End-to-end app design to find, create, & play pickup sports games.
Convenient sports at your fingertips with Pickup Pal
There is a sharp decline in sports participation among adults as they age
the problem
User interviews uncovered that people are busy and do not like paying expensive prices for sports. Also when people do get the free time for sports, they struggle to find others to play with.
“It’s challenging to make time for sports between work, parenting, friends, etc.”
🫤
-research participant
the solution
Pickup Pal
A pickup sports app in which users can sign up for & create one-time games of their choice. They pay as they play for ultimate flexibility and affordability.
“This is so convenient and it doesn’t break the bank, that’s a plus!”
🤩
-research participant
the process
Project background
Going into this project I had to choose a topic. I chose to focus on fitness/training as that is a hobby of mine. Next, I found an interesting statistic that I wanted to explore: Over 50% of children ages 6-17 years old participate in organized sports in the United States. While just 40% of 18-25 year old’s, 26% of 26-49 year old’s, and 20% of adults aged 50+ play sports.
🖌️ project type
End-to-end mobile app
⌛ timeline
100 hours
💁🏼♀️ role
Sole UX researcher + designer
support from Designlab mentor & critique facilitators
🔧 tools
Zoom
Figma/Figjam
Google Docs/Sheets
why solve this problem?
Moving your body is important
Sports can encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Improves physical health
Builds strong bones & muscles
Reduces the risk of / helps manage weight & chronic conditions
Improves sleep quality, blood circulation, immunity, cardiovascular health, coordination, balance, & energy levels
Improves mental health
Reduces stress & anxiety
Provides happiness, challenges, life lessons, & personal growth
Encourages social interaction, skill development, confidence building, & problem solving/teamwork/leadership skills
planning the research
Research goals
Discover the wants, needs, goals, and challenges people face in regards sports so that I can create a product to encourage sports participation among adults.
Gain insight on people’s experiences while participating in sports
Uncover the potential challenges people who play sports face
Understand why people have stopped playing sports
Explore the competitors
user interviews
Getting to know the players
8 participants: 6 who currently play sports & 2 who recently stopped playing sports (age range: 20-53 years old).
following the findings
My hypothesis was wrong
When choosing this topic I went in with an open mind but hypothesized that the challenges people faced while participating in sports would be centered around their physical fitness/sports abilities and I expected to create some sort of fitness, health, or training app BUT the research took me elsewhere.
The challenges people face are:
⌚ Time
💰 Money
👫 Gathering people to play
The busy bee
who am i designing for?
Identifying problems & product goals
from insights to actions
Insight: People are busy which causes them to miss games / not sign up for sports.
POV: I’d like to explore ways to help make sports more convenient for people.
HMW: How might we create a product that helps people find sports to participate in at a convenient time for them?
Insight: People do not like paying expensive prices for sports.
POV: I’d like to explore ways to make sports more affordable for people.
HMW: How might we create a product that helps people find affordable options for sports?
Insight: People struggle when trying to find others to play sports with / creating teams.
POV: I’d like to explore ways to connect sports players with one another.
HMW: How might we create a product that allows people to find others to play sports with?
solution ideation
Organized sports are off the table
One thought was to design a product in which people can filter through sports leagues and find one that fits their needs (sport, day, time, price, location, etc.) and include a social aspect so users can connect with others and possibly create a team together but this does not entirely solve my users’ problems. What if the user’s sports league of choice does not offer affordable prices or times they are available to play?
Due to the wanted flexibility / affordability organized sports are not an option.
🎯 GOAL Create a pickup sports app in which users can sign up for and create one-time games of their choice. They pay as they play for ultimate flexibility & affordability.
competitive analysis
Exploring the industry
Skill level is important to the players
looking at the details
I took a look back at user interviews to browse players opinions on pickup vs organized sports. I noticed 75% of users brought up skill level when discussing their experiences (unprompted by interview questions) therefore it will be included within the app.
Where / how will this information be included?
Should people define themselves as a beginner, intermediate, or expert player on their profile?
Should players rate other players competition level after playing with them?
X People may not want that information shared with the public
X People may perceive themselves differently than others perceive them
X People may not like being being rated
Solution: Hosts will create games and include the desired competition level.
opinions can vary
What is considered to be affordable?
Affordable is a relative term therefore all games will be FREE of charge / game hosts will NOT profit (hosts may only charge if renting out a space to play & each player will be charged equal amounts)
Determining terminology
There are many different words to describe skill level: beginner, recreational, advanced, competitive, novice, intermediate, experienced, expert, etc.
I decided to give users three options to chose from: beginner, intermediate, & advanced. I chose these 3 terms in order to provide the most accurate skill level of a game while also avoiding choice paralysis within users
I went back to 4 previous interview participants and had them match pre-written definitions to each word
All 4 participants placed the words accordingly
mapping out ideas
Prioritizing features
user flows
Where and how users will achieve their goals
Introducing…
note: for usability test 2 there was a success screen added after signing up for a game & after creating one (not shown flows above)
branding
Discover with ease
The company name will be short, simple, and included within the logo (whether or not an illustration be added). Long/complex names are not easily remembered and a stand alone illustration for a brand new app is not easily recognized.
Approximately 65% of app downloads result from searches on the App Store. People search specific keywords to find an app that solves their problems; therefore selecting a name that aligns with common search terms was of huge importance. In addition, potential users won’t always read an app’s description, so having a name that explains its features can provide a massive advantage.
Exploring keywords
When searching “sports” in the App Store I was bombarded with all sorts of apps such as betting, news, stats, fantasy, live games/highlights etc. & when searching “sports games” I was presented with hundreds of virtual sport games to play on your phone
“Recreational sports” & “pickup sports” gave me the desired results: an abundance of in-person sports games to participate in
The brand name “Pickup Pal” is a fun-loving play on words in which the app is your “pal”; there for you to depend on. The color scheme embodies a sense of energy, enthusiasm, and trust; with orange emphasizing sports intensity and blue reliability. I referred back to my interview participants for typography concerns and they chose font Roboto Flex, as it gave a more “sports-like” feel compared to the others.
usability testing
Putting the players to work
２
Usability tests
Test one was conducted using mid-fidelity prototypes. Test two used high-fidelity prototypes.
２
Flows tested
Join a pickup basketball game & create your own pickup game.
８
Total participants
Test one included the 8 participants from user interviews. For test two, 4 of those participants were able to return and participate again.
what worked well & what needs work
100% success rate on both flows… but not with ease
How Pickup Pal addressed user needs
final design
Users have the ability to: create and sign up for one-time pickup sports games.
Without having to: commit to games they won’t be able to make, pay high prices, or struggle to find players.
reflection
Learnings💡
Users like simplicity. Good design does not always need to be extravagant to be successful.
Be mindful of your biases and keep an open mind throughout the whole process. Prior to interviews, I believed the challenges people faced while participating in sports would be centered around their physical fitness / sports abilities and expected to create some sort of fitness, health, or training app but the interviews uncovered other factors.