My Role
As the Lead User Interface Designer, my role was to translate insights gathered through user research and interviews to create design principles and user personas that guided me to craft an experience that would meet the unique needs of individual users across the spectrum of sport and career.
I worked alongside a Senior Studio Lead, Master Specialist, and Senior UX Designer.
The Challenge & Goals
As not all athletes have the exposure of Michael Phelps, many struggle to not only connect with sponsors during their athletic tenure, but also find the resources to assist them in transitioning to the next phase of their professional lives. This platform would enable constructive connectivity between the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and empower Team USA athletes to access the right information at the right time.
The tool consisted of an Athlete Portal, meant to foster an online community for Team USA athletes and alumni, enable consistent communications, and provide a centralized place for tools and resources. It also included an Athlete Marketing Platform, which enabled Team USA athletes to connect with sponsors and provide Team USA athletes with incremental marketing exposure and earning opportunities.
The Approach
We crafted a tailored approach to create the new athlete intranet, reimagining the TEAM USA athlete’s digital experience and how it impacts their ability and long-term success. The divergent / convergent approach of design thinking methodology empowered us to truly understand the pain points and challenges that existed for athletes – and how we could deliver an elevated experience to enable positive, long-term strategic outcomes.
The Research
We conducted ethnographic interviews with 5 elite, Team USA athletes. We talked to them about their biggest challenges, their relationship with Team USA and governing bodies, their support systems, and their experiences in the breadth of their careers as athletes and beyond.
Insight Themes:
We derived the following 4 insights from the open-ended, ethnographic conversations with our in-house Deloitte elite athletes. What we heard serves as a window into the emotional, behavioral and perceptual nuance of the real people who make up a user base.
Based on these insights, we crafted 3 personas:
Aspiring Ashley – a teenage elite athlete with hopes of entering the Olympics
Pivoting Pablo – a Paralympic medalist who is reaching the end of his sporting career
Creative Charlie – a marketing manager in charge of creating sponsorship opportunities for athletes
We used personas throughout the project to provide the team with a shared understanding of users in terms of goals and capabilities, as well as to drive design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of planning. They help to maintain focus on designing for the users as they actually are, and as they actually behave.
The Design
In order to translate what we hear from athletes into an always-on digital experience, we anchor on the following design principles. These principles serve as our north star, guiding us throughout design to make sure the experience has real value to athletes and creates a meaningful, emotional connection.
