Field Day
Field Day is an app designed to help you get playing your favorite sport without the fuss. It’s hard to find open courts and fields, and even harder to plan in advance - not everyone has the luxury of showing up at a court and waiting for their turn. Field Day is designed to help you discover new courts and fields and schedule time to play, from just a few taps.
The Client
A colleague
Timeline
2 weeks
Scope
Mid-fidelity app prototype
User Research Design UI Design Prototyping Testing
My role
Project Context
This project was my initial foray into the world of User Experience design. It was an exciting opportunity to delve into the world of app design and focus on a specific audience passionate about sports (focusing on tennis) but facing trouble when it came to figuring out where to play.
Overview
I asked a colleague if there was something she wished existed in the form of an app. Ever since she moved to NYC, she’s had to nearly give up tennis. It’s very hard to lock down a court - city courts require players to book a time slot in advance, which seems to be similar to booking a dinner reservation at a popular restaurant. Additionally, There’s no one place to view all the tennis courts in the city and have the ability to reserve time. It requires time, patience, and a flexible schedule to be able to keep up a tennis routine in NYC.
The challenge for this project was to create an app that would provide a seamless and efficient experience for the target user to find, view availability, and book time slots at tennis courts.
Research
Understanding our users
I began this project by connecting with individuals who shared a mutual interest in playing sports in cities. While tennis served as the primary focus, I expanded my interview pool to include individuals engaged in other sports that necessitated advance planning. This decision arose from the realization that the challenges of coordinating sports extended beyond tennis alone.
In the initial phase of my research, I conducted interviews with prospective users to gain valuable insights into the essential features of an app of this nature.
“I can’t view multiple court locations at once, I need to go to each park/court individually to view availability”
“Securing a reservation for a court requires prior knowledge, and discovering new ones is nearly impossible unless you stumble upon them or receive information about them”
“Availability and location are the most important factors”
“I like to plan my sport at least a day in advance”
“I wish I could easily see all nearby courts/fields”
“I need help finding people to play with”
“I would like to know the skill level of my teammates/opponents and if they are playing for fun or competitively”
User interview takeaways
This led me to “how might we” statements, which informed the problem.
HOW MIGHT WE view all athletic venues in an area at once?
HOW MIGHT WE book an athletic venue in advance?
HOW MIGHT WE view the availability of nearby athletic venues?
The problem
Athletes in the city need a way to check on the availability of athletic venues so that they can plan when and where they will be able to play.
Now, meet a Field Day user.
TLDR: Naomi leads a hectic lifestyle but wants to incorporate a regular tennis routine. Since relocating to the city, the challenge of locating courts and securing time slots have rendered it impossible for her to play. Naomi seeks a convenient solution that allows her to effortlessly discover nearby courts and reserve time slots all in one place.
This brought me to the design phase.
Wireframing
I began the ideation process by creating a user flow for the persona and sketching various concepts that led to a preliminary digital outline of the app's user journey. Considering its multifaceted features, including venue discovery, availability viewing, booking time slots, waitlist management, and connecting with others for play, I decided to concentrate on the finding and booking functionality first.
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1 - login
2 - location services selection
3 - option to select a sport or browse what’s nearby
4 - user chooses to select a sport
5 - user is brought to a map of nearby courts, selects a court
6 - more information about the selected court, user clicks on the calendar
7 - user clicks ‘choose day’
8 - user clicks ‘choose time’
9 - booking confirmation
