Ever since the pandemic, many people have gained extra pounds and are looking to get back into shape and keep body and mind healthy. Researchers have reported that 85% of study participants did not engage in any moderate or strenuous exercise at all during the pandemic.
However, as things are finally coming back to normal and many events are opening up, people are looking for ways to reconnect and build a community that has similar interests as they are. Sports and physical activity with people are a great way to build a community and a motivator to stay fit and healthy, both physically and mentally.
Solution
Sportiv is a social sports app that conveniently finds you a nearby users to play sports with. You can quickly select a sport you want to play, day/time, and your sport's level and start browsing through the map to find you a potential match that has similar needs. It’s quick, convenient, and allows you to meet new people and build your own sports community with your neighbors.
“A research has shown that people who play sports throughout their lives are almost five times more likely to be physically active.”
Research On Communal Physical Activity
A research has shown that people who play sports throughout their lives are almost five times more likely to be physically active into their 70s and 80s than people who just hit the gym. That is because sports are a physical activity that are played with people. It’s fun and competitive, and keeps us active for longer than workouts. Thus, it decreases our risk of cardiovascular disease and increasing longevity. Doing physical activity with someone also provides an opportunity to build a friendship and a community which can also boost up our mental health.
Competitive Research
Since there aren't many sports meet up apps, I picked out few sports/social related apps that has the most similar social network features and analyzed them to find its strengths and weaknesses.
User Interviews
Participants
● Age 22-40 ● Physically active, sports lovers ● Who's interested in being active ● Exercise moderate to high intensity
Common Findings
● More likely to be active if they have a sports community or someone to play with. ● More likely to stick to the plan when scheduled with someone/people to play ● All participants have said they are willing to work out or play sports more often (double the amount) if they had someone with same interests always available to play
Pain-points
● All participants struggled to find a partner/someone to play with that are at the same intensity level. ● Main pain-points of playing with others is that scheduling with friends back and forth can waste time and sometimes the plans get cancelled at the last minute. ● Balancing work, social life and physical activity is one of the struggles they face.
Needs
● People tend to gravitate towards a community who is friendly, supportive, motivating, and determined to play. ● Majority of participants have said security and finding the right people would be the most important thing when using the social sports app to match with users
Persona
Meet Derek! Created a persona based off on users interview and collected datas to help me better understand user's needs, motivation, and frustrations when playing sports with others.
Priority Table
Created a roadmap to prioritize from 'must-haves' to 'can come later' that will feature on the app.
Moodboard
Creating a moodboard that resonates the best with the app's mission helped me build a strong vision and design of the brand.
First, I sketched out multiple logo ideas and liked the idea of lightning bolt because it depicts fast, quick, and intense / fun that resonated well with Sportiv's mission. I then vectorized the logo and edited the colors and the shape to appear the look of sporty and edgy.
Lo-fi Wireframes
Next, I created low-fidelity wireframes to structure and visual the features of the app. I included the annotations to help me map out the shell of the interface.
Hi-fi Wireframes
Based off low-fidelity wireframes, the mood board and defined colors and typography, I created hi-fidelity wireframes to capture the function and feel of Sportiv. I focused on designing my MVP to provide a usable feature in short amount of time given.
Conducted a Usability test 1-on-1 with 3 participants that match the criterias. Observed their interactions with the interface and transcribed their feedback and thoughts on the prototype.
The biggest challenge participants faced was the safety when meeting up with others. Thus, I focused primarily on the following features to add on the app:
Verification Process: Allow users to verify their identity by uploading a photo of documentation
Location Settings: Allow users to show their location on the map in the proximity of 1 mile and not their exact location
Iterations
Next, iterated the verification feature on the UI wireframes. This shows how users won't be able to see other user's profile picture until they verify their identity.
Filtering: Sports level will change depending on which sport users select. If users click "Tennis" the level scale will change according to the selected sport (1-7). If users click "Soccer" the level scale will change to which positions they would like to play (Forward, Defence, etc.)
