Pickleballer

An iOS mobile application that connects Canadian pickleball players to local coaches.
View Prototype

The Challenge

Pickleball is a rapidly growing sport, but players often struggle to find suitable coaching, opponents for matches, and local courts and events.

The Pickleballer app (name changed per company's request) aims to address these pain points by providing a mobile app platform for pickleball enthusiasts to connect with coaches for coaching sessions, find players for matches, and discover local courts and tournaments.

For this project, me and two other designers were brought on to focus on the coaching experience of the product.

The Solution

Project Details

Role

UI Design
UX Research
Brand Design

Tools

Figma
Miro
Google Suite

Timeframe

4 weeks

Design Team

Joseph Barrios
Winnie Chen
Jake Girard

The Goal

Design a mobile iOS application that enables Pickleball players to find local coaches, courts, events, and other players to connect with for games.

Due to the limited timeframe of this project, the decision was made to focus on the “coaching” aspect of the app, as this would be a revenue generating opportunity for the company. A foundation was laid for the other functions of the app, but was ultimately handed off to the next team for the courts, events, and social aspects of the product.

Problem Statement

Despite pickleball being one of America’s fastest-growing sports, there are limited options for pickleball enthusiasts to connect with one another. We wanted to build an integrated marketplace where pickleballers can connect, play, and learn.

Design Sprint

For this project, we had a pretty tight deadline. In order to ideate quickly, and rapidly test our proposed solutions the team and client agreed to follow a slightly modified design sprint.

Because of our different locations, timezones, and schedules this sprint was conducted over a period of 2 weeks.

Interviews

To better understand the problem set we were building for, we decided to open this project with background research into the pickleball community and conducting a competitive analysis of other pickleball apps.

"I think all new players should take a lesson with a coach before their first game." - Natalie G.
"Even though the sport has gotten so popular, it's still such a mess to book courts and find other players to play with." Marcos V.
"Honestly, I don't use any of the [pickleball] apps. They're all pretty clunky. I usually just show up and hope for the best." - Mariah H.

Market Research

11% of Canadian households now report at least one household member plays pickleball at least once per month.
1.37 million individual Canadians now play pickleball at least once per month, with more than half playing four or more times per month
Ages 18-34 represents the largest age bracket of pickleball players, totaling 28.8% of all players.

Competitive Analysis

At this point in our research, our team wanted to look at what other pickleball apps were on the market. We also wanted to analyze other service provider apps to inform the user journey of our product.

User Flows

This analysis allowed us to identify key features, pain points, and opportunities within the current landscape. With these insights, we strategically mapped out what our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) would look like.

During the sketching phase, we focused on generating and refining design concepts based on our competitive analysis and MVP planning. This phase involved rapid brainstorming, ideation, and task allocation to ensure that our MVP would effectively address user needs

Prototype

Insights from Testing

Scheduling coaches - not intuitive for users

  • No clear indication between highlighted dates and time on bottom
  • Could be a more intuitive process for the end user

Proposed Suggestion

  • Add more descriptive sub-headings such as "selected dates" or "dates "available"
  • When scrolling, have all the times for selected dates

Coach Tags Feature

  • Tags can be confusing for new users

Proposed Suggestion

  • Add a short explanation for each tag when a user clicks on them

Lessons Learned from This Project

Conclusion

The Pickleballer App UX case study has been a journey of discovery, innovation, and user-centered design. Through the sketching phase and the meticulous planning of our MVP, we set the stage for a unique pickleball app that caters to the needs of players, coaches, enthusiasts, and communities.

The lessons learned during this process have not only shaped the app but have also enriched our understanding of the principles of successful UX design.

Let's chat!

Whether you have an exciting project in mind, want to collaborate, or simply have a question, I'm here to help. Let's connect and explore the possibilities together.

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