SAP Garden, Munich's new multifunctional sports arena, is currently being constructed to be the future home for Munich's beloved sports teams: EHC Red Bull Munich (ice hockey) and FC Bayern Basketball. With great enthusiasm in sports and how technology can be apply to it, I joined the team to develop a digital solution for the sustainable objective of the SAP Garden. I worked as the sole UX designer in a cross-functional team consisting of 5 members (product manager, software engineer * 2, AI engineer, UX designer). We worked within the agile software development framework and carried the lean mindset throughout the project which can be summarised as "Test often! Fail Fast!" My main responsibility in the project includes:

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• Contributing with creative input at the ideation phase
• Validating our assumptions and pin pointing user's pain points with user research (e.g. interview, field experiment, etc.)
• Creating Low-fi and Hi-fi prototypes
• Conducting user testing
• Iteratively refining the user experience and the visual design of the mobile application

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SAP, Red Bull, and FC Bayern had the goal to build the most sustainable modern sports arena in Europe. Therefore, sustainability can't be just a buzz word and has to be incorporated into every detail of SAP Garden. For instance, the materials for the construction and certainly the carbon footprints produced by the stadium visitors. Subsequently, the challenge was set by our stakeholders from SAP x Red Bull x FC Bayern with a WIBG question: "Wouldn‘t it be great to motivate fans to find the most intelligent and sustainable way to enter and leave the SAP Garden?"

We started by summarising the research result from the design team of the current Red Bull Munich & FC Bayern Basketball mobile app @ Designit. Then, we continued with a competitor analysis. The outcome showed that there is no application of sports venue that tackles the sustainability issue as we intended to. On the other hand, we found various apps that work with the similar concept in other sectors. For instance, the city of Aachen launched aachen.move to reward the residents that commute with sustainable alternatives.

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Essentially, we needed to understand user's pain points and validate user's reaction to potential features. We had two bold assumptions that were luckily proven to be wrong during our preliminary user interviews:

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1. Users need help to find the best way to get to the stadium.
2. Crowded public transport is a big pain point for users.

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Basically, it means that users don't need another way-finding app to replace Google Map. Besides, users expect the public transport to be packed on a game day and sometimes enjoy the feeling of getting to the arena with other fans together.

As our app has to know how the users commute to SAP Garden, we acknowledge that the mobility data of the users is the underlying asset of our app. Therefore, we have to know whether the fans are willing to share their mobility data with us for the sustainability purpose. To test this out, we built a mini-experiment and conducted it with the fans at a regular season match of Red Bull Munich (Figma link to the mini-experiment). The in-field experiment gave us confident result that all interviewed fans allowed us to track their mobility data.

The general impression on our concept and UI design was profoundly positive. Below are some testimonials from the fans (in German language):

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"Ich finde es gut in der heutigen Zeit bildlich vorzuzeigen was man positiv verändern kann. Man könnte viele Leute in die richtige Richtung bewegen." - Red Bull Munich Fan Michi

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"Ich würde die App sofort weiterempfehlen!" - FC Bayern Basketball Fan Louis

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The majority of the test users navigated through the UI without any problem. And most importantly, all participants could give a fairly clear explanation about the concept of the app and what is designed for. The validation of our idea gave us a solid foundation to move on to the next stage of creating Hi-fi prototype. Nonetheless our team aims to go the extra miles for a phenomenal user experience. Therefore, we interpreted the user testing to identify several points for improvement:

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1. Some users said that they might abandon the app after 5+ times of usage since the novelty factor will be disappearing.
2. Some users are keenly interested in the sustainability and environment topic. Therefore, they would like to know exactly how the carbon emission calculation of our app works. Moreover, they would like to read about how sustainability is incorporated in other parts of SAP Garden.
3. Some users strongly expressed their willingness of getting greener not just as an individual, but in a community.
4. Some users suggested adding more options for modes of transport and rewards.

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1. Set enorm focus on the gamification aspect of the app! We used the widely applied the "Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioural Design" from Yu-kai Chou to motivate the fans building the sustainable commuting habit. For instance, we used the core drive "Unpredictability" by revealing all CO2 scores simultaneously at the first game break. Additionally, the core drive "Social Influence" is in play here as the fans compare their CO2 savings with their friends or seat neighbours.
2. Provide a link to an extensive description of carbon emission calculation and the sustainability sub-section on the website of SAP Garden.
3. Adjust the dashboard and CO2 score reveal screen to convey the feeling of SAP Garden community. Add visual elements and modify the phrasing of titles & texts.
4. Add mode of transport options like electric vehicle and rewards like tree/plant seed. Needless to say, more options can be added and the exiting options can be adjusted after the launch of the app.