"Playpal brings sports enthusiasts together, helping you discover fellow players and suitable venues for your favorite sports. Whether you're into team sports or solo activities, find your perfect match and play on. Your sports community awaits!"
This is a group project from the course "Introduction to Interaction Design" from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It was a 3 months long project spanning out through the entire semester from August 2023 to December 2023.
I took complete ownership of creating brand guidelines, components, as well as low and high-fidelity prototypes from start to finish. Additionally, I actively contributed to creating personas, conducting competitive analysis, and various aspects of the UX process. Furthermore, I conducted 2 out of 8 user interviews and performed 2 usability tests after each design iteration on our potential users.
A lot of people do not have the time and resources readily available to them to find people and/or places to play sports. Some sports also require more than one person to practice or play. It’s hard to find a space and community where people can connect with others with the same sports of interests.
The project was completed in December 2023. Through a number of user testings and redesigns, we were able to create a feature packed application called PlayPal which was ready to be shipped for development. This app has a lot of potential and there are plans to start work on this business idea in the later stages of 2024.
Our application's onboarding process underwent thorough user testing and refinement to ensure a smooth user experience. During the initial sign-up, the app focuses on gathering key information about the user: their sports interests and proficiency levels.
On Playpal's homepage, users can view nearby sports based on their initial preferences. We also offer the convenience of booking nearby courts privately. The app's events and space pages provide informative details without overwhelming users with excessive information.
On Playpal, we made it easy for users to create public events by booking a court and setting an entry fee. The workflow prioritized simplicity and customization, undergoing three iterations of design and user testing to arrive at a straightforward solution.
In our initial plan, we envisioned a community section for users to interact and discuss sports. However, upon conducting fake door testing to gauge user interest, we observed that in a sports application, users prefer quick interactions. They primarily seek nearby events to participate in or book a nearby venue for sports activities. Recognizing this behavior, we made the strategic decision to remove the community section entirely.
We conducted a total of 8 interviews, consolidating the data to form 2 user personas (primary and secondary). Throughout the design iterations—starting from paper prototypes to low-fidelity wireframes and high-fidelity wireframes—we tested our user flows. Additionally, we performed usability heuristic testing on our final prototypes.
To simplify the friend-adding process, syncing contacts allows for seamless direct chatting with nearby friends without any hassle.
For users who prefer a quick overview of app features, we offer the option to skip onboarding. However, we maintain profile completion progress through a circular bar overlay on the profile icon, ensuring a constant reminder to complete the process.
In my prior work, I worked as a solo UX Designer on every project. Here, collaborating with three other UX Designers taught me the importance of sharing ideas and collectively finding solutions to a shared problem.
This project for my Interaction Design course at the University of Michigan required completing each phase within a short timeframe. It provided valuable insights into effectively managing time during a project, acknowledging that real-world scenarios involve varied durations for different steps.
