The popularity of quad skating has grown pretty steadily since the resurgence of roller derby in 2005, but most recently due to the pandemic.

This new generation of “pandemic” skaters are now at a pivotal point in their skating trajectory. They are steady on their wheels and are looking for new things to try. Their first instinct is to turn to the internet and social media.

Social Media Presence

The roller skating community on social media is massive. From jam skating to groups of skaters taking over skateparks, it’s difficult not to be impressed by the tricks one can find on Instagram or TikTok. 

Users and Audience

From beginners to seasoned veterans, all skaters could benefit from this product. New skaters could increase their base knowledge about trick names and terminology, while also asking for feedback from the community on their form. Veteran skaters could take a larger contributing role by adding instructional videos to the product, or giving feedback on specific tricks.

Stakeholders

Community involvement is a main contributor to this product, so the quad skating community is considered to be a major stakeholder. The educational aspect of the product can be leveraged to encourage usage and involvement.

Additional business opportunities could include ad placement or skate park or individual trick sponsorship for interested skate and gear companies.

Community

The local quad skating communities use social media as their main form of communication, but skaters are looking for a stronger sense of the larger quad skating community that exists globally.

Education

Skaters need a consistent place to go to learn a new skill that does not require constantly bugging the best skater at the skatepark for advice. 

Accessibility

Many quad park skaters video themselves or others and post those videos on Instagram, but they are posting into a void. At the mercy of the algorithm, their videos often get lost and can be difficult to find.

Support

Comradery and support are abundant throughout the quad skating community – skaters of all skill levels want to watch and encourage other skaters in the community.

Behaviors

• Started roller skating during the pandemic

• Passionate about social justice

Needs and Goals

• Wants to go to the skate park and/or find skating buddies

• Trying to learn new tricks from social media

• User-friendly and approachable

Alex started skating during the pandemic, and has not found anyone to go skating with them or ask for advice. They are looking for a way to find friends to skate with, but are intimidated by the idea of going to a skate park by themselves.

Behaviors

• Dog lover

• Veteran roller skater and park skater

Needs and Goals

• Get feedback from other skaters on form

• Learn skating history and trick names

• Contribute to the overall skating community

Jordan has been skating for a number of years, but the pandemic forced them to seek out a skate park. They have picked up the basic park tricks pretty quickly and is looking for help getting to the next level. They also want to learn more about the trick names and contribute to the skateparks and groups that they are a part of.

A mind map was created to encourage exploration of potential features of the product. They were focused into two broad categories: community and education. 

Those were then leveraged against the user profiles and prioritized in order to ensure product success.

Find a Trick

Tricks would be categorized and tagged, making them easy to find. A user could search by name, skill level needed, or find a trick organically through the home screen feed.

Find a Place to Skate

Skate parks would include additional information that would be helpful to skaters, including materials and conditions, environment, and community patrons.

Track Your Progress

Users could upload their personal videos to track their progress, contribute to the Tricktionary, or to ask fellow skaters for feedback on their movement.

Connect with Skaters

Users could follow other skaters to see their individual progress and comment on their uploaded videos. Pro users could upload instructional videos to diversity the tutorials provided.

Find a Place to Skate: Skate parks would include additional information that would be helpful to skaters, including materials and conditions, environment, and community patrons.

What was working well?

• Opportunity to give/ask for feedback in a closed setting

• Community dedicated to skating, separate from social media

• Using the trick finder to find a trick based on movements

• Additional breakdown of trick basics and movement; many different ways to learn a trick

• Searching for a place to skate

What could be improved?

• The Trick Finder was not easily found

• Instagram was not the preferred choice when uploading a video

• Participants didn’t want to turn on location to find a skate park; What about if you want to plan a trip?

The Tricktionary design system utilizes a condensed sans serif typeface to illustrate strength and impact. A vibrant color palette stands out among the varying style of photos and videos within the product. The abstract illustrations are meant to be a visual representation of the movement required in each trick category.

Several changes were made to the prototype after testing:

• Color and imagery were incorporated more consistently throughout the product.

• The ability to bookmark and organize your favorite trick videos or trick pages was added to ensure user retention.

• The ability for users to track their progress on individual tricks was also added.

Multiple changes were made to the trick pages:

• A Basics & Movement section was added to the individual trick pages in order to expand upon the building blocks needed for a trick.

• A skill level was added to each trick to give users more context around difficulty.

The skate park pages were also updated after testing:

• The ability to search for skate parks by zip code was also introduced, removing the requirement for geo-location.

• A community feed was added to skate park pages, allowing users to get a more holistic view of the park in use.

Challenges

I had some issues arise that forced me to reorganize my project timeline. It compressed the testing and branding sections to happen simultaneously instead of consecutively. Additionally, I proposed numerous features during usability testing, thinking that the participants would have a negative reaction towards one of them. They ended up liking all of the proposed features, so it forced me to prioritize and prevent scope creep.

Takeaways

Even though it’s important to have a plan, nothing goes according to plan. And you should be prepared to shift when needed. Prioritizing is critical, especially when time and resources are limited.