IBM has been tracking the data of the world’s top 100 tennis players for more than eight years. For the second time, we brought this data to life at the 2013 U.S. Open. Our goal was speed—more energy, more movement and more gestures—to capitalize on the action on the court. Our user experience has multiple levels of interaction, each masterfully crafted to consider audience, context and take-away. The target audience was anyone visiting the U.S. Open exposition—players, fans, press, young and old, the tennis savvy and newcomers to the sport.

We engaged tennis “cartographers” in an effort to get to the core of the sport. Their insights helped us design the nuances that surround every point, game, set and match. This data, coupled with IBM’s built-in data correlations, helped us visualize game play in fun ways. Over 17 days, users initiated an average of 1,700 sessions per day. By allowing multiple users to engage in a simple, fun and communal experience, we were successful in creating an immersive interactive experience that added value to the IBM brand as one that uses data in compelling ways.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/case-study-us-open/]

“The world is awash in data. Making that data meaningful and accessible is increasingly the domain of designers. This solution for the US Open not only makes complex data clear, it makes it beautiful, engaging and fun. It’s a richly nuanced example of information and experience design.” —Christopher Simmons