GameReady: Your Sports Community

GameReady: Your Sports Community

Time is valuable — we did the work so you can learn the sport.

My Role

When conceptualizing a minimal viable product for GameReady, I was responsible for the following:

  • User interviews;

  • Market research;

  • Information architecture;

  • Branding and UI design system;

  • Usability testing;

  • Prototyping.

Sports are Fun!

As you get older, sports aren’t available in the same fun way. Waking hours turn into working hours, and spare time is split between staying social, staying active, and enjoying your time – the perspective and focus change.

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

What’s Changed?

While 73% of adults 30+ years old played sports as a kid, only 24% still continue to play due to the many barriers to entry.

  • There are limited coaches, leagues, and lessons that actually target the proper skill level and are local enough to fit into someone’s day-to-day life.

  • The best way to get started is to have 1:1 coaching, or at least small group learning so you can get personalized feedback — that is expensive though! Then add the cost of equipment and transportation and the price to play gets quite high.

  • There is an unwritten rule that as you get older you have this basic understanding of all things — that is an unsupported assumption. It is completely normal to not know everything, and starting from square one is important.

  • Life becomes a balance of all things — work, social life, kids, errands, activities to stay healthy — the list feels like it’s never-ending. Where do sports fall on that list?

  • Learning something brand new is difficult, there is a feeling of defeat before you even start. Add the possibility of having to balance learning something new with building completely new relationships with community members and teammates, and for some people, that anxiety will keep growing.

Adapting to Change

People find the inability to find the basic knowledge and resources to actually get started most difficult. With limited time, users can’t commit to researching.

No one focuses on the key building blocks.

The Research Outcome

There is a lack of opportunities to properly learn a new sport as you get older. People want to learn sports in order to stay social, stay active, and have fun, but the resources don’t exist to continue that childhood play into adulthood. 

ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS

Defining Our User — Lisa

Our user is excited at the idea of learning something new with friends, all while staying active and feeling accomplished — sports! However, it isn’t as easy to pick up as she expected with the limited resources and limited time to dedicate. 

How Might We…

Make learning a sport more affordable? Make sports fun again for adults? Make sports more accessible? Teach basic sports knowledge? Remove the pressure of being the best? Guide beginners through planned lessons? Reduce the time researching?

SOLUTION

SOLUTION

The user has to be the number one consideration, but not the only one – is this technically feasible, and do we have the resources to build out the design and then maintain it?

A Plan of Action

  • “Must have” information sharing feature as a top need

  • Coach feedback is most valued but “must wait” due to inability to guarantee resources

  • User-generated content is “nice to have” with ease of creation, but dependent on user interactions

Creating a Flow

We have an idea of how to help our users, but how will they actually use our solution? The design needs to meet user expectations to keep them active — it needs to flow with the user’s key decision points. 

The user flow provides a guide for sketches. Start small, start low-fidelity – it is always easier to change from there.

Wireframing the Flow

  • Rules and regulations do not hold enough value on their own for primary navigation

  • Sports categories can be used as a filter rather than an extra selection

  • How can people know who this content is coming from? Who are the users?

  • Can this transfer into real-life connections? Are there services based on location?

  • Primary navigation focuses on user-driven content — community connections and basic knowledge

  • Secondary navigation allows for quick changes between sports for those ambitious enough to be learning a few

  • Users can find and follow like-minded friends

  • Users can do what they actually want — play! Nearby events and locations help find a good place to play

Building a Brand

The decisions around what a user visually sees further build the brand and come directly from what users define as their needs. One of the key elements users find missing in sports for them today is the element of fun.

  • The bright energetic colors keep the design fun. The green action color is a reminder of the outdoors, but supported by all the colors of the different sports – eliciting happy, carefree emotions.

  • The typography focuses on large, bubbly letters – it feels youthful all while being readable and easy to take in at a glance for a user on the move (maybe even on a run if they are playing sports)!

THE FINAL PRODUCT

THE FINAL PRODUCT

GameReady

An app where users can connect and learn from community members, as well as find local events, meet-ups, and facilities.

GameReady offers discussions on many lovable sports from all skill levels, so all are welcome!

  • The home screen allows for quick actions by the user — whether that be exploring new sports. scrolling discussions, or finding nearby events — all actions can be easily found.

  • Providing location services for users helps close the knowledge gap — lack of resources was a key barrier to learning a new sport. Having nearby events, facilities, and community meet-ups brings the sports from screen learning to real-life playing.

  • With location-based services, users rely on a map view to better understand proximity in relation to their current location. This is available with an easy toggle from “list view” to “map view”.

  • Testing and feedback supported content categorized by sport. This navigation aligns with common mobile designs and provides scrollable cards with image recognition.

  • Users can quickly browse and interact with posts to continue their learning and community building.

    Also, a “create discussion” remains static on the screen to promote more community content.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

Testing the MVP

The final GameReady product has two main focuses — local events and community connections. Looking back, a focus on both features will likely require more than is needed for a minimal viable product.

A final round of A/B testing would have helped to determine the best fit for the user.

Product Direction A

Product Direction B

Building a User Base

All of GameReady’s features rely on user adoption — a barrier to entry that needs to be addressed moving forward.

GameReady wants to partner with athletes and athletic-affiliated brands to attract users. For example:

Nike-sponsored discussions on the best footwear for each sport

Local NBA ticket discounts on special events sponsored on the app

Athlete discussion posts to get fans involved and intrigued in joining a discussion