Abstract
Sports technology enhances athletes’ performance by providing feedback. However, interaction techniques of current devices may overwhelm athletes with excessive information or distract them from their performance. Despite previous research, design knowledge on how to interact with these devices to prevent such occasions are scarce. To address this gap, we introduce subtle displays as real-time sports performance feedback output devices that unobtrusively present low-resolution information. In this paper, we conceptualize and apply subtle displays to tennis by designing Tactowel, a texture changing sports towel. We evaluate Tactowel through a remote user study with 8 professional tennis players, in which they experience, compare and discuss Tactowel. Our results suggest subtle displays could prevent overwhelming and distracting athletes through three distinct design strategies: (1) Restricting the use excluding duration of performance, (2) using the available routines and interactions, and (3) giving an overall abstraction through tangible interaction. We discuss these results to present design implications and future considerations for designing subtle displays.
Highlights
Sports performance feedback is crucial for athletes to enhance their performance, increase their self-efficacy and motivation [1,2]
Our aim in this study is to explore subtle displays and our design strategies implemented in Tactowel for giving real-time sports performance feedback without overwhelming and distracting tennis players
The results endorsed our problem statement and design rationale, while extending the current approach. We discuss these results according to the three distinct design strategies we implemented in Tactowel and their design implications related to subtle displays
Summary
Sports performance feedback is crucial for athletes to enhance their performance, increase their self-efficacy and motivation [1,2]. Previous research shows that tennis players expect real-time sports performance feedback (i.e., “Your head is not in the game”) from these technologies, instead of physiological metrics provided by them (i.e., burnt calories) [11]. Previous research exhibits receiving sports feedback is critical for sportspeople’s development, as well as to increase their motivation and self-efficacy [1,2] To receive this feedback, athletes who do not have access to trainers or coaches use sports technologies, especially wearable devices, which provide various physiological metrics on the performance, such as heart rate or burnt calories [3]. This information remains unprocessed, not being actionable for many sportspeople
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