Project Summary
Project Type
UI/UX
Project Deliverables
Duration
January 2022 - May 2022 (4months)
A high-fidelity prototype showcasing scheduling and communication features (and anything else we came up with!), documentation.
Team Members
Jacqui Marks, Katherine Barrientos Moreno, Ethan Bartuca, Jerry Anglin, Olivia Eavey, Tyrone Beladja, Caroline Risewick
My Role
For this project, I conducted secondary research, engaged in the ideation through sketching, documentation and Low to Hi- Fidelity Figma Prototypes.
Project Overview
Problem Background
Communication within baseball leagues involves relaying information and updates to a large mass of people, from coaches, players, parents of players, umpires, relatives, and concession workers. As a result, this can lead to a number of miscommunication issues to arise, such as missed updates and announcements, scheduling issues, and lack of organization and structure.
WHAT IS EXPECTED OF US?
To establish a centralized form of communication for all members and stakeholders of a baseball league (coaches, parents, and players) enabling them to access all important information and updates from one place and stay well informed in a timely manner.
DESIGN PROCESS OVERVIEW
This project primarily focused on ideation and sketching since we had to take into consideration the needs and wants of our stakeholders. Methods and activities that were key to our success include:
Research
Market analysis, stakeholder map, user group interviews
Ideation and Brainstorming
Debriefing skateholder wants and needs, Sketching: Individual and Collaborative
Prototyping and testing
Figma Prototype, Scenario Testing Iterations from Testing & Final Interactive Screens
Our Solution
Through our research and market analysis, we designed a prototype for three main sections: announcements, chats, and calendars. Here are the app sections from the coach’s perspective.
Homepage
The screen the user sees, where they have quick access to all the main sections of the app.
Announcements
Here the coach can make and post announcements, and view responses to their announcements to ensure the announcement is being read by parents/players.
Chats
Here the coach can communicate with team members, their parents, coaches, and any other league personnel they may need to get in contact with
Calendar
The coach is able to create and view events, and require RSVP from parents/players for more efficient coordinating and planning.
Research
To better understand our problem space, it was necessary to identify the pain points in communication within baseball leagues. Additionally, we needed to research and analyze existing sports communication platforms to understand how they addressed these issues, which we would utilize in our findings as inspiration for future ideation.
MARKET ANALYSIS: WHAT PROVIDES USERS WITH EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION?
We looked at Sports Team Apps like Team Sideline and All Star Baseball :
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We found an example of what an RSVP feature looks like for a practice meeting.
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In this particular example, we see how a generic YES or NO feature could be useful for coaches to see who is attending this event.
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This application also had a MAYBE function which we found interesting as the individual could put down a reason for why or why not they may be able to attend to keep the coach informed.
Another feature we took notice of from Team Sideline, was the importance of the Calendar which displays upcoming games, practice, and tournaments.
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All-star Baseball shows the process of creating an event, ways to export the event to other calendars (specifically for parents), and displays the event created in a list view of the calendar.
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We decided that the action of creating an event would be the responsibility of the coaches
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We noted that features such as attendance, RSVP, message reaction (iMessages), and creation of group chats, and pinned chats would provide the strongest and most consistent communication as well as offering a variety of calendar views.
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
In earlier discussions with project owners, they highlighted the fact that we should consider the needs and pain points of multiple user groups. This would prove to be challenging since our team was used to only focusing on one single user.
Because a Baseball Little League could have up to 1,000 personnel, it was necessary for us to conduct a shareholder analysis on a whiteboard to visually show how their goals, wants, and needs correlate. The stakeholders we selected needed to be central to the issue of communication and organization. For that reason, we will be designing screens specifically for coaches and parents/players.
Coaches
Goal: Keep teams informed about practice and game locations, times, and uniforms, communicate with parents
Parents/Players
Goal: Be aware of any important updates, and be able to communicate between themselves for coordinating help and carpooling.
INTERVIEWS WITH A PAST MEMBER OF THE BOARD
An interview was conducted with a former member of the board because we needed more information on the communication processes within a league from the perspective of someone who has experienced it firsthand. This would help us clearly understand where communication tends to fall through, identify current communication flows, and identify potential areas of improvement for communication.
We identified several problems from our interview, and did some preliminary ideation on how we could potentially solve them:
Ideation and Brainstorming
With a better understanding of our problem space and its pain points, as well as layouts and features of existing platforms, our team was ready to begin ideation.
WHITEBOARD SKETCHING
The best way to execute this activity was to first outline the main stakeholder groups and their unique needs and goals before each individual decided to focus on a single pain point for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, everyone came back together to speak about their rationale from what they have sketched. There was also time devoted for everyone to add to each teammate's thoughts and ideas.
ROUNDROBIN SKETCHING
This was a new concept of sketching to everyone on the team but basically, it entails refining features that we initially sketched out during the whiteboard sketching.
FOCUSING ON THREE FEATURES AND HOW ITS ANSWERS THE NEEDS OF AN SKATEHOLDERS
Shifting gears, the next goal was to identify how each app section would meet the needs and goals of each user group. During our research and interview, we learned about a number of issues that each section should address, otherwise miscommunication may increase.
COACHS' PERSONA
PARENTS' PERSONA
Assembling All Findings into Screens
Our team generated as many ideas as we could to satisfy the needs of our stakeholders. With such an extensive list of possible features and app sections, it was imperative to narrow it down to begin prototyping
Mid-Prototype of Calendar
The main goal of these screens was on tying color into our designs to give more affordance to the user. In these screens, the use of color is trying to send a message. Light blue for practice, red for single games, and navy blue for tournaments.
RSVP Pop-Up Screen
The addition of background blur serves the purpose of bringing to focus the screen that required a response from the players/parents. This allows the coach to have a sense of who is coming to the tournament.
Group Chats
Our goal for the chats was to allow users to be able to favorite/pin their most frequently used group chats for quick and easy access to them. Another feature that would be feasible across all our shareholders was the use of reactions to tell the sender that you have read and understood the message.
One way to evaluate and explain our findings was through the form of scenario testing, where we were able to evaluate our design’s features in the context in which they would be used. For example, how would creating an event be carried out in daily operations?
SCENARIO TESTING
Although we wished to have used multiple forms of testing, our scenario testing sessions were pretty extensive and revealed to us the gaps in our designs. We had over 20 participants, most of them making up ex-Little League players and coaches.
Our method consisted of presenting a problem and scenario to the participant and asking them to demonstrate how they would solve the problem using the features on the app screens. Here is one example of a scenario we wrote for our participants:
Some key takeaways from our testing that would allow us to move forward with iteration of wireframes were:
Icons need a generic meaning
Our application had extensive use of iconography for a visually focused design. However, some of the icons were confusing. We need our icons to match the goal of each section and the real world of baseball (10 Heuristics of Nelson)
Refine Color scheme
From testing, we also found that users liked the color palette, but commented on the usage of red throughout. They found it would be better to use it on important items rather than as a part of the theme as it causes you to focus on unimportant elements within the application.
Information Hierarchy
Some of our screens, such as the announcement screens, lacked the clear use of these sections because they were text-heavy. Our goal was to figure out a way to make better use of white space to lessen the user’s cognitive load.
FINAL PRODUCT
THE FINAL SCREENS
Coaches' Screens
The coaches have the responsibility of creating announcements regarding games, practices, and tournaments, adding events to the calendar for parents/players to be updated, and for the purpose of reminding them in the chat section. There is also the RSVP feature from the calendar that allows them to see who is coming and not coming.
HomeScreen
Chats
Adding an event to the Calendar
RSVP attendees
Making an Announcement
Response from Players
Players/Parents' screens
Accessing the announcement from the homepage
Ability to filter the Calendar in both views
RSVP
Chat Reactions
The screens for the players/parents are similar but the only action that is required of them is a response from any published event from any of the sections of the navbar. Players/Parents that won't be able to attend the tournament need to state a 'reason why they won't be able to make it'
The Style Guide
reflection
As a first-time UX designer working on a such as the Baseball Little League project, I have learned a lot about the design process and the importance of user-centered design.
One of the key takeaways for me has been the value of conducting thorough user research. By conducting interviews with coaches, players, and parents, I was able to gain a deep understanding of the needs and goals of the people who will be using the product. This information was crucial in informing the team's design decisions and ensuring that the final product was tailored to the specific needs of the target users.
I have also learned the importance of iteration and testing in the design process. By gathering feedback from users through usability testing and focus groups, I was able to make targeted improvements to designs and help create a product that was more intuitive and user-friendly.
Overall, my first project as a UX designer has been a valuable learning experience. I have gained a deeper understanding of the design process and the importance of user research and testing, and I feel more confident in my ability to create user-centered designs that create a solution to the problem of users.
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