Diamond Kinetics (DK) aimed to revolutionize the world of baseball training with the PitchTracker Smart Baseball, an intelligent baseball designed to capture data during player practice sessions. This data would then be used to provide detailed pitching analysis, helping players and coaches improve performance on the field.
Project overview
DK needed a Lead Product Designer to create a consistent and intuitive UI for its mobile applications. The role also required improving an existing Design System to ensure the interface was both visually appealing and user-friendly. Additionally, the designer had to align the product with DK’s brand story while ensuring it met both customer needs and business objectives. The PitchTracker Smart Baseball was a groundbreaking product, and DK sought a designer capable of translating that vision into an optimal user experience.
My Role
Lead Product Designer
As the Lead Product Designer, I led product strategy, UX design, and UI design efforts, including:
Analyzing market trends
Conducting user research
Create intuitive and visually appealing interfaces
Developing a strategic roadmap for product development
Ensuring the product meets user needs and aligns with business objective
Mentor team members
The problem
While PitchTracker Smart Baseball offered innovative features for capturing data and providing pitching analysis, users were struggling to set up the product properly. This confusion led to low adoption of core features, with users unable to capture and consume data effectively, presenting a significant barrier to the product's success.
Challenges
Short Deadline
Simplifying data reports for easier consumption
Ensuring users could configure the product to capture video data effectively
Discovery
With a solid foundation laid by DK’s well-defined personas for coaches, players, and parents, I was able to quickly grasp our users' needs and behaviors. By leveraging Design Sprints, I streamlined the research process, collaborated with the team to identify pain points, and prioritized user-focused features. This approach enabled us to design an interface that met the needs of our personas and provided a clear path toward a better user experience.
Qualitative Research
We conducted interviews with both internal and external stakeholders to understand how the current system fit into their workflows and where it could add more value. The research revealed key insights:
Users were unsure about how to position their cameras for optimal video capture
There was a need to emphasize certain features to improve data consumption
We identified a high-level user flow to guide the redesign
Competitive Analysis
By conducting a competitive analysis, we gained insights into the features and functionality offered by top competitors. This helped us understand user expectations and identify opportunities for innovation and differentiation.
Results
Our user research led us to identify a significant opportunity to improve the core capture experience of the PitchTracker Smart Baseball. Users were struggling with video capture, new pitch identification features, and the overwhelming volume of data. This presented us with an opportunity to refine the experience to address these challenges.
Contextual Observations
In-person observation and task-based usability testing allowed us to better understand how users interacted with the product in real-world settings. I developed a comprehensive testing plan and facilitated the study, which provided valuable insights into areas for improvement.
Defining A New Experience
We focused on enhancing the video capture process, new pitch identification, and motion efficiency reporting. Working closely with the development team, we simplified the user interface and streamlined the capture experience. We also made it easier for users to interact with and consume data. Sketching user flows, I mapped out the steps users needed to take to achieve their goals, identifying pain points along the way. The result was an intuitive, user-centered experience that made data easier to capture and understand.
Development
We used Sketch to design the mobile screens.
Onboarding - Camera Setup
Core motion Capture
Motion Efficiency report
Conclusion
By making key improvements to the video capture window, including fixing it to landscape mode, and implementing a camera setup onboarding flow, we saw a 60% increase in user adoption of the core capture features and new pitch identification technology. This validation of our design decisions not only addressed user challenges but also helped Diamond Kinetics stay ahead of the competition. By prioritizing user needs and delivering an exceptional user experience, we created a product that exceeded our users' expectations, further strengthening Diamond Kinetics' position in the market and supporting their continued success..