Beyond is a mobile-based website dedicated to supporting retired athletes as they navigate the transition from their professional careers to a purposeful and fulfilling everyday life. This a group project that was conducted as part of the course Design 3 - Human-Centered Design & Innovation.
As part of the Design 3 course, we aimed to solve a complex problem within healthcare and sports. After extensive research, we found an that former athletes often struggle with mental health issues and a lack of support post-retirement, especially if the retirement happens abruptly, e.g. injuries.
Studies show that most professional athletes in Norway, for example, do not receive adequate follow-up, leaving them unprepared and unsupported in a vulnerable stage in their lives.
Since our group had one aspiring athlete as well as some former athletes, we found this topic to be deeply engaging, and we decided to delve deeper into it for our project. Our goal with this project was to...
Create a digital solution to support retired athletes during this vulnerable period.
So how should we do this?
In order to obtain a complete picture of this complex problem on our hands, we decided that the best way to do it would be to gather some first hand experiences and stories.
We interviewed 8 active and retired athletes, as well as a coach and a psychologist that specialized on the mental health of athletes, about their experiences and expectations regarding life after retirement.
After the interviews, we sorted our findings in an affinity map, and that was when we realized there were a few key points that kept on coming up…
After the research, we have discerned five common challenges our users face during the earlier phase of their retirement:
Here we have organized the key findings into a mind map:
For this project, we have decided to make “Knowledge” and “Uncertainty for the future” our main focus areas. As these topics can more easily be addressed and the solutions are more tangible.
With these thoughts in the back of our minds, we decided on our...
“We want to help retired athletes to get access to knowledge regarding retirement and help them to sort out their future”
After several iteration of ideations, we have decided on four concepts.
Throughout the course, we have gained valuable insight into the application of human-centered design methods as well as using design thinking processes to address complex issues and develop innovative solutions.
For me, the most interesting part about this project was the research phase. Getting the chance to empathize with our target user base, and to have the users in the forefront of our entire design process was a really valuable experience for me, and one that I will carry with me into future projects.
Due to the nature of the course, we didn't have the chance to conduct user testing. Having the feedback from the user group would have been extremely insightful, and it would make for a more holistic end product. Regardless, I am very proud of what we have achieved in this project, and I am excited to explore more within Human-Centered Design and solve more complex issues!