THE CHALLENGE
The problem I’m addressing in this design project is that of timing, tracking, and reporting intervals of multiple track and field athletes at once in a workout setting. There are many issues with the current scenario, and I believe that if a coach can focus less on the arduous task of timing his athletes, he can spend more time and energy on what really matters: coaching.
Timing multiple groups of college athletes requires the use of multiple watches, resulting in high cognitive load (And a lot of mistakes!)
USER RESEARCH
I was able to define a user through ethnography & observation (I was a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons, participating in and viewing at least one track-based workout per week); and interviews with 2 coaches. Through watching closely and asking, I discovered important details that would inform my design, such as the need for feedback (both haptic and audible) as reaffirmation that the button has been pushed. This audible feedback from a coach pushing a button is even important for runners to hear and know they are being paid attention to. Research in the field also allowed me to define design requirements:
- Must work in bright sunlight
- Must work with gloves on
- Must be weatherproof
- Must be able to operate with one hand
EARLY ITERATIONS
A turning point for me in the way I approached the design was attending a practice where several athletes had to come early or leave late in order to register for classes. The groups changed and new workouts were scratched out on paper. I realized that for a coach, things were never expected to go as planned. Variability is high, because we are dealing with humans -- college-aged humans at that! Flexibility was key. If you mess up someone’s time, you need to let it go and put your resources to work where they were now needed. I noticed that even though sprinters usually had the red watch, when they were cooling down, we used it for a distance runner who was separated from his group and needed the attention and motivation of a coach. It was at this point that I understood the need for the human element in this design. This device should remind and aid the coach’s already existing skill and thought process -- not change it or force instruction with something new. Groups will change, colored shirts will come off, men and women will run different distances on the same track, injury will modify workouts -- and the device would need to be able to roll with those changes if it was to be remotely successful.
FURTHER ITERATIONS
At this point, I tried to work with the idea of Coach Kevin’s multiple watches rather than against it. I got to a point where I'd developed a watch with one physical screen and a toggle switch that would match the screen in view to the color of the group associated with it. Though streamlined, it still felt like too much work, and left too much opportunity for mistakes.
FINAL ITERATIONS
Although it felt counterintuitive to use more than one screen, it was clearly the best option after several iterations. Toggling between groups and double checking a screen before taking action is adding a level of complexity to the coaches’ timing process that was not there before. In the end, I went with 5 screens on this one circular device, and added a grip down the middle of it so the coach can easily grab and rotate the device to check back and forth between groups with one hand. Using the “designing for thumbs” mentality, I also placed the buttons further apart giving the thumb plenty of space to press, reach and maneuver down the center corridor without hitting anything accidentally. That is one thing I would need to watch carefully in the first phase of testing.
How a coach might interact with the watch. To be tested in the field!