Nike+ Apple Watch
As our digital devices shrink in size, they become even more ubiquitous. They become our digital partners, navigating us through the physical world. Fueled by its partnership with Apple and the release of the Apple 2 Watch in 2016, Nike wanted to create a running companion that was so easy to use that it even got the ones that hate running to get up and get out the door.
Our Runner
To further help focus our design direction, we targeted the beginner runner. These were runners that ran at least once a week. They needed motivation and a reason to run on a daily basis.
Design Principles
Simple
Running is hard. Navigating a watch while running is even harder. Let’s make the experience as simple as possible while not disrupting the run.
Motivational
Most beginner runners cite that the lack of motivation is what keeps them from going for a run. Let’s give motivation that’s relevant while pushing and challenging our runners.
Fun
Running is a daunting sport. Being out of breath. Sweating. Worrying about what others think. Let’s make running as approachable as possible.
Process
Over the course of 3 months in partnership with the Nike Innovation team, we worked with the Nike Running and Nike Training teams to establish our core flows for the app. Since the timeline was very short (just several months), most of this work happened in a secret room on campus on a whiteboard. This allowed us to work faster by inviting other teams to review ideas without getting stuck in visual designs and hierarchy and to collaborate with tech teams to ensure that the proposed functionality was feasible. Once all the major pieces were in place, we spent the next several months visualizing the app experience in parallel with tech development.
Pre-Run
The home screen offers enough information for the runner to action on an item while providing further details by scrolling the screen.
In-Run
Navigating your watch on the run is hard, which is why we made running with a watch easy. Once the run has started, the in-run screen displays pace, distance, heart rate, and duration. Double tap to pause. Swipe right to access the pause screen. Swipe left to access music controls. Crown to cycle through metrics.
Post Run
Run summary displayed after completing a GPS run.
Motivation
Holiday push notifications serve timely motivation throughout the year.
Weather push notifications give runners a reason to run even if it’s bad weather.
Additional forms of motivation based on your activity, day of week, and the community.
Actionable motivation from the home screen.
Run with Us
To tie all the runners within the Nike+ Running community together, we launched Nike Running’s first global running event platform with its first event called Just Do It Sundays.
Every Sunday, runners are invited to run a 5K with Kevin Hart leading the charge. At certain milestones, Kevin chimes in with that Kevin Hart charm to get you through the run.
Results
In the first 5 months from launch, the Nike+ community has gained 190K new users through the Apple Watch Nike+
From a base of 750K Active Users, on average 75% are coming back week after week to up their run game.
Recognition
Reference
Nike+ Apple Watch (Nike.com)
Apple & Nike launch the perfect running partner, Apple Watch Nike+ (Apple.com)
Creative Team
Benjamin Williams / Creative Director)
Derek Chan / Associate Creative Director / User Experience
Gene Lu / Associate Creative Director / User Experience
Terrence Ma / User Experience
Gabriel Cheung / Associate Creative Director / Visual Design
Masa Tanaka / Design Director
Jessica Necor / Visual Designer
Matthew Boncek / Senior Producer
Nancy Ward / Producer
