Swing With Me — Anna Higane

01 — The Problem

Getting better at tennis without a coach is nearly impossible — unless you build the coach.

Tennis improvement requires real-time, specific feedback from someone watching you. Without a coach, you keep reverting to the same bad habits. I designed an app that does what a coach does: breaks down where your form differs from a pro's, stroke by stroke.

Proposed solution slide showing AI and ML concept with Federer reference

02 — Research

Five interviews. One critical pivot: drop the beginners.

I interviewed recreational tennis players across skill levels and ran a competitive analysis across 6 existing apps. The biggest finding was about audience, not features.

Seven research interview questions and affinity map

User feedback synthesis showing pain points, goals, needs, and potential features

Key insight: accountability, guidance, and score tracking

Feature comparison matrix across 6 competitor apps

Beginners needed foundational instruction first. Intermediate players had specific, named problems. I pivoted to intermediate players, which simplified every subsequent design decision.

Personas overview — Drew (32) and Kayla (44), target audience for Swing With Me

Drew, 32 — tech-savvy intermediate player, motivation: improve technique without expensive coaching, frustration: no feedback loop

Kayla Keller, 44 — fitness-motivated recreational player, motivation: stay consistent and track progress, frustration: no accountability system

03 — Process

From user flow to paper prototypes to hi-fi — in 12 weeks.

Complete user flow diagram from app launch to actionable feedback

Full site map showing all screens and navigation hierarchy

Paper prototyping came first. Every screen started as a sketch before any pixel work.

Paper prototype: first 6 screens from splash to countdown

Paper prototype: next 6 screens from recording to pro tip

The design evolved through four distinct fidelity stages. This slide captures the full progression.

Design evolution from paper to lo-fi to medium-fi to hi-fi with timeline

04 — Final Design

The real product. Real photography. Real AI feedback.

The hi-fi prototype moved from stick figures to real tennis footage, real player comparisons, and a dark-themed UI designed for on-court readability.

SWING. hi-fi onboarding splash — dark theme with tennis ball and blue Get Started CTA — Onboarding — SWING. splash with AI tagline

HELLO DREW hi-fi home screen with 70% completion ring, daily practice, Analyze Swing and Previous Swings CTAs — Home — accountability: goals, streaks, daily drills, AI analysis CTA

YOU vs PRO with real photography — user's tennis form compared to Djokovic with visual cues, verbal cues, form feedback annotations, and Follow Through pro tip screen with detailed coaching text

The core screen: YOUR footage compared frame-by-frame to Djokovic's. Visual cues highlight form differences. Verbal cues explain what to fix. The Follow Through screen delivers specific coaching text.

72% SWING SCORE with real tennis footage — posture 68%, technique 65%, stance 77%, footwork 73%, timing early, topspin type. Progress bars for improvement and consistency.

Annotated home screen with callouts for View Goals, Upcoming Practice, Goal Completion, Calendar

Score tracking slide with Swing Score breakdown and progress tracking

05 — Testing & Outcome

Five participants. Prioritized features. One key iteration.

Feature prioritization matrix by impact and expectedness

Rainbow spreadsheet usability test results for 5 participants, color-coded

All 3 task flows completed without moderator prompting
YOU vs PRO screen required zero explanation
Streak feature was the highest-rated element
One iteration: two CTAs on home screen felt equally weighted, so visual hierarchy was adjusted

06 — Reflection

Challenges, pivots, and what I would do differently.

Key challenges and pivots encountered during the project