US Open Redesign
Design Director, UX
Objective
Our mission was to foster an evolution of access in order for users to transcend the experience of the television broadcast — arming all viewers with the capability to access a complimentary, AA compliant, info-driven experience anytime, anywhere.
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The USTA made a seemingly straightforward ask: overhaul their “behind the times” online experience. And while we initially planned for a more minimalistic approach, we’d later change course due to the sheer complexity of the project and volume of information users would access. We decided that clearly establishing an information hierarchy would be the foundation of the effort to keep the user experience intuitive, sleek and consistent across all elements from fonts even down to sponsors’ logo size.
Process
To begin moving toward the goals for the update, we started mapping out all of the content sections and their hierarchy for the pre-tournament, tournament in progress, and post-tournament. This process began with the top-level overview, and proceeded to a comprehensive accounting of the content sections and child pages until every aspect of the site was accounted for. This, as with any project, began with the team in a room with mellow beats in the background, a lot of markers, and three white-boarding walls. It eventually morphed into something more organized, as seen below.
As Lead UI Designer, I was also able to contribute as a UX practitioner. After our brain-storming and white-boarding sessions, the team would split for solo production time. As we explored and produced wires and styles, we would meet internally for daily reviews with more white-boarding and problem solving.
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Another layer to this was the data we received around tracking/analytics. Mobile devices were the prominent access point fans turned to for tournament information, so we wanted to ensure the fan did not get the feeling that content was cut or congested while on a mobile device. This led us to design with a mobile-first approach, which we presented to the development team for feasibility and to the USTA as part of a user-centered design mindset.
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We used notes in combination with the wireframes so that both teams could spend time with the work after the presentation and still be able to clarify things that; a) may not have been obvious on a static wire, or b) lost in the brain from the vast amount of information we intake in one meeting, let alone one day. On a project of this size, minimizing the possibility for miscommunication proved invaluable.
So when I say I was the design lead, it's true... and that is also because I was the only UI designer on the project. My challenge: how do I single-handedly deliver finalized UI comps to the dev team in three weeks without compromising the quality of the creative? The answer: I don't — because collaboration is a cornerstone of creative work reaching its full potential, especially in a limited time. I was able to gather some of my peers around the office for impromptu testing, design review, and ideation.
This helped, but didn't solve the workload or expediency problem, so I took a look at what I had in my toolbox. At this point, I had an established brand to pull from, approved detailed wires, and the partner's chosen style which they coined as the "blue" direction (referring to a monochromatic color palette). And just like that, I had my UI strategy. I put my headphones in, my head down, and cranked until I had the screens done and the style guide ready for dev handoff.
