PGA Tour AR
We designed PGA Tour's primary iOS and Android apps for several seasons before they came to us in 2017 with an innovative idea. They wanted to branch off their primary iOS app and create one of the first AR apps for sports. We kicked off with their stakeholders in a discovery session to understand their business goals, KPIs, and overall vision using primarily on-site whiteboarding. Next I dove into research on Apple's AR interface guidelines and the technical limitations of ARKit for iOS, a brand new framework at the time. I also downloaded and tested numerous AR apps to understand what's possible and analyze the competitors.
Next I compiled the discovery and research info to inform my creation of the user flow diagram (as shown in the image above), created in collaboration with the stakeholders. This highlighted the navigation, structure, ancillary views, and each of the major sections of the On-Course and Off-Course experiences. From there I transitioned these into black+white wireframes in Sketch, and presented them to the stakeholders. Once approved, I created the major app components in Sketch and used them as building blocks for the hi-fi UI mockups. These were then uploaded to InVision to create tap-through prototypes.
From there I collaborated with a coworker to model and texture 3D assets such as the ball+tee, shot arcs, and course holes in Cinema 4D, and then animate them in After Effects. Animation videos informed our developers and provided great promo material. Next we exported the 3D assets, textures, and 2D UI, then handed them to our devs in conjunction with style guides in InVision. After an alpha version was developed, the team and I traveled on-site to Pebble Beach to user test the first on-course AR experience. We uncovered product needs and then iteratively improved the UX/UI and functionality in close collaboration with the devs. Once released, tech articles praised the app for its innovation and it was featured on the App Store.
Users can explore 3D shot trails of their favorite players while on-course during specific PGA tournaments.
Whether at home or elsewhere, users can place a 3D course hole model on a flat surface to view its terrain and player's shot arcs in AR.
