Phoenix

NOTE: Below is just a summary of this project and it's high-fidelity designs. Full design process details are available here.

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The Gist

Avid gamers can end up with the wonderfully fun problem of having too many games, but too little time. With so many options available it can become challenging to triumph this 'backlog' of games in a fun and exciting way. What's the solution? Phoenix!

Phoenix is your approach to your backlog reborn - an app that stops you having to sift through games and instead, via its recommendation system, suggests games that suit your schedule, lifestyle, and gaming tastes. Whether you've got just 15 minutes to enjoy a quick hop-in hop-out game, or a couple of hours to explore new worlds in a vast story-based adventure, Phoenix gets you back to enjoying your precious gaming time.

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My Roles & Responsibilities

• Product Manager: Full project timeline planning and project responsibility

• UX Researcher: Secondary Research (scientific/psychology studies & papers), Primary Research (user interviews, affinity mapping, empathy mapping, persona development), and Competitor Research

• UX Designer: Full mobile app design (sketches, wireframes, high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes)

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The Deliverables

• Summary of Secondary Research on Problem Space

• User Interviews Key Findings Document

• Empathy Maps + Personas

• Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Definition & Future Product Releases Features Definition via User Stories

• User Flows + Wireframes

• Refined Mobile App Design

• Interactive Prototype

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Takeaways

1) Phoenix was a full-scale project with no time or budget restrictions therefore it allowed for vast exploration of UX research and design practices over the course of several months.

2) As a first project, there were valuable learnings that helped shape project planning for future projects, such as what methods should be employed for what scenarios.

3) Phoenix is a love letter to my hobby of gaming and I loved the ups and downs that came with it. While far from perfect, it is the project that opened me to the world of UX Design.

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Learnings

1) Test often, test early - Finding issues early on is key in reducing work down the line. Even if it is a small guerilla test on A/B testing, it can provide useful insights that can help shape better solutions quicker.

2) Sometimes toiling away on your own, laying out the information architecture of your product can be difficult to get right - as was in this project's case, where it took multiple designs to refine. Cut the hassle out and be more efficient by employing card sorting to more objectively group features and organize screens.

3) Prepare user testing to focus on smaller interactions but also to gauge users' high-level understanding of the product - Of course it's important to find where small interactions can be improved, but it is equally important to note whether users are understanding the purpose of the app, and how it functions and navigates on a higher level.

4) Discuss ideas with a variety of people (ie: Developers, Marketing Professionals, Data Scientists, other UX Professionals) - Having variety of individuals of different backgrounds brings perspectives of technical feasibility or feature adoption that I as a designer might overlook.

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Curious to know more about my design thinking process, the methods I used, and the decisions I took (and why)?

Check out the full case study on Medium!