Making Ultimate Frisbee More Accessible
Passion Project | UI/UX Design, User Experience Research, Ultimate Frisbee
Embedded Files
Project Overview:
After joining the Ultimate Frisbee Club in high school, I made many new friends and lived a much healthier routine. However, due to the high number of participants required for each game (14 people), many experienced players and newbies with zero experience found it difficult to find casual tournaments or training.
I aim to design a mobile app that connects the Frisbee community by providing a user-friendly tournament registration system and a platform for learning and communication.
Role
UX Designer, UX Researcher, Product Designer
Timeline
May 2022 - Nov 2022
(6 Months)
Task
UX Design, UX research
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Adobe Indesign, Procreate, Tencent Survey
The Challenge
Players can't find games; captains can't find players.
Most Ultimate Frisbee training sessions rely on small, insular local networks for players. This made local teams impossible to expand and be discovered by people who want to experience the sport.
The Solution
A Sneak Peek
Struggling to join an Ultimate Frisbee match?
Find a game
The 'Play' tab bridges game organizers and disconnected players by increasing the visibility of upcoming games, helping organizers attract more players and enabling individuals to easily find nearby games to join.
Don’t know where to start?
Learn About Frisbee
Beginners are often discouraged from playing Ultimate Frisbee due to a lack of readily accessible learning resources. The app will provide a curated selection of reliable external materials to help new players get started.
More design showcase at the end...
The Design Process
Research
Identifying Design Opportunity
Research Summary
Those who know experienced frisbee players are more likely to break into the sport.
After interviewing my high school frisbee teammates and friends of varying levels of experience (from total beginners to team coaches), I learned that all of them were introduced to the sport through encounters with frisbee-playing friends.
In the Ultimate Frisbee "chicken and egg" problem, where experienced players are the chickens and beginners are the eggs, the chicken must come first.
Semi-Structured Interview Highlight
Survey Insights
Survey of 56 people across China shows that knowing experienced players helps with breaking into the sport
A survey was conducted to learn about the Ultimate Frisbee experiences of people aged 18-50, representing both experienced players and non-players. The survey was distributed across China using Tencent's survey platform, covering people from 18 out of 23 provinces.
Of all the surveyed people who have never played frisbee before, 77% reported that they want to try the sport, and rated a median of 4/5 for difficulty to become engaged with frisbee.
User Segmentation
Breaking down all existing and potential frisbee players based on experience levels and connections with experienced players
Based on interview and survey results, I organized all the existing and potential frisbee players into four groups based on their experience level (Beginner or Experienced) and Connectedness to existing frisbee players (Disconnected/Connected)
User Journey Map Based on User Segments
Being disconnected is a major obstacle to enjoying frisbee;
Beginner players lack sufficient resources to improve.
Based on interviews and survey results, here’s how people’s experiences with playing ultimate frisbee vary depending on their user segments.
Interview & Affinity Diagram
Using the 'Rose, Thorn, Bud' method and grouping ideas with an affinity diagram, I identified that key design opportunities lies in building supportive community and creating learning resources.
After collecting valuable interview insights, I color-coded the notes by theme: frisbee's advantages (Rose - Red), disadvantages (Thorn - Green), and potentials (Bud - Yellow). I then used an affinity diagram to group similar notes and identify patterns. Focusing on the groupings with the most yellow notes (opportunities), it became clear that the greatest design potential lies in improving learning resources and community support.
For high-definition images of individual post-it notes, click here.
User Persona
Keeping "Who I'm designing for" in mind
The following three user personas are based on interviewees who represent the platform's three main user groups: 1) Game and Tournament Organizers, 2) Frisbee Enthusiasts, and 3) Beginners and Non-Players.
Ideate
Visualizing Solutions
Design Brief
I aim to design a mobile app that connects the Frisbee community by providing a user-friendly tournament registration system and a platform for learning and communication.
Based on research findings, a key opportunity lies in creating a platform for both experienced and beginner frisbee players to connect. This would address the gap where many people want to try frisbee but don’t know how or where to start, while also benefiting experienced players by attracting newcomers, simplifying tournament and game organization, and increasing opportunities to make friends.
Information Architecture
Keeping things quick and simple
Here’s a breakdown of the app’s information architecture. It consists of five tabs, each featuring 2-3 key action items, ensuring easy navigation and quick access to important functions.
From Sketches to Low-Fi Mockups
I made continuous efforts throughout the idea-development process to stay user-centered.
Case 1 - Designing The "Play" Tab
Balancing information displayed per frame
I explored three layout options for presenting users with the 'Play' tab. The second design stood out for balancing a moderate number of games per frame with ample space to display each game's details.
Case 2 - Designing The "Community" Tab
Organizing messages
A key feature of this app is the community section, enabling users to stay connected with their frisbee networks and use the "World" subtab to discover teams locally and globally. The second design was favored for its fewer navigation steps and a lower learning curve, being more similar with the layouts of other social media platforms.
Picking Colors
With user feedback, I refined the color palette to create a more focused user experience.
I derived my initial color palette by selecting the best moodboard from three that conveys the sport's energetic mood.
Initial Color Applications
I then applied these colors to the low-fidelity mockup based on my preferences.
User Feedbacks
I presented my initial color designs to two potential users from different user segments, and here are their responses:
"Some of the game information are hard to see"
Zi, Captain of UCLA Men's Ultimate B-team
Large font size caused formatting errors, splitting words across lines and reducing readable information on the card. Low color contrast on sub-texts also impacted readability.
"I don't know where to look"
Ariel, Junior at UMich Ann Arbor
The excessive use of highly saturated colors, such as dark green and gold colors, distracts users from reading the app's content.
Revising based on Feedbacks
Based on user feedback, I simplified the palette by removing the gold color to reduce visual clutter. I also adjusted the color proportions by increasing the use of white and grey for the background, while reducing the prominence of the primary and secondary colors to make them stand out more.
Final Color Applications
The final version balances visual priority by applying the signature orange only to key action items, making important information stand out and significantly reducing visual strain for users.
User Flow 1
Join or create a game
Here’s a breakdown of the user flow for registering and creating a game within the app's main tab, 'Play'.
User Flow 2
Learning the sport
Here’s a breakdown of all the learning resources available under the 'Learn' tab, with four main sections: 1) Throwing Techniques, 2) Frisbee Knowledge Quiz (to be designed), 3) First-Aid Information, and 4) Ultimate Game Rules.
Prototype
Realizing Concepts
Benefiting all users, especially for the disconnected ones
Join or create a game in just a few taps
This feature drastically improves how frisbee players engage with the sport, making it easier than ever to join or create games, significantly improving Ultimate's accessibility for everyone.
For beginners to kickstart, and pros to level up
Learn all about frisbee and don't forget about safety
Beginners often feel discouraged from playing Ultimate Frisbee due to a lack of accessible resources. This app provides curated materials to help new players get started, including first aid guides and a quick-dial button for emergency services (110, the 911 equivalent).
Direct Message, Group Message, and Explore the World (of Ultimate, of course)
Stay Connected, Grow Together.
Experienced players, including coaches and captains, shared difficulties managing frisbee connections across platforms like Instagram and iMessage due to their large networks. The "Community" tab streamlines this by keeping all frisbee connections in one place.
A new way to discover Teams and Grow the Game
World - Connecting teams around the World
Interviews with ultimate coaches and captains revealed challenges in connecting with local teams for matches and networking. The "World" feature addresses this by enabling organizers and players to discover and connect with nearby frisbee enthusiasts, fostering a larger, more connected community.
Test
Rooms for Improvements
User Feedbacks - SWOT analysis - Reflection
Some key feedbacks and issues to improve:
1. Given my background as an international student, and having mostly interviewed fellow bilingual students, I overlooked designing a Chinese version, even though the app is intended for a global audience interested in Ultimate Frisbee. (I felt very dumb for not realizing this)
2. The 'Connect with Anyone' feature may be vulnerable to misuse by bad actors, requiring further consideration and safeguards.
3. The learning resources feature relies heavily on actively sourcing existing Frisbee materials from the internet, which could become costly to develop if the app is built.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse