FIND A PLAYER
UX Research | Competitors Analysis | UX/ UI Design
Project Background
Find a Player is a multi-platform app designed to take the pain out of organizing and finding players for sports, games & events They have received multiple startup awards for their innovative concept.
The app covers over 140 different sports and has 2 core functions.
-
Acts as a hub between players and games on a local basis.
-
Simplifies the process of organizing a game
Duration - October - November 2021 (5 Weeks)
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Tools
Figma, Trello
UX Methods
User Interviews, Prototyping
The Challenge
The Stakeholders mentioned that user's use the app to organize games use it primarily to fill in few spots left that haven't otherwise been filled via other channels for their game, If all game organizers found players only through the app, this could lead to significant growth for the app.
The goal of our collaboration was to increase retention and engagement which would help in the growth of the app.
The Solution
Using the research gathered from the first two weeks, I worked on creating a loyalty program.
-
Firstly, I redesigned the keys screens – Events Screen and Player Profile to allow better interaction between players and organizers and within the app.
-
Secondly, I worked on integrating a loyalty program within these screens to motivate the Players and Organizers by adding incentives to use the app.
Understanding the App
Started my internship understanding the company, their mission, and studying the existing data which was already collected from the users by Find a Player.
I did a thorough study on the app as it currently stood to understand the company's vision and the pain points of being a user while keeping in mind user retention and growth.
I prepared a Strengths and Weakness walkthrough review of the app and put together a presentation highlighting the inconsistencies and the area that needed improvement.
Research
Market Research
I started looking for real-world solutions that other companies were using to achieve the viral growth that Find a Player was looking for. Since they didn’t have any direct competitors, I looked for loyalty programs in the market since my focus was on retention and increasing user interaction.
Only certain features and functionalities of mobile apps can change the way you motivate your customers to stay loyal. After in-depth research, I zeroed in on a few options of how a loyalty program might look for Find A Player.
Ideation
The goal was to get input from the stakeholder and developers. I also used Miro to share our ideas and had a fun and collaborative session with the team. The interactive board had stickers for them to paste on the ideas they liked the best and what they considered “doable”.
I sketched out some solutions which I ran by the developers, to hear their input on the feasibility of the designs.
This helped me narrow down what I should work on in terms of a deliverable to wrap up the project
Brainstorming
I facilated a collaborative session with the developers and stakeholders to understand the feasibilities of my ideas and also ran some priliminary sketch with them.
User Flow
Redesigned key screens to make them easier to use. Introduced a reward system and showed up on the player profile to promote user engagement to make playing more enjoyable. Introduced celebration pop-ups for small wins with personalized messages congratulating users on what they've accomplished and encouraging them to keep going. I hope this continuous encouragement boosts the user's confidence in their abilities. Introduced a newsfeed to allow users to feel a sense of community with fellow players thus increasing interaction.
Hi-Fi wireframes
Learnings
This project is a hands-on practice to translate my ideas into the redesign. Given the scope of the project, limited resources, and timeline to do proper user research, keeping in mind that this is a functional app currently and I couldn't really change much and I had to keep in mind the existing screens, I framed this project to optimize user experience within Find A Player's existing functionalities.
I realized that those user interviews were insufficient to understand different user segments but enough to reveal insights to improve micro-interactions, which engage users with the product but are often overlooked. Spending time with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders of the company helped me develop a sense of the complexity of my task as a UX designer.
It’s not just about delivering data; it’s about speaking their language in order to help everyone be as efficient as possible. Working as a team made the challenges of working on a real-world project more smooth and easy.
It improved my communication and design work.
