Timeline: 2 Months | Team Members: Savannah Sawin, Briana Vreuls
Intro
Our Spring 2025 GD 400 studio was sponsored by SAS, who gave our class the challenge of designing a B2B software product that uses generative AI. Briana, Savannah and I were assigned the Media and Entertainment industry as our topic. This project was the result of user research conducted on fields within that industry, where we discovered our opportunity.
NextUp is a coaching assistant that uses generative AI to keep track of stats and observations on the field to help coaches respond with actionable and relevant strategies. Since our user persona is a defensive coordinator for the NFL, the software is formatted for a Microsoft Surface tablet, which we learned through research is hardware they already use.
Problem
Through our research, we discovered that traditional printed playsheets used by the NFL are visually overwhelming. Their current software, Sideline, allows coaches to review and mark-up game footage, but it’s limited in its capacity to help them strategize on the field.
Key opportunities
- Simplified and streamlined playsheet development
- Integration between video and performance metrics
- Guided suggestions from qualitative analysis
Process
User Persona
Jacob is an NFL Defensive Coach for the Los Angeles Rams. He decides his team’s defensive strategy by analyzing the opposing team’s recent performance. His goals include: calling defensive plays that best utilize current opportunities on the field, confidently and quickly make play calling decisions based on evidence, and helping his team win as many games as possible.
Task Flows
1. Pre-Game
2. In-Game
Wireframes
Low-Fi
Mid-Fi
Hi-Fi
NextUp Demo Video
Solution & Final Deliverables
NextUp tailors the selection process by giving both passive and active recommendations of plays that take advantage of gaps in the opposing team, as well as strengths in the coach’s own team. During the game, it allows the coach to track events as they progress, and uses the qualitative data it gathers to tune recommendations.
Our final deliverables were a Figma prototype and a demo video, which we presented to the SAS product design team at their headquarters in Cary.
Reflection
Our knowledge of football going into this project was very limited. Learning that there were so many design opportunities within a field like this was fascinating and eye-opening. I’m proud that our team did enough in-depth research to be able to present the content with confidence. After our presentation, SAS reached out and expressed interest in filing a patent on our design.
