Clutch! is a mobile app tailored for gamers seeking seamless connections with fellow gamers to befriend and enjoy games with. Collaborating with two gaming enthusiasts as clients during my time at Thinkful, the app was designed to cater to their specific needs of finding friends who share a passion for similar games. The app facilitates a streamlined process of filtering through various games, allowing users to discover potential gaming buddies with similar interests. Once users connect, users can seamlessly communicate with each other, fostering the opportunity to engage in collaborative gaming experiences beyond the platform and hopefully build a community.
During my time at Thinkful, I collaborated with two clients passionate about gaming. Despite their love for gaming, they encountered challenges in finding like-minded online gaming friends. Recognizing this common struggle, we embarked on a mission to develop a solution that would facilitate connections among gamers. Working together, we formulated the following problem statement:
How might we foster connections between users with shared gaming experiences in a fun and engaging way?
As my clients searched for a way to connect with other online gamers to befriend, I addressed their needs and proposed Clutch! During the research phase, I engaged in four user interviews with gamers. Drawing insights from these interviews, I transitioned into the ideation phase, developing crucial artifacts such as user personas, user journeys, empathy maps, user flows, and storyboards. I sketched out potential solutions, going as far as creating a paper prototype before creating low-fidelity wireframes and mid-fidelity prototypes. I conducted usability testing with the initial prototype and iterated based on testing participants’ and client's feedback.
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In my research phase, I conducted user interviews with a total of four participants. These interviews primarily consisted of open-ended questions, with recurring themes emerging across all discussions.
The insights from the interviews underscored the importance of developing a solution that facilitates the discovery of like-minded gamers and offers a platform for easy connections, eliminating the need for mutual friends as a mediator. With the insights from my research, I crafted two different user personas.
Meet Phoenix, a 25-year-old professional by day and gamer by night. Given his work schedule, he prefers to play games at night for hours at a time. Unfortunately, his friends have conflicting schedules, limiting their gaming together. Even when finding games with similar availability, disparities in their own respective gaming ranks interfere with their gaming experiences together. Additionally, Phoenix faces difficulties in connecting with players significantly younger or older than himself.
Meet Sage, a 22-year-old college student juggling full-time academics and part-time employment. Sage’s schedule lacks consistency due to the demons of school and work, resulting in short and brief gaming sessions. She faces challenges in connecting with other fellow female gamers to play with. Sage also adopts a more casual gaming approach due to her academic and professional commitments.
I decided to focus on my Sage persona for my empathy map and user journey to enhance my understanding of my clients who identify as women in games. Sage, characterized as introverted and shy yet excited about connecting with other games as a new user, represents a valuable perspective. The “Think and Feel” section highlights her eagerness to meet others, yet fearful of potential conflicts and dislikes. However, as she explores common interests reflected in the “See” section, Sage begins to perceive others as potential friends or teammates, echoing the sentiment commonly expressed by those who share her struggle in finding gamer friends.
Amidst this, Sage encounters concerns from her surroundings about the safety of such apps and the potential for discomfort shown in the “Hear” section. She proceeds to connect with other users and engages in small talk and gaming-related topics, such as exchanging usernames. In the “Pains” section, Sage may experience frustrations with maintaining conversations or encountering inappropriate messages. There may also be a limited pool of potential connections or navigating through too many profiles. Despite these frustrations, she can form new friendships, discover new games, and find new teammates to play with, as illustrated in the “Gains” section.
Following the development of the empathy map, I outlined the user journey. In this scenario, Sage wants to befriend others who share her age and gaming interests, hoping to find an app specifically designed for making gaming friends. Her goal is to befriend at least one person as she realizes she dislikes playing games solo, as demonstrated in the awareness stage. To address this need, she explores the app store for friend-finding apps and eventually decides to download Clutch! Sage sets up her profile and interests as part of her planning stage. Throughout her experience with the app, Sage navigates various stages–browsing profiles, connecting with fellow gamers, and engaging in conversations that unfold outside of the application itself and in-person interactions and/or collaborative gameplay.
In each stage of the user journey, I identified key opportunities that could enhance Clutch! These include the creation of a friend-making app, features enabling users to build game-oriented profiles, and implementing more engaging interaction methods, such as ice break questions to foster connections between users.
Additionally, I developed a user flow as part of my process to provide a roadmap for the fundamental functions and requirements of the app.
I opted for a 4-step sketch process to efficiently generate ideas for the app. In the initial step, I compiled and expanded upon any applicable notes I had in mind throughout the process. These notes served as a foundation for brainstorming and sketching out various interactions that users could encounter within the app.
For the third step, I worked on a Crazy-8 exercise, sketching out eight distinct interfaces that played a crucial role in shaping the ultimate design solution.
Ultimately, I chose to develop an app tailored for gamers, facilitating connections between users with shared interests in gaming.
I examined the user journey for the app and crafted a storyboard to visually depict the scenario in which Sage, feeling lonely, seeks a solution to connect with new friends to game with.
Having completed the sketches from the Crazy-8’s exercise, I proceeded to develop a paper prototype to enhance clarity and legibility for reference while crafting the wireframes. Illustrated here are the game filter, user overview, user profile components, connecting screen, and messaging feature.
I quickly generated low-fidelity wireframes as my base reference for the prototype.
Utilizing the low fidelity wireframe, I created a prototype with added images. This prototype was used in usability testing.
For the initial evaluation of the prototype, I utilized Maze, a tool that allowed me to assign participants four distinct missions. The platform recorded the heatmap of screens and the step-by-step process each participant undertook to fulfill the assigned tasks. Maze provides a usability score for each mission based on participant results, along with information on misclick rates if participants deviate from the expected route.
The first mission, Discover Friends, required participants to locate other users who paly Valorant. The second mission, View & Connect with Users, prioritizes connections with specific users, notably targeting Yuji.
For the third mission, Filter, participants were tasked with filtering users based on gender (“male”) and “verified profile” status. Regrettably, this proved to be the most challenging mission, primarily because the filtration button was not immediately apparent to participants. The presence of an advanced filter option further compounded the difficulty for users attempting to filter profiles based on “verified” status.
In the fourth mission, Messaging, users were instructed to access all their messages and specifically view the conversation with Yuji.
Upon concluding the usability testing, participants were asked to provide feedback and comments. A prevalent theme in the feedback highlighted the confusion surrounding various buttons. Participants expressed dissatisfaction with the “connect” button, stating that it did not feel like a well-designed or intuitive option for initiating connections with other users. Additionally, the “filter” button presented visibility challenges, being difficult to locate. Overall, participants found the buttons employed throughout the app to be confusing and lacking in clarity.
In addition to the usability testing, the clients reviewed the initial prototype and provided feedback, which included the following suggestions:
Following insights gained from usability testing and clientele feedback, the notable enhancements were implemented:
Following the completion of the second iteration of the prototype, my next focus shifted towards establishing the brand identity by creating a concise style tile.
Upon finalizing the style tile, I transitioned into creating a high-fidelity mock-up. My primary objective was to evoke a cyberpunk video game aesthetic, opting for a dark theme. Given the vibrant colors in profile pictures and game pictures, the dark backdrop was chosen to accentuate these hues. In the future, I would implement a light theme and provide accessibility options as well.
I believe that this design solution is an effective platform for individuals seeking like-minded gaming friends. The app would be one of the first in the market as it is uniquely tailored to cater specifically to the gaming industry. Furthermore, My clients were satisfied with the outcome of this passion project.
Throughout this project, I gained valuable insights into collaborating directly with clients and translating their desires into a design. The iterative process, incorporating client feedback and insights from usability testing, has equipped me with the ability to swiftly implement changes and adapt designs to meet the evolving needs of both clients and the target audience. This app is not only intuitive but also designed to fulfill the requirements of my clients and resonate with the wider gaming community.
Looking ahead to the future development of the app, my focus areas would include: