PYSF

Information Architecture, UX Research, Prototyping, User Testing

 

Time

October 2018
-
April 2019

Team

I worked in a team with a UX Content Specialist

My Contribution

Comparative Analysis, Information Architecture, UX Research, Prototyping, User Testing

Case Study Overview

 

The Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation (PYSF) is a Bay Area non-profit organization that gives local kids access to world-renowned sailing coaches. Through camps, classes, and sailing teams, coaches teach children how to sail and be competitive in regattas. They offer several different types of teams, categorized by the type of boat (i.e., Optis, C420s). PYSF's home office and practice area are located near Redwood City's harbor.

 

Onboarding tasks for students and parents can include:

  • Buy Gear and Equipment

  • Register for Regattas

  • Participate in PYSF Community

Problem

When the new members join their respective teams at the beginning of a new season, the PYSF director receives tons of emails from their families with a lot of questions.

The frequently asked questions from parents/guardians are:

  • What their kid needs to bring to class / practice?

  • Do they need to buy any equipment?

  • How to get ready for a regatta?

I clearly saw an opportunity to help new families and their sailors to onboard on PYSF sailing teams and to reduce the number of emails in the director's and coaches' inboxes.

 

Challenge

PYSF director needed a new way to help new parents and sailors onboard to a PYSF sailing team.

 

Solution

Design and add new features to PYSF's website to help new sailors and parents onboard to a sailing team.

Process

 

During this project I completed the following activities:

  • Research

    Domain Research

    Understanding the Task

    Creating Research Plan and Interview Questions

    Conducting Stakeholder and User Interviews

    Competitive Analysis

    Card Sorting

  • Define

    Defining the problem

    Creating Persona

  • Ideate

    User Flows

    User Journey

    Brainstorming on Organizing the Content

    Sketching the Ideas

    Guerilla Testing

    Information Architecture

  • Prototype

    Creating Clickable PDFs in Balsamiq

  • Test

    Creating Test Scenarios

    Recruiting Test Participants

    User Testing

Research

After creating a Research Plan, I conducted 15 qualitative interviews with stakeholders (PYSF Director and coaches), sailors who are currently in a competitive program, sailors who just joined the teams, and their parents.

Our research showed that target users for our solution are parents of the new sailors in their late 30s to mid-50s and new teenage sailors. All are local to the Peninsula and South Bay Area.

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I created four personas: one is a mom of a new sailor, the second is a dad of a new sailor, the third is a new sailor on the Opti team, and the last one is an experienced sailor but new to the C420 team. I kept them all in mind while designing and brainstorming ideas for the new website. Each persona had a different knowledge level of sailing, and the kids took sailing classes and camps only during the summertime or had been on a different boat team before they had been invited to the team (or new team).

 Key Takeaways from the Research:

 

  • The Stakeholders’ Goals

  • To spend less time answering questions about equipment, gear, boat ownership, classes, and regattas.

  • To inform sailors and parents about gear, equipment, boat ownership, classes, and regattas.

  • To recruit new parents to tow boats to and from local regattas.

  • To engage new parents to volunteer for PYSF events.

  • What do parents do now in order to prepare their sailors to join a team?

  • Buy equipment and gear.

    Parents go to stores, order online, contact sailboat sellers, or buy used equipment and gear.

  • Gather information about equipment and gear.

    Parents send emails, make phone calls, or ask the PYSF director, coaches, relatives, or other parents in person.

  • Research about where to purchase gear and equipment.

    Parents research online, send emails, make phone calls, or ask the PYSF director, coaches, relatives, or other parents in person.

  • New Parent Goals

  • To be well prepared and informed about gear equipment, and regattas.

  • To feel assured that their kids are safe.

  • To have a clear understanding of boat ownership.

  • To understand the difference between classes and how to qualify for teams.

  • To find carpooling opportunities.

  • To have all important dates in one reliable, easy to access place (i.e. regattas, practices, deadlines).

  • New Parent Pain Points

  • They spend too much time researching, writing emails, and following up to learn about classes, equipment, gear, and regattas.

  • Their child gets uncomfortable on the water because he is not prepared and does not have the gear other sailors have.

  • They need to pay more on the day of the regatta because they didn't properly register for it.

  • They couldn't register their sailor for a regatta, because they didn't have their crew's information.

  • Their child misses a regatta because they didn't bring the required equipment.

  • They waste a lot of time waiting to pick up their child after the regatta and cannot plan their own time that day, because they don't know what the timeline or expectations are.

Ideation

It was clear that four new blocks of information (gear, boat ownership, regatta info, and classes/teams overview) need to be added to the website along with a calendar feature. I ran a card sort exercise with 5 parents, quickly prototyped the new menu, wrote a scenario with ten tasks to complete, and tested it with new, veteran parents, and their sailors. After several iterations, I created a site map.

Current Sitemap

Current Sitemap

Sitemap after Card Sorting

Sitemap after Card Sorting

Our research showed that most parents spend the most time researching gear for their kids. Sometimes they didn't even know what kind of gear their child needs.

Challenge

I needed a way to visually present different types of gear for different seasons.

 

Solution

After doing a market comparison, I decided to present this information in a form of a manikin dressed in sailing gear. The image of the manikin contained both required and optional gear items. Clicking on each image would bring the user to a detailed item's description.

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Prototyping and User Testing

After user testing and iterating on the clickable prototype, containing only menu items, I moved to creating a more detailed clickable prototype which contained PYSF class and team overview pages, sailing gear for different seasons, pages with regatta and boat ownership information, and calendar feature for classes, practices, regattas and important events dates.

 Next Step Recommendation

After presenting our findings and solution for the new website, we made the next step recommendation to the stakeholders:

  • Develop new content

    Clear Detail including video

    Boat Ownership and Equipment Information

    Tow Instructions

    Levels of Regattas

    Travel Regatta

    Paths of Class/Team Progression w/ Skills Checklists

    Boat Type Distinction for selecting a class

    Video Testimony (Kids and Parents) for Home Page

  • Usability Testing with new content

  • Implement Technology

  • Code New Pages

    .

  • Test New Website

  • Launch New Website

Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation (PYSF)

 

Competitive Analysis
Sketching
Prototyping
User Testing

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