Project Details
Background
The client for this project was the founder of Silly Sports LLC and organizes several pickleball leagues and cornhole speed dating leagues in Chicago. The client was looking to support the Cornhole Speed Dating leagues with an application that would allow participants to connect digitally after meeting physically.
Project Goal
The goal of this project was to create a platform for managing and organizing dating leagues and activities in order to enable users to meet new people and make connections.
The project deliverables were to design, test, and hand off to the client an MVP for an app to support the Cornhole Speed Dating League. The client requested that the product solution primarily serve the cornhole leagues, but be open ended to accommodate additional leagues.
Discover
Research Summary
I conducted research to understand the motives, behaviors, and pain points of single men and women participating in the cornhole speed dating league. I wanted to learn why people are choosing to participate, what they are looking to get out of the league, and how their experience might be enhanced. I also wanted to understand at a high level what the challenges are when trying to connect with new people.
Who
(Target Users)
- Single men and women in their 20s and 30s
- Living in Chicago
- Current participant
- Interested in participating
- League admin
What
(Objectives)
- Understand how users approach dating
- Evaluate current player experience
- Identify league pain points for players and admins
- Understand the relationship between league play and meeting new people
How
(Methods)
- Method 1: Survey
- Method 2: Competitive Analysis.
- Method 3: User Interviews
Competitive Analysis
The market space for this project is very specific as it falls within both social (dating) and lifestyle (game play). I choose to compare competitors that fal in both spaces. The first three competitors are products that organize events and the last two products facilitate game play for cornhole or other games. Strengths of these products include the ability to have a profile and view other user profiles, interact and connect with other users, optimize schedules and game play, and have single point of access for all activities.
User Interviews
I interviewed 7 participants, including 2 league admins, 4 league players, and 1 prospective player. From the interviews I began to see pain points emerge within the themes of enjoying a casual activity, meeting and connecting with new people, and coordinating match ups.
Define
User Personas
I created two user personas to represent two distinct sets of needs. The “hesitant to hang” personas represents a user who is a bit more laid back in their approach to dating and is a bit more passive in the way they interact with others. The “single and ready to mingle” persona represents a more active user who is looking for more engagement and interaction, especially from a digital platform.
Site Map & User Flow
The site map was set up in a way that would organize each main feature into a tab so each menu item would serve a different goal. For the user flow I decided to address two main user goals: viewing the user’s schedule and making changes, and connecting with dates.
Design
Low Fidelity Wireframes
I began prototyping out the screens necessary for the two user flows with low fidelity wireframes. The user flows I created are based on a returning user, so I created a few extra wireframes for a first time user and set up. Prior to entering the app, there is a landing page for log in or signup, followed by a sign up form. There is also a form for joining a league or signing up for an event, which the user would complete in order to view home page content, league details, or be able to connect with other players in a league.
Landing Page / Sign Up
Find and Join a League / Event
Home Page
View League Details
Connect With Players
Brand Development
Brand Identity
Friendly, Fun, Welcoming, Approachable, Unintimidating, High Quality, Well Run
Typface
Color Palette
Moodboard
Logo Design
Ideation
Final Logo Design
UI Kit
My approach to designing the user interface was to balance the playfulness of the brand and the activity with the intentionality of dating and connection. Users want basic information that is digestible, light, condensed, and easy to understand at a quick glance. To address this need, I designed several variations of card components containing buttons, icons, and imagery. There was very little need or place for lengthy body text. I iterated upon the size of the cards based on the cards purpose and the hierarchy of the content. Components were styled with soft corners to maintain the playfulness vivid. Vivid accent colors were applied to inspire boldness in dating and convey clear action.
High Fidelity Mockups
Usability Testing
The objective of usability testing was to have participants complete three user flows and evaluate their ability to complete the tasks according to usability principles. The goal of the first user flow was to observe if users could identify what time they were scheduled to play. The goal of the second user flow was to evaluate if users could request a sub. The goal of the third user flow was to understand if users could view dates from prior weeks.
I conducted my usability testing on site. I was able to observe and speak to participants during the Monday night speed dating league. As a result, I experienced authentic and emotional reactions from players.
Results revealed that the homepage provided the appropriate amount of basic information.
Results also showed that users appreciated the ease of requesting subs and found it simple to do in minimal steps.
Feedback was divided about matching with dates. Many users found the list of dates to be a good way to remember names they had forgotten. Some users were skeptical about sharing personal info.
Deliver
Revisions
I collected a list of iterations to make from usability testing and prioritized 4 main revisions. I also made several iterations to improve accessibility and readability, including adjusting the header colors, adjusted image opacity, and increased touch area for the icon selection. Shown below are 2 sample revisions.
Revision 1
Visually differentiates the current week from prior or future weeks. The interaction was changed from a tap to a swipe to increase touch accessibility and ease of scrolling.
Revision 2
An iteration of the date profile cards. The list of dates shown after league play contains minimal information about a user to protect privacy.
Conclusion
Challenges
The most challenging part of this project was trying to solve for both emotional and physical needs. The prompt from the client was incredibly open ended, and it was a challenge to narrow the scope and define the project in a way that would address the problem users wanted to be solved the most. It was crucial that the solution kept the user needs at the center of the design in order to prevent the product from trying to accomplish too much.
Lessons Learned
I learned how important empathy is in research. The problem wasn’t something I necessarily related to, but in order to fully identify user wants, needs, and behaviors I needed to empathize. It wasn’t enough to conduct interviews over the phone. I found I learned the most through immersive research when I was in person, present for the speed dating league game play.
Takeaways
My main takeaway from this project is the importance translating insights from research into design goals and feature solutions. All design solutions must be rooted back to a clear user need, or else they won’t make sense to the user and the product will be difficult to use. Three or four features that work well and provide value are better than a dozen features that have no purpose.