BLITZ in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Steelers

Blitz

A playbook training tool

The game of football is extremely complex yet there is no formal framework that helps make learning for players easier. Despite this complexity, most football teams refer to paper playbooks and informal methods of communication in order to learn play strategies. The acquisition of expertise relies on an iterative loop consisting of practice, evaluation, and feedback. Currently, there is no digital tools in use that support this loop due to the relatively unchanging nature of sports coaching. I worked with a team of students and the Steelers to help research and develop a digital tool to fill the current educationaly gap in football.

UX research, prototyping, user testing, education, interaction design

June 2016

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

In order to understand the space our design solution was entering, we completed a competitive analysis. This ranged from current scouting software being used to fantasy football software.

DVS SPORTS – DVSport GameDay is a football-specific digital video editing and data analysis software package. Coaches have to manually input data, but once the data is entered a coach can search and sort to show patterns in the other team’s offense and defense.

AXON sports – Axon sports is a cognitive training software, that is centered on the idea that athletes need to train their minds and their bodies. The training is focused on helping athletes improve their decision making and rapid reaction skills on the eld.

ProFootball Focus – ProFootball focus is a service that offers scouting for pro, college, and fantasy football. Through the use of 50 domain experts they provide 180 unique data points on every play.

STRIVR Labs – STRIVR Labs creates virtual environments that mimic real football games. These environments are very specific to each team and are built using cameras placed on the practice field. Thisallows players to study and learn the playbook in real life simulations.

INTERVIEW INSIGHTS

We preformed 7 interviews with Steelers and Carnegie Mellon coaches & players

USER INSIGHTS

Players learn best from abstract/conceptual learning
Players have trouble learning the whole playbook at one
Players need deliberate step-by-step teaching
Players need to have confidence in themselves and their team
The more knowledge you have going into a game the better
Limited time affected the balance of reps that different players get
The playbook is fundamental but dynamic

Knowing the static playbook is not enough
Each player has different learning needs
Players and coaches need to communicate better
Current tech solutions are unsatisfactory
Instinctual knowledge on the field is important/preferred
Assessment/reflections help with learning

KEY INSIGHTS

Confidence is critical to performance
Playbook is foundational, but dynamic
Reps are the most important part of the learning process
Time is a limited resource
Lack of understanding about best learning strategies

LOW FI TESTING

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We tested sample questions with Steelers and Carnegie Mellon Football players to help determine what would be the most useful for them. We took this feedback and used it to influence our content and designs.

VISIONING

personas

visioning

With the client we did a visioning session, in this workshop we used personas to allow us to quickly storyboard and brainstorm concepts. This helped us develop the framework for the final product.