CREATING MOMENTUM
Supporting aspiring female runners at a company known for elite sport.
How might we design a running experience for women that sucks less?
I joined Nike Valiant Labs to help answer this simple question.
As Nike seeks a zero carbon future, it is investing in digital experiences to take the business beyond shipping shoes. Over the course of a year, our team of four—an entrepreneur-in-residence, design researcher, UX designer, and I—took this question and explored it deeply, using the human-centered design process (with a lot of prototyping mixed in).
Research & prototyping
We started with foundational research to understand the beginner runner's mindset and journey, we leveraged Nike's expertise in sports psychology and running mechanics, we developed a bunch of concepts, and we designed a prototyping program through which we could test, learn, and iterate without writing a single line of code.
Every week, sometimes multiple times a week, we ran with our research participants to try new things and uncover what would get them out and keep them going. We panted while running on live Zoom calls, we snapped selfies, we traded stories about the high school mile, and some of us cried because we realized that running is a lot more than sport for many of us.
making it real
Beyond leading the design of the research, synthesis, and prototyping plan, I personally fielded research, drew concept screens, and even produced and guided live runs.
Our EIR presented the team's work to the Nike board as part of the innovation pipeline, and Momentum is now live on the Nike Innovation App.
This limited-time pilot will help Nike learn about how and what to bring into the business to better connect with a segment that it has not yet served.
I had a great time bringing early concepts to life by drawing on my iPad with Apple Pencil!