NIKE GLOBAL FOOTBALL
Pro Genius
Train your mind for the big game.
A pro-active brief.
Originally pitched as an immersive VR experience, it launched as a web page inside Nike's Football app.
Originally pitched as an immersive VR experience, it launched as a web page inside Nike's Football app.
THE BRIEF
"Turn brain training for football into a game."
Football is something completely outside of my experience, but the brief was clear.
Create a gamelike experience that teaches you how to master yourself.
At the top end of the game, everyone is at peak fitness, all players have great skill, but what sets apart the masters is their ability to keep cool under-pressure and to read the game as it unfolds with an unerring eye to predict what will happen next.
My task, lead the team to create a complex set of mini-games that have geniune psychological value.
Create a gamelike experience that teaches you how to master yourself.
At the top end of the game, everyone is at peak fitness, all players have great skill, but what sets apart the masters is their ability to keep cool under-pressure and to read the game as it unfolds with an unerring eye to predict what will happen next.
My task, lead the team to create a complex set of mini-games that have geniune psychological value.
What I did
"If we can decrease decision making time, those fractions of a second can make all the difference."
Nike Football Academy
Nike Football Academy
In this project I was responsible for the game design, logic, UX and strings.
I led a senior UX to create all the screens, states and edge cases. I mapped out all the content we needed for the live action shoots and directed the design team in tagging and ingesting all the assets so they would be suitable for gameplay.
I created the XML for the gameplay, tuned, tested and tweaked to make it satisfying, surprising and fun - while scientifically valid as a tool. I specified the systems I'd need in order to do that and collaborated with tech and PMs to document it in the way they needed.
I was responsible for the overall quality, working with the tech team to improve the slickness, the design team to reduce asset size (but not quality) and the audio team to bring together the whole experience.
I led a senior UX to create all the screens, states and edge cases. I mapped out all the content we needed for the live action shoots and directed the design team in tagging and ingesting all the assets so they would be suitable for gameplay.
I created the XML for the gameplay, tuned, tested and tweaked to make it satisfying, surprising and fun - while scientifically valid as a tool. I specified the systems I'd need in order to do that and collaborated with tech and PMs to document it in the way they needed.
I was responsible for the overall quality, working with the tech team to improve the slickness, the design team to reduce asset size (but not quality) and the audio team to bring together the whole experience.
My Four Tracks of Work
High Level Game Design
Imagine and test the assumptions for the overall experience and break it down into user journeys, so we can understand everything that we'll need to make.
Imagine and test the assumptions for the overall experience and break it down into user journeys, so we can understand everything that we'll need to make.
Micro-Interaction Design
Every button press needed to tell you how to use it and give exuberant instant feedback on whether you did the right thing as a player. I obsessed over these with an animator.
Every button press needed to tell you how to use it and give exuberant instant feedback on whether you did the right thing as a player. I obsessed over these with an animator.
Meta Game and Logic Design
Training only works if you do it often, and it continues to challenge you over time. I created a system to release new content as you progress, and dynamically ramped the difficulty in step.
Training only works if you do it often, and it continues to challenge you over time. I created a system to release new content as you progress, and dynamically ramped the difficulty in step.
Psychological Impact
Using my background in psychology, through a mixture of desk research and speaking with sports psychologists, I made sure our work was grounded in science.
Using my background in psychology, through a mixture of desk research and speaking with sports psychologists, I made sure our work was grounded in science.
Work Product
Things I made to help the others do their work, and to prove that our approach was sound.
Game Flow
I mapped out the entire gameflow and tasked a senior UX to finesse, add, improve and destroy what I had done. Together we tried to punch holes in each other's ideas. The end result was a very tight, bulletproof flow.
State Machines
The most interactive elements had UI that was the game. I mapped out all the changes for every part of the interface.
Shot List
I mapped all the variations we'd need to shoot to get the video content we needed to satisfy the game mechanics.
Onboarding
Close to my heart, I mapped out how we can gradually increase cognitive load, pushing players to learn and do more - complete with a simple system that demonstrates each new piece of information to players who'd rather hit the skip button.
Animation and SFX
I worked closely with our Audio partner to develop the unique sounds of the game, marrying the visuals with the sound flawlessly.
Testing Collab
When things are this interactive clickable wires or even Principle isn't good enough. I worked closely with the tech team to make fast protos for user testing - and defined exposed variables that could be easily tweaked by the UX team via a text file.
Reception
Ciclope - Gold - Experiential Design
IAB - Winner - Most made for mobile
Drum Design Awards - Gold - Mobile App Design
IAB - Winner - Most made for mobile
Drum Design Awards - Gold - Mobile App Design
Ciclope Experiential Design Gold LINK
IAB Most made for mobile Winner
CLIO Sports Awards Digital/Mobile - Apps Silver LINK.
CLIO Sports Awards Direct - Digital/Mobile Bronze LINK.
New York Festival Digital – Best Use of Media (Integrated) Bronze
New York Festival Games – Mobile Marketing (Service) Finalist
New York Festival Travel, Tourism and Leisure – Branded Entertainment (Products and Services Finalist
ADC Awards Digital - Art Direction Bronze LINK
Drum Design Awards Mobile App Design Gold
The One Show Awards Design - Game Design Merit
Creative Circle Best Mobile App/Games Silver LINK
Design Week App Design Winner LINK
BIMA Communications and Content: Craft Winner LINK
IAB Most made for mobile Winner
CLIO Sports Awards Digital/Mobile - Apps Silver LINK.
CLIO Sports Awards Direct - Digital/Mobile Bronze LINK.
New York Festival Digital – Best Use of Media (Integrated) Bronze
New York Festival Games – Mobile Marketing (Service) Finalist
New York Festival Travel, Tourism and Leisure – Branded Entertainment (Products and Services Finalist
ADC Awards Digital - Art Direction Bronze LINK
Drum Design Awards Mobile App Design Gold
The One Show Awards Design - Game Design Merit
Creative Circle Best Mobile App/Games Silver LINK
Design Week App Design Winner LINK
BIMA Communications and Content: Craft Winner LINK
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