Designing for Lifelong Sports Experience

In recent years, design for behaviour change by means of design and technology has been the focus of a large body of research. Advancements in personal informatics systems and applications of these in research have testified to the potential of design for behaviour change strategies in the context of sports and exercise. However, these efforts have been mainly focused at people who are new to sports and not so much at people who are already active. With the success of design for behaviour change studies, this group of more active users (i.e., active exercisers) with an interest in personal informatics has grown. The needs of this group of users are different from those who are unable or unwilling to change their activity behaviour. While the latter might lack knowledge and motivation to change behaviour, active exercisers are already motivated and are willing to stay physically active. Thus, this paper draws out the need and importance of a shift in the focus of designing for physical activity tracking, and discusses the significance of designing for lifelong sports experience.