ROLEs
Co-founder,
Product Designer,
Creative Lead
TOOLS
Figma, Illustrator,
Photoshop, Readymag
Timeline
April 2024 -
October 2024
project brief
In a rapidly changing NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) environment, our goal was to create a centralized resource for modular courses on financial literacy, taxes, and NIL regulations. The platform was designed to integrate directly with university athletic departments, allowing them to track athlete progress and manage their database more easily.
Onboarding
The onboarding process is designed to be simple and gauge the athlete's familiarity with the subjects
Daily Gain
Accessible from the athlete's dashboard, the Daily Gain is a daily feed of news relevant to NIL and the specific interests of the athlete
Courses
Modeled after apps like Duolingo, the courses involve a roadmap of micro lessons with associated trainings
Locker Room
The locker room is where the athlete can view their course progress and collect achievement badges, encouraging them to keep learning
The university dashboard allows athletic department admin to easily manage their athletes and track course progress. This gives the departments insight into which teams and individuals engage with which topics, and can reward athletes who stay consistent with their training
Our website helped explain our product, introduce the team, and provide resources for visitors while directing interested users to our waitlist
This company was born at the Techstars Startup Weekend, a 48-hour hackathon hosted by USC. There, a team of six of us was formed around the idea of providing accessible wealth management services to professional athletes
After a weekend full of research, mentor feedback, and many post-it notes, our idea had changed. We decided to shift our focus towards college athletes, with the goal of creating a platform to facilitate sponsorships between brands and student athletes
Our final pitch at the end of the weekend won first place out of ten teams, earning us an interview for the Techstars Accelerator program.
With this direction, we conducted thorough market and user research, talking to 50+ student athletes along with athletic directors and professionals in the space
Here's what we learned:
+
Oversaturated space
There were already plenty of companies trying to capitalize on the excitement of NIL and we had no differentiation
+
Universities are struggling
Athletic departments attempt to host seminars and workshops around NIL, taxes, and finance, but have seen low turnout and lack of engagement
+
Schools can pay directly
New NIL legislation permits universities to compensate their athletes directly, creating opportunities for incentive-based programming
+
Student athletes are busy
Balancing school, athletics, social life, and personal development is extremely demanding and most athletes expressed feeling overwhelmed
+
Brands are selective
Brands only want to partner with the small minority of influential athletes playing the most popular sports, leaving many left out
+
It's bigger than sports
Most student athletes don't intend on playing their sport after college and are more concerned with career development and personal finance
With our new insights, I was posed with these questions:
1.
How can we create a tool that puts the athlete’s needs first, providing the resources that prepare them for success during and after college?
2.
How can we build a more engaging way for universities to educate their student athletes on student athlete specific matters?
We brainstormed key concepts, features, and potential directions
The first high-fidelity translation of my sketches. We kept iterating with design sprints and user feedback
Because of our athlete audience and financial focus, I drew inspiration from both athletic brands and fintech logos.
The logo includes both the "M" and "V" of MOMENTVM, while resembling the torso of a person running forward, embodying athletic pursuit and forward progress.
Along with designing the product and website, I managed marketing initiatives and created graphics for our social media campaigns
Our first post and LinkedIn banner
Our second post laying out the problem and how we're tackling it
Product promotion post