This post was written by Aquent's Alex Weaver. This is a picture of him.
Athletes from the local T-ball team to the NBA rely on Nike to outfit them with stylish uniforms. To make that process easier and more reliable, Nike needed a next generation online sports clothing application. Creating this app however called for a specialized, temporary addition to their crew, someone who would combine left-brained design thinking with right-brained development skills.
Nike's online system for building and ordering uniforms utilized an older version of Flash. Its ActionScript programming was not organized into a central function list nor was it scalable, and the interface needed usability updates. These three issues increased the likelihood of one worst-case scenario: a uniform design would be lost if the connection were broken at any point during the building process.
Inspired by positive placements in the past, Nike contact Tum Hallrud turned to Aquent's Brian Guidry and Suzy Thompson to find the person Nike needed. Within days Aquent talent Mike Slone was placed on assignment and began working with the Nike team both on- and off-site to develop requirements and explore solution options.
Mike started by creating a set of core functions and components which improved scalability because they could be reused in new uniform design projects, thus cutting future development time nearly in half. From there, he retooled the user interface making it more intuitive and letting the user preview the uniform on the fly. He also shortened download times and reduced frustration by ensuring that the uniform was saved to a database as it was being assembled.
Mike saved Nike tens of thousands in development costs and, by streamlining the uniform creation process, improved the user experience and boosted sales. The folks at Nike were so impressed by his superpowers, they retained his services for two years beyond the initial contract.
Now, what do you think of that?
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