Next Ltd
Connecting NCAA athletes to brands and fellow athletes.
Table of Contents
The Challenge
According to recent studies, athlete influencers encounter significant hurdles when navigating the "name, image, and likeness" (NIL) process and establishing fruitful connections with brand managers.
Current platforms dedicated to facilitating these interactions lack robust social media integration features, hindering athletes' ability to engage with their peers and leverage their collective influence effectively. How might we bridge the gap between athletes and brands to ease the process of sponsorship and influence?
The Solution
An intuitive and research backed mobile app that simplifies the process, empowers athlete-influencers and becomes the go-to social networking platform for connecting athletes with brand managers.
As a designer with a background in research, I wanted to prioritize brainstorming and utilizng secondary forms of research that would harness truthful insight from users of other platforms of a similar nature in order to create an app with innovative solutions.
Here are some of the few things we did to achieve that:
Developed user flows and screens for brand deals, facilitating athlete engagement with sponsorship opportunities.
Created a design system for a cohesive and professional user interface, ensuring consistency in colors, typography, and visual elements.
Incorporated social platform-inspired features (e.g., news feed, follower system, direct messaging) to foster community and enhance networking.
Skills
User Research
Wireframing
Design Systems
Dev Handoff
Duration
6 months
Tools
Procreate
Figma
Miro
Role
UX Designer
UX Researcher
Kick Off Meeting
-
Athletes create detailed profiles to attract brand offers and showcase collaborations.
-
Home page features a feed with posts from connections and brands.
-
Messaging section allows interactions and brand partnership proposals.
Client Questionnaire
Market Research
I wanted to start off exploring the athlete perspective, understanding their preferences, goals, and challenges when engaging with brand partnerships.
-
Athletes prioritize the reputation and values of potential sponsor brands. This ensures that their association with the brand reflects positively on their image and maintains credibility with their audience.
-
Athletes value partnerships that authentically represent who they are and what they stand for ensuring a natural fit and genuine connection with their audience.
-
Athletes prioritize brand partnerships that align with their personal and professional goals. They seek partnerships that enhance their image.
Comprehnsive analysis
From discussions with our client, I learned about existing apps akin to Next that link athletes with brands. However, none of them prioritize social media integration and networking, a focal point for Next's design. To further grasp the landscape, I conducted a competitive analysis of apps athletes currently use for brand deals.
What the negatives and positives from the current apps told me…
-
The more social media integration and engagement tools an app had the higher the users rated that app as it led to helping athletes grow their social media following and monetize their social media presence
-
Limited social media integration was a reoccurring frustration for all four of the apps
-
Users have reported difficulties with navigation, suggesting that the platform’s interface may not be intuitive for everyone
Moving Forward
Based on competitive analysis and key insights, I created some goals I wanted to keep in mind as I ideated and designed the app site map and screens.
-
Keep in mind athletes are always on the go! Research shows that athletes wanted a simple intuitive navigation and interface.
-
Other apps lacked social media integration! Help users in every aspect of the app build a community and network through socials.
-
Decrease the time it takes to find deals. More social media integration, recommended deals, and engagement tools to build a network to help athletes monetize their image and likeness.
I used the negative feedback from users on other apps as “what not to” guidelines but kept in mind the positive aspects of those apps in order to help users feel familiar and decrease hesitation or confusion when first using the app. After receiving the user flows from the client, I started with creating a site map to gain an overall understanding for the platform’s architecture.
Don’t stray too far from the known, just improve it!
Mid-fi Wireframes: Onboarding and Priortiziation of integration
Based on my insights from research, I wanted to prioritize social media integration as soon as I could in the app flow as it had a direct correlation to growth in social network, monetization, and user satisfaction
Merging Current Client Branding, New Design, and Accesibility
The client presented us with a specific brand kit, outlining their colors and typography that they didn’t want to change, which somewhat limited our creative freedom. However, I proposed that we prioritize accessibility and adopt design components reminiscent of other apps in the same domain to enhance user familiarity and usability.
Brand Colors
Logo and Typography
Components
Final Design
The client gave us one final feedback to which iteration they preferred and we finalized the design and prototype.
Developer Handoff
We utilized design plugins such as Measure and Annotate It that are designed to accurately measure pixel dimensions and annotate design elements. This approach ensured meticulous documentation, including detailed notes on each element's purpose and function, enhancing clarity and facilitating seamless collaboration between the design and development teams.
200
Opened Tabs
+40
Screens
35
Huddle Talks
1
Happy Client
“Thank you so much for delivering a stellar product timely and communicatively. Great work!”
— Aaron, Next Ltd Product Owner