Nike Sport Research Lab / Form
Lead design for consumer facing experience in a face-to-face, head-to-toe running consultation designed to unlock the human potential.
What is Form?
Consumers run for two minutes on a treadmill at a self-selected, comfortable pace while motion-capture technology collects over 150 data points across their bodies. The Form team then walks the runner through their individual run profile data and analytics to help them understand how their body moves, what exercises to help them improve, and what footwear will optimize their improvement opportunities.
Form started within the Nike Sport Research Lab and quickly grew to have partner locations in Boston and Chicago, at Heartbreak Hill, and at Nike’s Blue Ribbon Sports in Santa Monica. In September of 2024, the Form team launched its first mobile unit, dubbed “001,” with test pilots on the Nike campus. The first Form mobile unit deployments were planned for late 2024 to several running events and marathons nationwide.
Using Data to Shape Your Form
Every runner is unique. NSRL Form merges Nike Sport Research Lab’s biomechanics with motion-capture tech to track six running metrics: Slide, Roll, Cross, Bounce, Lean, and Reach. Machine learning creates a personalized running profile, identifies improvement areas, guides you with Nike Training Club exercises, and helps select the right footwear for your needs.
Requirements
Create screens for Form consultations used by the Form team and viewed by consumers. The experience needs to be viewable on iPads and large-format TV screens throughout the space. In addition, Form will be launching in China, and the screens need to be conscious of future language translations.
Solution
I was hired into a contract role to design a premium experience for Form. Having worked with Nike previously I had a lot of trust and autonomy for what direction to go. I wanted to create a consultation experience that maintained a “science” look and feel while simplifying the interface to prevent consumer cognitive overload. My design principles were simplicity, scalability, and openness. Using a subtle color palette and intentional movement and animation. It took me about three weeks to onboard and output the first draft. A few rounds of iterations followed, and implementation began where I worked with development teams to maintain design detail.
