Special Olympics APAC: Encouraging Athletes to Stay Active

At Palo IT, I led the design of a mobile app for Special Olympics Asia Pacific. The challenge was clear: many athletes lost motivation to stay active once the games ended. We needed a way to encourage daily exercise that was engaging, sustainable, and adapted to athletes’ diverse needs.

The Big Idea: Sprout

Through interviews with athletes and their caregivers, we discovered an important insight: athletes often loved taking care of something else, whether a pet or a plant. That led to our aha moment. We introduced Sprout, a virtual plant that could only stay alive and grow if the athlete completed exercises throughout the day.

Every workout came from pre-established Special Olympics training regimens, ensuring exercises were safe, familiar, and adapted for different abilities. By gamifying activity through Sprout, we created a system that rewarded consistency and gave athletes a tangible sense of achievement.

Designing with Empathy

We conducted qualitative research with athletes, families, and coaches to ensure the app worked across a wide spectrum of needs. Key design choices included:

• Clear, simple interactions to reduce cognitive load

• Video-led workouts for easy guidance and motivation

• Visual cues and reinforcement to keep focus and reduce distraction

• Positive feedback loops through the growth of Sprout

My Role

I drove the product strategy and the creative vision, shaping Sprout as the central concept. As lead designer, I owned the art direction, interaction design, and research synthesis, collaborating with visual designers and stakeholders to bring the idea to life.

Impact

• Launched across APAC, providing ongoing support for Special Olympics athletes

• Helped athletes and families maintain healthy routines beyond the games

• Demonstrated how empathetic research and product strategy could uncover a motivating, human-centered solution

My Leadership Lens

This project represents the kind of design leadership I value most: finding a deep user insight, translating it into a big idea, and aligning stakeholders to make it real. Sprout was more than a feature. It was a strategy to sustain motivation and independence for athletes who deserved long-term support.