A mobile social platform for gamers to find their ideal player 2 or expand their gaming circle in a safer environment. Make friends with like-minded gamers worldwide and cultivate lasting relationships through gaming.
UI/UX Designer
Personal Project
UX Research & Design, Mobile UI Design, Branding
As an avid gamer, sometimes I find it hard to match my gaming schedules with my friends or for them to be willing to try out new games that I enjoy. Furthermore, playing alone wouldn’t be as fun as playing with my friends especially if the game is very team-centric where teamwork is vital.
As a female gamer, the behaviour of random teammates in such games towards me can ruin the gaming experience. So, I wanted to figure out a way to find gamers to play with safely and efficiently.
Due to constraints, I could not organise any user interviews. However, I conducted an online survey using Google Forms to understand the behaviours of gamers when it comes to playing games with others and any challenges faced. This survey consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questions. A total of 15 respondents assisted me in gaining insight on the problem.
A few sample questions that were asked are as follows:
Gaming is a common way for people to destress and playing with friends makes gaming a lot more fun. However, finding friends who can get on at the same time and enjoy the same type of games can be hard to find.
Even though gaming communities exists for networking, they’re not feasible to discover and make friends with like-minded gamers. Meanwhile, playing solo in team-centric games can negatively affect the gaming experience due to random teammates.
A digital solution to connect gamers through the games that they enjoy all on one platform. Discover new people that will have the same mindset towards gaming and expand their gaming friend circle to always have the best gaming experience.
I downloaded and analysed two applications, one of which was a direct competitor and the other an indirect competitor but well-known in the gaming industry.
I navigated through these apps and assessed their strengths and weaknesses. I also collated relevant reviews from the App Store and Google Play Store to understand users challenges with the apps.
Based on the survey results and competitive analysis, I brainstormed important features that could be included in the app.
I also created a visual representation of the user’s journey from beginning to end, to devise improvements for the user experience.
This user flow was created to ideate how a user would navigate through the application.
Before working on the lo-fi wireframes, I sketched on paper to have a brief idea of the user flows and ideate all the necessary information for the different screens.
Following that, I then moved on to create the lo-fi wireframes using Figma to have a clearer overview of the app. It also provides a better understanding towards the hierarchy of information, functionality and layout.
Before working on designing the app, I also ideated the app logo, Duo. I wanted to design a logo that could seamlessly unite 3 main elements that I wanted the app to represent — people, gaming, and a lasting relationship.
I also had to consider the branding style, typefaces and colours to be used to represent the app. This also included the typography scale to ensure consistency of the information hierarchy throughout the app design process.
Once I started working on designing the app interface, I also had to organise the app components that I would be using in Figma. This prevents any discrepancies in the colour, style and sizes of the different components throughout the app.
After the first round of designing the app, I prototyped the app in Figma and included the different flows for testing. This prototype helps simulate the actual app once it has been developed.
I then did my own usability testing as I was unable to conduct the testing with others. I went through the different flows to identify any possible pain points which would hinder the user experience.
I managed to identify three main pain points while going through the app.
Inability to search for specific games if users can already follow certain games to stay updated on its content when setting up their account
Users are unsure if discovery is already set up based on their profile information and would have to reselect filters that they have already entered ie. location, language, games.
Users are forced to link their contacts even if they just intend to share an invite link to their friends
After identifying the different pain points, I proceeded come up with solutions and make corrections to each screen to optimise the user experience.
The addition of “Game” tab in the search results so users can search for specific games and also view content based on each game. They can then choose to follow these games to stay updated on whatever content is posted for said game.
To specify that discovery is automatically made based on information provided in the user’s profile. However, they can still choose to personalise their discovery based on their specific needs.
To allow users to share invite links to their friends even without linking their contacts.
An application to discover gamers through the games that they enjoy and build last relationships.
New users will be guided through the different features that Duo has to offer.
The moment users sign up, they will be able to personalise their account with their gaming interests. Suggested follows allows them to curate their own personal social feed once they have completed the sign up process.
Once their account has been set, the home screen provides them with a social feed made just for them. They will be given them all the gaming information that are relevant to what they like.
Other than that, they can also search for fellow gamers or game topics to follow.
They are able to create new posts to connect with other gamers or even look for possible teammates for the different games that they play.
Of course, the main part of the app is its discovery feature. At the first use, users will be guided on how to the discover feature functions. They can then go right ahead to look through fellow gamers before deciding if they want to make friends.
However, they will not be able to connect unless the gamer that they’re trying to connect with gives them a like as well. This creates a mutual intention to build a friendship through gaming. Only then can they start conversing with each other.
Knowing that making new friends can be a daunting experience for some, there is also a filter option to narrow down all the gamers within the app and find those that users are more comfortable to connect with.
Since this app is meant to connect gamers through their mutual games, users would have to add their gaming list to enhance their discovery of gamers and of their profile for others to match with. Users can subsequently edit their gaming list should they no longer have an interest in certain games.
Designing the app generated over 70 screens to cover the different features of the app, mainly the social feed, friend list, discovery, messaging, and user profile. Here are the snippets of the social platform app, Duo.
Throughout the design process of the app, each design has also been evaluated for its colour contrast to ensure that it at least meets AA requirements.
Following the shipment of the app, I also wanted to envision the progression of the app development moving forward.
Given the time to actually build the app, I wanted to be able to add more features in the future to improve the user experience of the app, namely:
Working on a product concept project on my own proved to be very challenging. It restricted me from making a more in-depth research to provide the most optimal solution. However, I managed to make do with whatever research was done, with inspiration from my own experiences in order to build this project.
My motivation towards this project stemmed from my existing experience towards the problem. One way I could’ve improved the project process was to conduct proper usability testing with potential users. Feedback from these users could have provided a more impactful insight on how to refine the experience.
