the Problem

Research

Uplift was first launched in 2018 with the goal to empower Cornell students with the tools to pursue a healthy lifestyle…however, a healthy lifestyle looks different for everyone. Currently, Uplift is only able to target students to pursue a healthy lifestyle through attending fitness classes or working out at the campus gyms.

When speaking to Uplift’s current users and potential new users through interviews and form feedback, it was clear that Uplift is only valuable for a particular type of user and it is not very engaging, interactive, or personal.

Actionable Insights

1. Uplift loses its significant value to students after they familiarize themselves with gym hours and class times.

2. Almost all students are incentivized by others to stay active on campus.

3. Many students want to play sports with others but find it difficult to find new people to play sports with.

4. Students think that fitness apps like Uplift don’t feel personal or engaging.

Part 1: The Game Feed

Who’s down to play? Browsing available games to join.

The game feed is the first screen a student sees after clicking on the new Sports navigation tab. It allows a student to browse available games and join them. The main components of the feed are the game cards that display the most important information of each game (Game name, time, location, number of players) and a join button to allow students to join the game. This game card could be clicked on to view the game details (Part 2!).

Below is an overview of my game card iterations.

The final card design has a simple information hierarchy that highlights the most important information at a glance. The “Join” button demonstrates a clear call to action to join the game. Uplift’s yellow brand color was carefully used to highlight when a game card was joined without being visually overwhelming. This card was added to Uplift’s design system.

Final Game Feed

This prototype shows the final Game Feed interaction.

Part 2: Game Details

When and where? Viewing details and joining the discussion.

After a student clicks on a card in the game feed, they are able to view the game details screen which displays more detailed information including game name, location, sport, creator, date and time, a join button, number of players and player names, and a discussion section. This discussion section is essential to this feature: by adding an opportunity to engage with others in the platform, pickup sports can build a community on Uplift.

Below is an overview of my game details iterations.

The final iteration has an organized information hierarchy through spacing and visual treatment. The Players section is expandable, as shown by a triangular carat, and the Discussion section mimics a social media platform comment section. One tradeoff of this iteration is that the triangular carat is not in the existing design system.

Final Game Details

This prototype shows the final Game Details interaction.

Part 3: Game Creation

Ready to take initiative? Creating a new game.

From the game feed, a student can click on the upper right corner to initiate a new game of their own. The game creation flow involves a form that takes in all necessary information for a new game. Sections with many options such as Sport and Location are collapsed by default and are expandable. The Players section required the most iterations and user testing.

Below is an overview of my iterations for the Game Creation Players section.

Through these iterations, I explored how to display the number of players using different copy, interaction design, and visual treatment. After conducting user testing with 5 users with Option 1, it was clear that “Number of Players” alone was unclear as to whether it was referring to the number of available spaces in the game or the total number of players. We pivoted to a more visual design that clearly communicates what information it is displaying, but it was rather visually overpowering. In the final iteration, the information is communicated clearly and concisely to the user. A tradeoff is that it is not as appealing visually.

Final Game Creation

This prototype shows the final Game Creation flow.

Reimagining the Campus Fitness Experience

Final Prototype

Now that I’ve gone through my process, here is a final walkthrough of the pickup sports game feature.

Looking forward

Results

Due to the shift to virtual learning, the release of the pickup sports game feature and further beta user testing has been postponed until future notice. We hope to release the feature by May 2021 with a marketing campaign. Our goal to increase Uplift’s user engagement to consistently 1k monthly average users.