Pro Golfer Manager App
Responding to pro golfers’ needs
As a Product Designer, I was tasked with preparing a high-fidelity flavor of an iOS-based mobile application and a corresponding presentation for pro golfers and their managers, in response to an RFP that sourced bidders.
Problem Statement
The challenge was to quickly design a high-fidelity iOS app tailored for pro golfers and their managers, with a high-level goal of impressing the issuing organization by showcasing a vision that effectively catered to the unique needs of both pro golfers and their teams.
TEAM COMPOSITION
1 Experience Design Lead
1 Product Designer
3+ Additional Stakeholders
my Impact
Understood ask from RFP through discovery deep dive
Led design efforts to create deliverables for presentation
Supported delivery effort with hands-on approach
From RFP to Mobile App Designs
There are instances where I am tasked to help with business development activities, utilizing my design background; at a previous job as a Graphic Designer, my day to day involved the preparation of RFP responses to government agencies. From PowerPoints to graphics to interfaces, I help support responses. Typically, I receive a brief from the team I work with, and we launch into delineating roles to accomplish our response in time for the deadline. In this case, we had received the RFP about two weeks before the deadline, so we needed to pull together quickly to impress the issuing organization.
Research and Innovation
Understanding the needs of an RFP can paint a picture of the business needs and allow a vendor company to create a hypothesis of viable solutions, and put a relevant price tag on the labor. I worked closely with a sales team to showcase our Experience Design skills to help supplement our bid.
I collaborated closely with team members around the world to select the features to showcase in our vendor pitch. Our overall strategy for the presentation was to seamlessly bridge our design chops with the software engineering prowess of our company, showing off our past performance in developing professional sporting applications. This multifaceted approach focused on the business needs of the organization, gaps that we identified during competitive analysis, the design of the application as a teaser, and the price of an offering that spanned design and engineering.
I designed native iOS screens for the sales pitch. Together, they painted a picture of what “could be“ if the firm was hired to build out the mobile and web experience. I focused on using Apple’s HIG and brand standards for typography, iconography, navigational layout, and imagery. This resulted in a high-fidelity prototype that played a key part in the presentation.
Understanding Pro Golfer Needs
Lesson Learned
We didn't win this particular bid, and I attribute that to not having our pulse on the true needs of the pro golfers; we looked at the audience types and thought we had decent solutions for caddies and managers, but I felt like we lacked the knowledge of what pros wanted.
To make a positive impression on the review committee, it was important for us to gain a deep understanding (in a short amount of time) of the world of professional golfers and their unique needs from a mobile application, among the needs of their corresponding team members. We pored over the RFP, which provided us with the audience segments to cater to. The user base extended beyond just the pro golfers themselves, it also included managers and caddies. We needed to come up with feature sets that adhered to the use cases and needs of these personas while emphasizing the golfers themselves. In the end, I created a series of pages that touched on various needs that golfers may have, via assumptions.
During the phase of gathering data about golfers and reading through the RFP, we conducted a competitive analysis, where we analyzed a suite of sporting apps. We intended to identify gaps and opportunities and see where our implementation might fit into the landscape of available choices. Since the issuing organization has a strong relationship with players, we knew that the audience would be built-in, but this exploration was useful in finding a design approach without deviating too far from what the players have come to know and expect.
Showcasing a High-Fidelity Solution
End-to-end Design
In this project I worked though design thinking methodologies to empathize with the stakeholders, define requirements, and iterate on prototypes for viable solutions that we could show off in a presentation.
We understood that pro golfers primarily sought features related to their game, statistics, and performance, while managers required tournament status updates and detailed event information. Recognizing the divergent needs of pro golfers and managers, we tailored the interface. Managers could effortlessly track the status of pro golfers' tournament commitments and access comprehensive event details. In contrast, pro golfers could focus solely on their game, examining their performance statistics and comparing their achievements with other players.
Once we had a grasp on different use cases and audiences, I was able to move into designing a high-fidelity application, in correlation with Apple's human interface guidelines and iconography. Drawing inspiration from existing applications and modern iOS design principles, I aimed to create a user-friendly experience that seamlessly balanced the various views on the dashboard that impressed the end-user.
Showcasing our Design Capabilities
The collaboration with the sales team allowed us to construct a persuasive presentation that would capture the hiring organization’s attention and establish trust in our UI/UX design capabilities. From feature selection to competitive analysis, to the creation of a high-fidelity application, we were able to present a compelling vision. With a deep understanding of the domain and a tailored solution that catered to diverse user needs, we were prepared to deliver a golf tournament management application that would redefine the experience for pro golfers, managers, and caddies alike.
Outcomes and Results
I designed native iOS screens that highlighted our design capabilities and seamlessly connected them with our company's engineering expertise. The high-fidelity prototype played a key role in our presentation, and our deep understanding of the pro golfer world allowed us to tailor the interface to meet the diverse needs of pro golfers, managers, and caddies.
Disclaimer: Work shown was created while employed at Nearby Creative, delivered on behalf of an agency partner, and displayed with permission. Header image from Unsplash.
