Summary

Athlete Portal is a space for athletes to train, learn, and grow

During summer 2022, I worked in the Labs innovation group at Garmin as a product design intern, where I helped design and launch an athlete-focused update, Athlete Portal, for the Garmin Clipboard team app. I collaborated with designers, engineers, and product leads to ship Athlete Portal in 10 weeks. Since launching, we have grown the user base by 10x in the first year!

Responsibilities

Product Design
User / Usability Research

Deliverables

High Fidelity UI Documentation
Interactive Prototypes
Marcom Graphics
Usability Study Reports
Wireframes

Tools

Figma
Microsoft Suite

Timeline

Summer 2022
10 weeks

Purpose

Help athletes understand their training data

Coaches use Garmin Clipboard to send personalized workouts straight to each athlete's watch and analyze their team's training data.

However, it's hard for athletes to get personalized feedback about each training session when coach has an entire team to manage.

Athletes need a space on Garmin Clipboard to learn about their training data when coaches aren't there to walk them through it.

Research Sprint

Uncovering 3 features that support athlete success

With our launch goal 10 weeks away, I hit the ground running by meeting with product managers and designers to learn about Clipboard's existing coach features and our goals for Athlete Portal. I proposed and led a 1-week user research/usability study sprint with interactive prototypes and interview questions to identify the features that would bring the most value to athletes on Clipboard.

I recruited 5 NCAA and club athletes to test Athlete Portal prototypes and discuss their training challenges and successes. Based on the insights I gathered with the athletes, I pitched, designed, and shipped the following 3 features for the Athlete Portal launch:

01 Recovery Metric Explanations

Insight: athletes are motivated to improve their health metrics, but only when they understand what they mean and how to change them. During interviews, athletes shared that if their coach hasn't explained a metric, they will ignore it because they don't know what values or trends to pay attention to.

Recovery metrics are put into context with explanations to help athletes improve. Outliers from the last 7 days are highlighted against baseline levels, so athletes can see how their latest workouts have impacted recovery metrics like resting heart rate, sleep, and body battery.

02 Private Notes and Injury Tracking

100%

of NCAA athletes in the study said they keep a journal to help them understand their training

Insight: athletes prefer to keep some training details to themselves. All NCAA athletes said that journaling is essential for their training awareness and for learning about themselves. While some athletes want to share everything with coach, others want to record private notes for themselves.

Private notes and injury tracking give athletes the space to record their training experiences or monitor injuries for themselves. Athletes can share their experiences and thoughts with coaches, or, use private notes and injury tracking for their own reference.

03 Goals and Personal Bests

Insight: athletes want to be reminded of their goals and achievements. 3 out of 5 athletes shared that they lose track of their goals in the hustle of their competition season. One athlete said "I keep my goal on a sticky note next to my bed so I see it every day" while another competitive runner's home was full of sticky notes.

A sticky note with goal race times crossed out

Goals and personal bests encourage athletes to remember what they've done so far. Athletes can keep track of records for running, swimming, weightlifting, and more, while their next goal can be broken down into smaller steps that lead to bigger wins.

Takeaway

Athletes are successful when they reflect on multiple aspects of their training

Every athlete expressed that their biggest breakthroughs come from reflecting on both quantitative data like mileage and qualitative data like their mood, recent goals, and achievements.

Athlete Portal leverages both quantitative and qualitative data to help educate athletes and amplify positive trends in their training.

Outcome

Athlete Portal is helping athletes train all over the world

Thanks to the designers, engineers, product managers, and leaders on the Clipboard team, the launch of the Athlete Portal update immediately impacted the Clipboard platform. The update led to our user base growing by tens of thousands in less than a year and is now available in more than 100 countries!

During my internship, I've represented Garmin at coaching clinics and national championship races in Kansas, California, and Oregon to learn more about what makes teams successful! Attending these events are a great way to get feedback about Clipboard and observe how athletes and coaches operate while they're in their element.

Looking Ahead

What's next?

I was lucky to jump in to an internship where I could launch a product in just 10 weeks. I continue to work in Labs, developing user experiences and interfaces for products that help athletes and coaches train together!

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