In India, cricket is not just a sport, but a religion for many.
A religion with it's many rituals, followers and Gods.
Even so, with the advancements in technology and home viewing systems, and the added comfort of watching matches on your lazy boy recliner, fewer people prefer going to the stadium and watching the match as it unfolds.
In our systems course we aimed at bridging the gap between the stadium and home viewing by creating innovative strategies to lure more footfall at the stadium and hence, uplift the essence of the game both for the fans and the players.
PHASE I
Ethnographic Research
To understand this situation more deeply, we carried out a 5 week long intensive research involving micro and macro brainstorming, field research, all stakeholder timelines, and quantitative case studies.
For reference, we decided to work on the MCA stadium, Pune for our research and interventions.
RESEARCH
Insights & Design Directions
PHASE II
UX Interventions
After narrowing down our research and design directions, we decided on 3 potential areas for our design interventions.
I Ticketing System
II Spectator Comfort
III Emotion
I - Ticketing System
The new ticketing system has been designed to provide spectators with a hassle-free, personalized ticket buying experience while using it to interact with the players (*Explained under 'Emotion' section) and preserving it as a souvenir/treasured artifact.
Simply book the ticket online, select the seats, and select the merchandise on bookmyshow and receive a mail containing your tickets and all details about the match day.
The merchandise can be collected on the day of the match, from the stadium itself. (*Explained under 'Emotion' section)
One can also buy the ticket directly from the MCA offices in the city and buy the merchandise from the next counter, or at the stadium.
Dedicating a certain number of the seats for NGOs and organizations as a token of appreciation for their efforts, goes a long way in building healthy relationships and creating goodwill.
This also showcases a positive attitude towards the fans which directly converts into more viewership and appreciation towards the sport.
II - spectator comfort
To bridge the gap between stadium and home viewing, many potential areas of intervention were studied, and models were made.
A sport like cricket that enjoys huge viewership, is of great interest to sponsors. The stadium experience can be further enhanced by placing these brands in the right context.
Proposed Sponsor 1 - GODREJ for locker system
Owing from our user research, we learned that under unavoidable circumstances, one needs to carry certain items to the stadium with no place to keep them. These generally include power banks, laptops, purses, suitcases, cigarettes, helmets etc..
By providing a locker facility in partnership with Godrej, our viewers get more freedom to carry their personal items without many restrictions, hence increasing accessibility to the stadium.
While dropping your belongings at a specific gate, a sticker (as a token) would be added to the ticket band. This way the token would remain safe. The seat number acts as the token number.
Proposed Sponsor 2 - PAYTM for food and beverage services
Primary issues in the F&B system at the stadium include vendors entering seat lanes which disturbs the view of the spectators. Another issue is the chaotic interaction with the vendor regarding menu and cash transactions.
This can be avoided by partnering with Paytm and having food stalls away from the seats.
- Food ordered using Paytm app as quick transaction method
can directly get delivered to the seat.
- For cash transactions, spectators can
go to the stall without disturbing anyone's view of the match.
Proposed Premium seat and services
With the advancements in technology, the match viewing experience on TV offers a lot. From HD broadcasting to match statistics and analysis, one can get a much deeper understanding of the match while sitting at home.
Having reserved seats at the stadium at an extra cost, spectators can now have access to all the highlights, player reports, inning comparison graphs, DRS review system and much more at their fingertips, including their munchies.
A screen would be installed at the back of each seat, connected only to the stadium's own software adhering to match highlights, analysis, and food options. A basic UI model follows, showing the basic flow of the proposed software.
III - Emotion
Like any other sport, in cricket too there are victories and losses. Some spectators feeling delighted whereas the others, heartbroken. People connect with not just the sport, but with the players and their personalities as well. This, we thought is a good area for us to intervene and build a more intimate relationship between the players and the fans.
Numerous strategies were hypothesized that extends to pre/post match as well; this ensured a holistic interactive experience for both the fans and the players.
i 12th Man Campaign
ii 360 Degree Panorama Picture
iii Decibel Level
iv Message Box
12th Man Campaign
Indian cricket fans leave no stone unturned when they're supporting their team. In the stadium, the spectators are often regarded as the '12th man' in addition to the 11 on field players. They play a major part in the game by boosting the confidence of their team.
The new campaign 'We the 12th' is aimed at uniting all the lovers of the game by building a fan army. This merges the much diverse crowd and open dialogues between spectators from different backgrounds.
To make this campaign interactive and accessible to all, a wide range of merchandise were developed at the cheapest rates for the spectators. The merchandise was made taking the base color as navy blue, and the number 12 on every product.
Buying and printing the products in bulk makes the merchandise affordable and accessible to all.
Sunglasses - 120 INR
Cap - 130 INR
T-shirt - 200 INR
Bag - 150 INR
Flag - 30 INR
One can either pay and book these merchandise while buying the ticket, or buy them directly from the stall at the stadium.
360 Degree Panorama Picture
One of the strategies was to click a full panorama picture while the national anthem plays. This avoids any glitch in the photo as everyone is standing still.
The photo will be taken from the center of the stadium (as shown below).
It evenly captures the 22 players and all the fans involved in the match.
These pictures can be printed and put up on the '12th army wall' showcasing the army for each and every match played at a particular venue. They can also be emailed, or printed and framed by the end of the match for the spectators to buy.
The intention was to create a tangible deliverable that the fans can take with them as a souvenir.
*Pardon the edit quality
Decibel Level
This one is to appreciate the fans.
Suppose your team is down, and the chances of winning are slim. That's when the 12th man comes in. Making the players aware that you have their back, can spark something extraordinary and turn the match around.
Sound detectors would be used to display the decibel level of the stadium, i.e. the amplitude at which the fans are cheering for their team. The average noise made by fans in professional matches is around 80 - 90 db, but can go as high as 150 and beyond if you're in the right spirit.
This visual representation of the decibel level would serve as a cue to initiate a Mexican wave throughout the stadium. As and when the amplitude crosses a threshold mark, LEDs start lighting up to indicate which stand starts the Mexican wave, and goes around (as follows).
Whether your team is winning or losing, all lovers of the sport present in the stadium unite to carry out this phenomena. This gives the stadium and the players the much needed energy, and at the end, a wholesome experience.
*Pardon me for the video quality
Message box
Real fans support their team in both victory and defeat; they only need a medium to express their emotions. While portals like Twitter and Instagram are common for celebrities and their fans to exchange words and thoughts, handwritten messages have a much deeper impact.
The blank side of the ticket can be used for this purpose. There would be a message box installed at the exit gate. Just like any other letter box, one would be able to slip in their messages to their favorite player/team.
This opens a dialogue between the fans and the players which holds a lot of emotional value to both the parties involved.
PHASE III
Scaled Model
Strategizing various experience interventions is not enough for one to come to a calculated conclusion. Hence, we made a scaled model of the MCA stadium in order to understand the body flow, way-finding, and heat maps, and to visually and physically see our intervention's potential.
Thank you for reading through!
*This model is not in association with, and does not endorse products by Nike, Vivo, Godrej or Paytm.
*This project was solely carried out for the learning process.
