An app designed for hoopers. Find and join pick-up basketball games with ease.
Prototyping
User Research
App Design
UX/UI
Game Finder
2025
My Role:
UX/UI Designer and Researcher
Team:
Myself, Tracy, & Keagan
Project Duration:
6 Weeks
Goal:
Make it easier for Waterloo students to consistently find and join pick-up basketball games by creating a centralized, reliable system.
Tools:
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Google Forms
Lets find a real problem worth solving…
Discovery
The idea for this application sparked from my passion for basketball and knowing how hard it is to find pick-up basketball games. There always seems to be a problem, whether it's skill level, scheduling, or finding a court. We wanted to take my experience with this problem and figure out what a viable solution could be.
Problem Statement
Students at Waterloo struggle to find and organize pick-up basketball games around campus, despite it being one of the most popular sports.
Now let's validate the problem, backed by research…
Understanding our Potential Users
1
70% of participants rely on group chats/DM’s, excluding those not in these chats
2
27% reported communication problems and cancellations
3
37% struggle with unbalanced skill levels
4
70.6% play weekly, with 47.1% citing scheduling conflicts as a major pain point
User Persona
Using what we know about Mike's persona, we created key user flows to ensure we address his needs, motivations, and pain points.
Key User Flows
Sign In
Sign Up
Game RSVP
Messages
Player Profile
Game Filtering
During this phase of ideation, we overlooked a major user flow, game creation. So, the flow for users to create games is not reflected in the lo-fi prototype.
Now let's bring our vision to life…
Low-Fidelity Prototype
User Feedback
Our classmates performed a heuristic evaluation, recognizing the gaps in our first prototype. Some of the feedback we received, but not limited to, was:
Add status indicators for the number of players already registered for a game.
Add an option for users to cancel their game reservation.
Add a skip button for the sign-up flow.
Design Iterations
Game Cards
Home Page
Final Prototype
How did we address our users needs?
Helped Mike find games that match his skill level
We introduced player profiles and skill indicators so users can filter games by competitive level, addressing Mike’s need to find similar-skilled players and avoid mismatched games.
Simplified scheduling between classes and open gym times.
The notifications system was built so users can see when games are happening and RSVP, directly reducing coordination pain points identified in research.
Reduced last-minute cancellations and wasted gym trips
Real-time availability and RSVP confirmation helps ensure games are active, reducing frustration from arriving to empty courts.
Enabled easier coordination with friends.
The group invite and game-sharing features allow users to coordinate within their chats or with friend lists, reflecting Mike’s habitual use of group chats to organize games.
Provided court availability visibility.
By surfacing which courts are active and where games are happening, users no longer have to wander between facilities hoping to find a game, directly addressing the frustration of searching for open courts.
What Worked Well
Working collaboratively
Regular check-ins, open feedback, and shared ownership across my team help us iterate efficiently and refine ideas faster.
Grounding decisions in research
Referring back to our persona and research insights prevented us from going outside of our problem scope and ensured our features were solving real problems.
What Didn't Work
Time constraints
Academic timelines meant we had to lock in decisions earlier than ideal, even when we knew some flows could have been improved further.
Limited testing after completing hi-fi prototype
Again, due to academic timelines, we weren't able to fully validate our final prototype.
Where I'll Improve
Be more deliberate before moving between stages
In future projects, I would slow down key transition points by double- and triple-checking user flows against research and personas before progressing. Missing a core user flow showed the importance of validating completeness early, not just usability.
Strengthen early testing and validation practices
I would create more intentional low-fidelity prototypes and conduct structured user testing earlier in the process to validate flows before refinement. Setting clearer internal deadlines for review and testing would ensure enough time is reserved to evaluate, iterate, and catch issues before advancing.