Party Up
Introduction
In the Party Up project, I acted as the product designer/manager. Party Up set up to solve the issue of a lack of connection between players of MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games, and provide a platform to connect players and groups together for an easy/effective experience.
The Challenge
The main problem to solve for the target market, users of massively multiplayer online role playing games, is finding like-minded players to congregate with. While several games have a native system for finding party members, they’re generally unintuitive.
Design Roles
UX Research/Design, UI Design, Creative Direction
Deliverables
SWOT Analysis, User Personas, Wireframes, User Stories and Flows, Style Guide, Hi-Fi Mockups
Process
6 month timeline, weekly client communication and detailed progress reports
Generative Research
In order to get a better understanding of where to start the problem solving process, I initiated the project by jumping into user research via surveys to hear directly from potential users what features and ideas I might be able to consider including to round out the project.
83% of participants played online games, of those users 80% of them conveyed that they primarily play MMORPGS. 73% of users indicated that they did have a steady group who they regularly played with, and of those participants 64% of them indicated that they were introduced to that group by someone who was already a member and who they knew in person rather than in the online environment. This gives me some direction, as the that don’t have a regular group conveyed that it was, in part, because they didn’t know other players who were in consistent groups.`
Of the total participants, 73% of participants felt that they would be interested in a third party application in order to find a new group, and 67% indicated that they would like a group or player to be able to reach out to them based on a set list of criteria. Of the criteria options, the number one criteria (93% of participants) was personal schedule, followed by tie between player experience level and game objective type. Of the participants, 69% of users were between the ages of 26 to 35.
Competitive Analysis
In order to better understand the market I analyzed three of the apps competitors, Plink, FTW, and Gamer Link. In this instance I'll be examining the weaknesses of each app in order to capitalize on their shortcomings.
Plink
Match making made for gamers
FTW
Find gamers, find groups, for the win
Gamerlink
Universal Looking For Group App
User Persona
User Stories
Pad and Pen Wireframes
In the case of wire-frames, rather than starting specifically from scratch, I chose to start with a splash page that seemed strong and began iterating on that, as well as the login and the dashboard pages.
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Of these iterations, I began to like how the second splash page was starting to come together, but I’ll have to test them with users to get a better idea of what elements are going to work and make sense. Good progress for now, so I moved on to working on the login page.
The dashboard is where the process begins to slow down considerably. This was really the only page that didn’t have some sort of reference to use, as the other competitors primarily use a dashboard that’s only sort of a typical dashboard.
While a usual dashboard is full of CTA’s and navigation, the competitors focus almost entirely on the last search/newest posts from their community for the user to find/use. So finding a middle ground where the users of Party Up will be able to ingest information that’s different while also being provided information that’s quite familiar.
Initial Mockups
The mockup and branding is where I ended up having to spend the majority of my time. There were a lot of questions concerning color scheme and implementation, and how to maintain an aesthetic that would continue to appeal to our target demographic. In a preliminary user test, 85% of participants felt that they primarily use apps in night mode, so I had a heading in terms of palette to work with.
As illustrated by the poll taken via Usability Hub, the fourth iteration with the gold/yellow highlights tested well amongst participants. Now having a more consistent heading, we move to the first official mockup!
Feedback Loop
With the previous feedback in mind, I created a mockup that contained lighter arrows, bolder buttons on the dashboard page, a textured background image, increased illustration sizes, and more. This time, however, I ran another user test with several of my peers rather than the target and gained significant feedback.
Feedback #1
Felt the header on the splash page was redundant. The buttons on the dashboard page, while easy to see, were also redundant and would’ve hoped to see something that made it easier to jump right into the purpose of the app with more of a “show, don’t tell” approach. He also pointed out to double check header sizes to ensure a sense of uniformity throughout the process.
Feedback #2
Liked the use of icons to represent platform, but felt that introducing a new color added too much of a change. Also felt that the groups in the searched post page needed more detail to help tell them apart, “it feels very wordy right now.”
Brand Guide
Final Thoughts
This project was a very distinct labor of love. As a gamer myself, I found that I had to refrain from making assumptions about steps in the project, and realign myself with the needs of the user. While I could use my experience of feeling lost in an ocean of groups and players, and being unable to interact or play with them, I had to be sure to stick to the data whenever possible.
What I found in this project was that it’s never a bad thing to lean on your circle/network of peers to double check your choices and iterations before going straight into testing and seeing exactly what the users are going to interpret well. It helps to sift through the nonsense ideas to have a fresh pair of designing eyes say “I think maybe this might work better” or “have you tried this variation?” and helps create a higher quality product before getting to the users. This, above all else, will be the lesson I take to my grave.