THE TEAM
Sunny Lee - Interaction Designer
John Grace - User Researcher
Irene Huberman - Visual Designer
DURATION
2 Weeks
CLIENT
Jason Evans - Developer & expert pool player
TOOLS
Sketch, InVision, Omnigraffle, Pen & Paper, Post-Its, Whiteboard, Keynote
PLATFORM
iPhoneX, iOS
OVERVIEW
Play Pool is a digital product designed to help pool players find and schedule matches with other players of similar skill and experience. The app is currently being developed by Jason Evans and is scheduled to officially launch in Q1 of 2019.
Our client had already started developing the initial framework of his application, so we were brought in to perform a heuristic analysis and shore up any gaps that we found in his design to get the product to market as quickly as possible.
FIRST STEPS
Identify the app’s early adopters and design a framework specific to them. Determine which features would be necessary and construct an minimum viable product prototype that was as easy as possible to use.
Heuristic evaluation by John Grace
THE APPROACH
Due to the quick turnaround, we decided to work backwards from our ‘fixed’ delivery date. Our first step, was to evaluate our client’s initial design by usability testing the system, and the issues we identified were drawn up to develop our statement of work. After our SOW was approved by the client, we each had approximately 4-days in our respective roles before handing-off the baton to the next person in the pipeline.
CHALLENGES
After completing our heuristic analysis of the application, these were the first 3 issues we needed to sort out.
SKILL LEVEL ASSESSMENT
With so many different rating systems available to us, we analyzed each one to identify the most widely accepted system. It’s also difficult to rate your own skill level when you’re new to the game.
A GREAT MATCH
Not only were we looking to pair players with similar skill, but we also found a need for them to have similar expectations for the type of game. In most cases, we found that competitive and social players didn’t mix. Often times, competitive players were annoyed with partners that weren’t focused and played casually.
PROMOTING SOCIALIZATION
How do we create a system that encourages users to join and host games with strangers? After the game, if two users become friends, would they be willing to continuously put themselves out there to play with other strangers or try to organize games amongst themselves?
First look at the original Play Pool application developed by Jason Evans
USERS
After examining the spectrum of players, we determined that our early adopter would be our most frequent user, the expert. Due to their desire to search for new competition to improve their skills gives them added incentive to use our app.
Spectrums and situations framework mapping contextual constraints
DANNY
- Professional, Early Adopter
- Skill Lvl: 9/10
- Highly competitive
KEITH
- Firefighter, Late Majority
- Skill Lvl: 7/10
- Mix of competitive and casual play
JAMES
- Bartender, Early Majority
- Skill Lvl: 3/10
- Casual player
Journey map of expert and beginner players as they use the existing app for the first time.
GOAL
Make it easy and fun to expand our users' networks of players and help make new friends. We believe that developing a billiards social network which favors skill, competition, and network associations will spark rapid growth.
AUTHENTICATION
The idea was to allow new users to experience as many features as possible without providing personal information. We'd only request necessary information when absolutely needed and explain our intent to maintain user trust.
Revised log in sequence
SCHEDULING GAMES
This being one of the most important sections of the app, I really wanted to spend as much time testing and designing a robust framework that would serve as the foundation of Play Pool. We decided to redesign methods for searching, hosting and managing games.
GAME TYPES
We discovered that our list of games had to be carefully selected because experts are only experts at certain games. Our researcher John researched and developed a list of games that best fit our local Seattle early adopter demographic. Another factor that we found mattered a great deal to the success of a match was the competitive nature of the opponent.
Left: Original application Right: Latest mid-fidelity design.
SELF-EVALUATION
We searched for ideal short & long-term methods to help people rate themselves accurately. Since most rankings were subjective and relative, we decided that the best course of action was to take a preexisting system that our advanced players were familiar with, and add descriptions that helped provide further clarity around what each rating meant. The end goal was to create better initial pairing to gain user trust.
PROFILE & RECOMMENDATIONS
For players to trust each other and schedule games initially, we determined that profiles were necessary. We created a questionnaire that would help evaluate experience and preferences. With that information, we wanted to create a recommended section on the join games page, that pre-filtered games based on preferences.
MESSAGING & FRIENDS
When we analyzed the original app, we noticed that the developer and user were maintaining two separate lists for messaging and friends. We decided to integrate the 'friend' feature (represented with stars) throughout the application. So when hosting a game, the user is able to host a game with everyone, or only their friends.
We also thought it would've been great to be able to host groups of friends. However, the client was concerned that the motivation to socialize would create a stagnant atmosphere and wanted us to encourage our users to find and host new games.
GAME OUTCOMES
Our client had not yet had a chance to develop this feature, but he wanted to develop an interface that would allow players to evaluate each other after a match. He described a scenario in which a few hours after the game was finished, both players would receive a notification asking for feedback on how the game went. Based on client feedback usability tests and internal discussions, we ended up with our latest design.
Earliest iterations on left.
Visual designs by Irene Huberman
“Looks and feels like a totally modern app”
NEXT STEPS
- Expand the social capabilities by adding a community section which would host local tournaments and schedule events with community leaders.
- Allow players to endorse each other with badges for specific skills after matches.
- Develop digital platform for players to reserve tables.
- Translate iOS mockups for Android design.
LESSONS LEARNED
The development of a clear statement of work was vital in helping our team manage expectations with our client and stay on point. As the interaction designer, I also learned just how important communication between members are. Staying flexible and understanding each member’s motivations is key.