INDUSTRY: Sports Technology
| DURATION: 2 Months
Redesigning sports-technology app experience for 2M+ users.
Improving the Playo app experience by streamlining the process, enabling users to swiftly book and host their preferred games with efficiency.
Role:
User Research, Business Analysis, User Interface Design, User Experience Design, Visual Design, Usability Testing, Wire-framing, Accessibility, Prototyping
Team:
Product designer (Me)
Focus group (5 members)
Survey participants - 20
Skills:
UI/UX design
Design Research
Visual Design
Prototyping
About Playo
Challenge & Opportunity
Playo is the most popular sports-tech app connecting over 2 million active users to 50+ sports facilities in Bangalore. It’s the go-to platform for booking sports facilities in the city, primarily due to its large inventory and community base. However, users have frequently expressed concerns about the app’s usability, citing lengthy discovery journeys, bugs, unexpected behaviour, and difficulty in navigating its features. To address these challenges, I aimed to redesign the app and enhance its user experience, streamlining the discovery process and overall interaction.
Information about Playo
EXPLORING THE PROBLEM
Observational research: Playo App
I conducted secondary research to analyze the Playo app's user journey, identifying key areas for improvement, such as unclear visual language, irrelevant content, and lengthy user flows.
IDentifying problem
User reviews & feeback
To gain deeper insights into user perceptions of the Playo app, I conducted a review analysis of both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. While the app maintains a respectable average rating of 4.5 on the Play Store and 4 on the App Store, user reviews consistently highlighted usability issues and bugs as significant pain points. Despite these shortcomings, users expressed satisfaction with the app's core offerings, including its strong community engagement and extensive inventory of sports facilities. The consensus is that Playo provides a valuable platform for connecting with fellow sports enthusiasts and booking courts, but its usability challenges and technical glitches hinder the overall user experience.
*Source: Play store & Apple store reviews
SYNTHESIS
Consolidating the problem
I conducted user research, through a survey of 20 participants from current Playo users /community and structured interview, with a small focus group of Playo users. Based on the data I identified the following areas of improvement.
62%
Visual Language
users reported that app is made too complicated to use, the functions are legit but not implemented well.
74%
Discovery Issues
users found it frustrating to find resources in the app like bookings, profile information, inaccurate search results
87%
Usability & functionality issues
users found it the app buggy and difficult to find information or achieve the intended task
The Problem
Playo, while effective for game hosting and booking, faces significant usability issues including frequent bugs, convoluted flows, and lengthy, unintuitive user journeys.
The Solution
Empower Playo users with a more intuitive and efficient app experience by simplifying navigation, enhancing search functionality, and optimizing the overall visual design.
visual design
Improving information design and visual language
I analysed the research findings and identified the need for a clearer and more organised UI. The existing design was cluttered and lacked clear information categorisation. To address this, I redesigned the visual language by creating information blocks, categorising content, simplifying CTA language, highlighting key CTAs using accent colours, and improving readability through optimised typography and layout. I also redesigned UI cards and other smaller elements for a more consistent and visually appealing interface.
Information architecture
Reducing Long user journeys to more simplified discovery process
After analyzing user insights, I identified several core functionalities with lengthy and complex user journeys. Additionally, some features, like the chat and graph-based progress tracking in the profile section, were reported as difficult to understand. To address these issues, I mapped out Playo's existing information architecture. I then focused on simplifying the user experience by grouping related functions together, implementing bucket filters, and integrating search functionalities where appropriate. These changes aim to make key features more accessible and reduce the overall cognitive load for users.
Information DESIGN
Creating more meaningful user journeys
Based on the insights from my research, I restructured the information architecture and user flow to create a more meaningful and optimised user journey, improving discovery and navigation. To address usability concerns such as difficulty discovering relevant games, a convoluted venue booking process, inaccurate search results, trouble accessing current bookings, a cluttered interface with buried core functionalities, promotional content overshadowing essential features, poor information architecture, disconnected features, and complex, unnecessary features.
User Interface and Visual Design
A Smoother Booking and Hosting Experience
Based on user feedback and research, I realised that booking a venue was a frustrating experience. Users also loved Playo’s game hosting feature, but found it difficult to navigate. To improve this, I reorganised information into clear sections with plenty of white space, making it easier to scan and understand. I also provided multiple ways to access core actions like booking, rating, joining, and hosting games. By adding more details about facilities, such as court type, size, and dimensions, I made it simpler for users to find the information they needed.
Building a community
Elevating the community and learning experience
Community is a key part of the Playo app. It’s designed to help like-minded sports enthusiasts connect, play, and improve together. To make this experience even better, I reorganised information to create a clearer user flow. I also integrated Playo’s reward system and visualised data using charts and graphs. This made it easier to understand and interpret, and to spot areas for improvement.
The learning section was previously quite cluttered, with dark backgrounds and hard-to-read content. I redesigned it with clean UI cards and subtle colour coding to improve readability. I also added features like sharing, liking, and wishlisting, making it more interactive and engaging. These features allow users to easily share content with friends, save articles for later, and express their interest in different topics.
REFLECTION