UniSports
Created as a social project aimed at addressing the high crime rate among the youth, this initiative is focused on tackling the issue head-on. Statistics from 2020 revealed that individuals between the ages of 0 and 24 accounted for over 50% of all crimes, with the peak age for criminal activity being 18 and gradually decreasing after 21.
Role: UX/UI Designer
Team: Devin Pringle
Tools: Figma
Time: 2.5 weeks
In a Rush:
Just use the fast pass and jump to the prototype
OBJECTIVE
Some Background:
There is a serious problem in the US, many adolescents are committing crimes related to aggravated assault, petty theft, robbery, and even murder. With so many cases arising throughout the country, I worked diligently to aid the situation. There is no way to eliminate the matter, but I was determined to find a way to reduce the numbers. Studies show that sports and mentorship have a positive effect on the youth by teaching them valuable lessons such as interpersonal skills, teamwork, and hard work, as well as providing them with friendships and physical wellness. With these results, I sought to combine the two, which created UniSports. A safer and cost-effective way for kids to enjoy freedom, build relationships, and cure boredom, which is a main factor in why so many crimes are committed by adolescents next to peer pressure.
Project Goal and Constraints:
The goal for this project was to create an app and adaptive website with a user-centric design that was inclusive to account for users who needed accessibility assistance. Constraints included:
Getting youth groups and churches to sign up for the program.
Making it accessible for all users, as our target audience was all ages.
A safe and reassuring way to communicate.
Competitive analysis:
In order to figure out a direction for my product I needed to conduct a competitive analysis in order to obtain the necessary information on my target audience to understand several factors such as risk mitigation, customer insights, and understanding the market. These factors would carry over to determine a direction for my designs to offer a better user experience.
EMPATHIZE
Design
Homepage:
During this sketching exercise, I wanted to design some ideas that felt familiar to the user to give them a better user experience. I designed several depictions of the homepage and finalized it with a combination of the best elements, which I marked with a star.
Discover page:
Trying to create a unique Discovery page, it quickly was understood that if I were to try and incorporate a sliding navigation bar it would cause a major user pain point so I went with a drop-down menu to make a seamless user experience.
Information page:
I had a lot of information that I needed to inform the user with, but I had to understand that I will have different types of users so I tried to embody different types of users and came to reason that some users will want to skim the information while other will want to fully read it, so I added a drop-down menu.
Coach Contact page:
Deciding how to construct this page had me thinking about what was most important to the user. I knew that users who would be on this page had only one interest and that was to contact the coach, so I chose to take some information about the church/youth club out to keep the user engaged with the page.
Email page:
Knowing how users enjoy reassurance and immediate satisfaction I created a pop up that would give the user reassurance that they completed a task.
LO-FI WIREFRAMES
USABILITY TEST
BEFORE USABILITY TEST
Lo-Fi Wireframe Prototype Click Here
Theme
1: Some users made small remarks about the layout of the Filter page, quoting how it wasn’t visually cohesive.
2: Users had a difficult time navigating to the next page after signing up. Took users an average of 46 secs to get to the next page.
3: The message feature in the app garnered user appreciation allowing for seamless communication.
4: Overall users enjoyed the simplistic layout of the app, quoting that “it was easy to use”, and after the first pain point users found the navigation easier.
AFTER USABILITY TEST
Lo-Fi Wireframe Prototype Click Here
Insight
1: After the usability test I acknowledged the Insights that were shared about the format of the Filter page and made adequate changes to enhance its layout to better suit the user’s needs, expectations, and experience.
2: With an understanding of user behavior, I recognized the navigation challenges faced by users on the home page. To address this, I strategically incorporated helpful text labels beneath each icon, empowering users to effortlessly locate the find club page and significantly improving their overall experience
3: This convenient feature within the app enhanced user engagement and fostered a better user experience within the app, so I incorporated the same feel and style within the final product to adhere to users’ needs.
4: With the positive feedback regarding the layout of the app I kept my designs user-centric and maintained a consistent navigation to adhere to the user’s preferences.
SITE MAP
Hierarchical site structure:
A hierarchical structure helps users understand the overall organization of the website while simplifying navigation for users. It provides a clear and logical path for users to follow to reduce confusion that would lead to user pain points. This understanding improves the user experience because they can anticipate where specific information is located within the website.
MOCKUPS
FINAL PRODUCTION (WITH PROTOTYPE)
Key takeaway:
Through research and usability studies I learned that users were more engaged with the product when it didn't overload them with an abundance of information on each page. Accommodating all users by providing all the information but making it collapsable made for an overall better user experience.
Key learning experience:
While creating this project I failed in the beginning. I didn't take into consideration the different types of users that would be joining the app, and by doing so I wasn't being inclusive. I realized that not every user of this app would want to join a church or specific religion, so I had to rethink and redesign some aspects to include youth groups to be more inclusive with individuals who either didn't want to join a church or who had their own church they were loyal to. After the redesign, it allowed for a more inclusive user experience.