeking improvement. Coaches experience that players benefit greatly from feedback, but only a fraction of all tennis players seek out coaching.
“I would love to improve my game, but I’m not able to invest the time or money in coaching.”
- Tennis player (29)
Pain Points
Cost & Effect
Expect to pay between $60 and $160 per hour for a tennis coach. Most of the time is spent repeating the same lesson over and over. While feeding and repetition are effective, the biggest value is in the observational skills of your coach pointing out what you could do to improve.
Time & Convenience
Players want to play with friends and peers, finding additional time for coaching lessons can be a challenge. Playing with friends also satisfies a social need, something coaching might not – therefore players continue to prioritise playing with friends over finding a coach and improving their game.
Access To Coaches
Many players are not members of a tennis club, but play on public courts or live in a community without a club. Finding a qualified coach can be time-consuming and challenging in many communities, and many don’t know where to begin.
Persona
Barry Busybody
Barry works for a company that specialises in the development of solar panels for commercial clients. He has to travel a lot for work, since he manages the company portfolio for the entire west coast. He has established himself as an avid tennis fan and has colleagues and friends to play with regularly both when he is home in Los Angeles, and when he is out traveling for business – he rarely leaves his rackets at home. At 47, Barry enjoys spending time with his friends and leaving work behind for a brief game of tennis. When he is not out traveling for work, his days are filled with errands for himself and his family – his wife and two kids of 7 and 10.
Moscow
Must
- Video Submission
- Record
- Redo Recording
- Upload Existing Video
- Add Comments
Should
- Keep And Track History
- Apple Pay
- Coach Rating
Could
- Turnaround Speed Choices
- Coach Location Choices
- Gift Submissions To A Friend
- Coach Highlight
- Local Coaches Overview
- Article Section
Won’t
- Live Features
- Coach Chat
Wireframes
Wireframing allowed me to consider how the app can facilitate user engagement and repeat use. This resulted in mapping core components of the app from the perspective of the coach and from the perspective of the player.
Prototypes
Prototyping interactions allowed me to ensure that the user was guided through the experience without confusion or frustrating unnecessary steps to submit their clips as quickly and simply as possible.
The Solution
Rise Tennis gives players access to professional coaching, world wide!
Players submit clips of their strokes and send it to a coach of their choosing, or the first available coach. The coach gives short and concise feedback that the player then can work on implementing as they play with their peers. The platform motivates players to build a routine by suggesting when it’s time for a new coaching session.
Coaches can build a following and receive regular coaching requests from players, while also picking up open requests. The coaches can store their own common phrases and video instructions, which speeds up feedback processing for future requests.
Competitive
For only $5, players can submit footage and get feedback from a professional coach for a stroke of their choice!
Buy or gift a single stroke or packages intended to keep the player engaged and accountable, all for a very reasonable price!
Effective
No need to find extra time or a wad of money for tennis lessons. Simple, micro-dose adjustments give players an opportunity to improve their game while playing with their peers!
Motivating
Positive feedback is a motivator. Compilations compare what your stroke looked like X months ago, with your most recent submission! Great feedback proves our efforts are worthwhile, and offers us the opportunity to become even better. Succeeding provides a positive reinforcement loop to our behaviour; the better we perform, the more we want to perform better!
Design System
I designed the logo and design system to emphasize the idea behind Rise Tennis; improvement, efficiency, and speed.
The yellow tones are a direct reference to tennis balls and adapt to allow greater visibility and accessibility.
Web
The responsive website is designed to offer easy accessibility on all platforms, allowing users to view feedback and footage of their own strokes on a larger screen if desired.
My Thoughts
A lot of work still remains with this app; expanding the design system, conducting more user testing and refining copy. Following the Design Thinking process, I have successfully engaged with empathising, defining and ideating, and intend to focus on prototyping and testing going forward. The bases for an exciting and engaging app are coming together, and I am inspired to keep working on Rise Tennis in order to develop a robust app that is easy and enjoyable to use, empowering users to elevate their game and ultimately their enjoyment of playing tennis!