SB02
Evaluating Existing Products
I have been a competitive swimmer for around 9 years and Before beginning this project I was unaware of any apps, or anyone that used an app, to help prepare and organise themselves for competition. This suggests that if there are any apps out there that do fulfil these tasks they are not well marketed or advertised.
Apps on the Play Store (Android)
On Deck
10 Thousand downloads
3.2 star rating
Good name as deck refers to pool side
It is more of a team management app than a competition app. Primarily marketed at coaches rather than athletes. The content design does not flow with the logo and the logo does not represent any aspect of swimming or communicate that it is a sports app. The app has many functions which makes it complicated and difficult to navigate. Jack of all trades, master of none. Targeted at the US market.
Meet Mobile: Swim
100 Thousand Downloads
3.4 Stars
marketed towards fans, swimmers, coaches and Meet hosts. The swimmer section is very similar to the app I am looking at creating. It allows swimmers to view 'psych' sheets (I assume this is the equivalent to the meet programme), heat sheets, estimated start times, entries, results and points. This app is the most cohesive app in terms of design and layout. It seems easy to navigate and the pages are not over crowded. This app is targeted at the US market.
Live Results
5 Thousand Downloads
4 stars
This app helps navigate web results that are produced by the SportsSystem Meet Manager software. Sports System software is primarily used by British Swimming. The app serves as an alternative to viewing live results on a web browser on mobile devises. It also includes a feature which lets you pinpoint the results of certain swimmers or teams. This app does not include meet programmes, heat sheets or times entered. The logo is terrible and the layout looks dated. The information suggests that it is aimed at the British market as at uses the same recording system used by British Swimming, however, the screen shots suggest it is aimed at the US audience,
10 thousand downloads
4.2 stars
This app allows you to access live results, current events and heats. It tells athletes if the event is ahead of or behind schedule and approximately how long until selected events. The logo is predicable and the layout is busy. The fine typeface in white against the blue background make legibility difficult. This app is aimed at the US audience.
It seems that all the apps available are aimed at the American market. Many seem to carry out many tasks but not to a high standard and are aimed at several demographics rather than focusing in on one. From a design perspective many of the layouts are cluttered and difficult to navigate and some of the logos are not coherent with the rest of the design. In response to these problems I will create an app specifically aimed at competitive swimmers at open meets who want to know what heat and lane they are in, how long they have before an event, their entered time and the times of others in their heat, as well as there personal best times. The design will be clean and simple to navigate. It is important that the app does not serve as a distraction but is in fact a tool to help the swimmer concentrate on their races.
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