For this project, my team and I created a reservation app, initially ideating conducting research to identify needs. We Designed and created wireframes, prototypes, and conducted testing; eventually presenting our concept to industry stakeholders.
PlayOn
Booking Pickleball & Tennis Courts
Native iOS App
PROBLEM SCOPE
Charting a Path
This project started from a blank slate, so we first thought about what needs we could help solve for. We initially decided to focus on "Parks", and since we live and work in New York, we stayed local and chose to understand the system for reserving public courts in NYC parks.
We initially assumed that:
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Different parks have different systems
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Some use online booking, some are only in-person
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Generally there's a lot of frustration & fragmentation
It felt like there was plenty of room for innovation and improvement in the area, and we set out to define our Goal.
How might we provide a way for people to confidently reserve courts, fields and recreational facilities, in order to have positive sporting experiences across NYC?
Narrowing our Focus
Before going too far, it was important to narrow the scope of sports we would initially solve for, and concentrate on similar and popular options.
Since different Sports require different Solutions, we Focused on ones with similar Needs and Users
Tennis & Pickleball
We decided to work towards solutions designed for
An Opportunity to Create
From our initial conversations and goal, we defined exactly what we were looking to solve and what our definition of success would be.
PROBLEM
The current reservation systems for playing on NYC Public Courts is not intuitive or user friendly.
CHALLENGE
How might we provide a universal system for all people looking to play Tennis & Pickleball on NYC courts.
APPROACH
Focusing on a native iOS application, we defined our parameters and found potential API's to integrate.
SOLUTION
We designed a system centered around efficiency, with an emphasis on booking quickly, and reservations you can share with friends.
Go Ahead, Click and Book a Court!
Test our final Prototype, then see how it came to be.
Reservation
Sharing
Confident
Validation
Quick Booking
Our first real step was to speak with Users to gather data to inform our Design Process. We created a Screener Survey and identified our target candidates, then sent it out to find participants.
RESEARCH
Starting the Conversation
We wanted to speak with people who had played or currently play Tennis or Pickleball on NYC public courts.
5
Interviews
Conducted
15-25
Minutes Per Interview
All Conducted
Over Zoom
Detailed Notes Taken
Listening to the Data
Identify Themes
From our interviews and notes, we began combing through and writing down key observations, quotes, likes/dislikes, etc. From here, we identified key themes we saw emerging amongst our users.
Turn Themes to Insights
From these common themes, we thought about what was really being expressed. This allowed us to generate key Insights we could later ideate Design Features from.
Respecting
Reservations
Knowing a reservation is valid and the court will be free when you arrive is a key component
Seeing Court
Availability
Knowing exactly which times are available at which parks and courts is critical
Busy Schedules
Reserving ahead of time allows enjoyment of hobbies within busy lifestyles
Giving our Users a Voice
With our Insights providing a clear direction, we thought about who our target user was. Crafting a "Persona" allowed us to give one single voice to the research and ensure we had a guide through our design journey.
Meet Ryan.
Ryan and his friend want to play tennis after work. They go to their local tennis court, but it's completely booked. They reserve another nearby court for later that day, but once they arrive, the reservation falls through. After 20 minutes of waiting for other players to finish, they finally get a court, and play for less time than initially planned.
Ryan's Journey
In addition, we imagined a typical day in Ryan's life. This allows us to find some of his most frustrating moments, and potentially turn those into design opportunities.
Wrapping up Research
We felt that through our research, the perceived needs of our target user still aligned with our initial assumptions and we could proceed. We revised our challenge statement to match our direction.
How might we provide Tennis and Pickleball players in NYC with a way to confidently and securely reserve courts in advance to ensure they can enjoy their hobbies within a busy lifestyle?
DESIGN
Bringing PlayOn to Life
Now we were ready to begin thinking about potential Features and our overall Design direction. Using an iterative process, we ideated and decided on exactly what we'd build.
Feature Prioritization
Decided on the most necessary ideas
Design Studio
Sketched initial visions
Wireframes
Brought sketched visions to life in Figma
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Added complexity and detail
Our Design Studio documented through some early sketch phases.
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Design Is In The Details
I worked on designing a global Navigation Bar used throughout the app, as well as the Share Bar used on bookings.
I also created all the icons and variants in our app.
Designing these as components with interactions allowed me to place them throughout the app and make large scale changes using the Design System.
Making PlayOn Feel, Fun
Our choice for a Typeface was Proxima Nova. It represents the secure feeling when making a reservation and also had a playful spirit to fit the light-heartedness of sports.
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Our Color Palette was inspired by the colors of Tennis and Pickleball courts.
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The name "PlayOn" is dual threat between “Playing On” courts, fields, etc; a literal interpretation. And a more metaphorical one as in “PlayOn”, like, go ahead, keep playing!
Play
On
QUICK
BOOKING
Don't waste time clicking around, if you have a time or court in mind, book it quickly.
RESERVATION SHARING
If you can't make your time, or even if you just can't get there first, pass it along.
CONFIDENT
VALIDATION
The security of knowing when you show up, your court will be yours, with proof.
Quick Book
Feature
Many users knew exactly when, and where they typically wanted to play.
We made it possible to book a time in just 3 Clicks.
Share Booking Feature
One use case that came up in research was when a user who makes the reservation, may not arrive first or use it at all.
We made it possible to Share a Booking with any Friend or Contact.
SERVICE DESIGN
Designing for The Entire Experience
It was critical that when our users arrived at their court, they were confident it would be a smooth process, so we needed to imagine how this could work.
We initially Designed a Low-Tech solution for Physical Reservation Validation for easy implementation
Situation: If our user (Ryan) arrives at their court and someone else is using it, Ryan would present the QR code from the PlayOn booking page. The other person could scan the code, and an official confirmation page would load. Our hope is this would provide a clear and easy resolution.
TESTING
Testing our Work
We knew it was essential to get our Prototype in the hands of users as soon as possible to test our Designs. We crafted scenarios that represented some of Ryan's potential use cases. We then recruited testers and put them in the mindset of our target user.
We tested across Two rounds with Five users each, iterating and making improvements between rounds
Quick Booking
Our first task for testers was to Book the Highest Rated Pickleball Court for 6 PM.
Round 1
The segmented controller had limited functionality and skewed testing
Round 2
Added full functionality
Users only selected the sport they wanted, eliminating the need for "Both"
Final
Final controller featured
two options, leading to increased ease of use
Moved Court Rating to front of details line, and Bolded Information
Users did not find the Court Rating when looking
Share Booking
We then asked testers to Share their Carl Schurz booking with their Friend Jeremy.
Round 1
Users quickly navigated to their bookings page, found the Share option, and sent to Jeremy.
Round 2
Added Pictures and Color
in Hi-Fidelity Round.
Final
All Testing was positive from the start, not resulting in the need for any changes.
Conclusion
Overall, were able to create a product that solves a real need for users in NYC. Our research led to intuitive features that were proven with efficient testing and minimal changes to our designs.
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In the future, we would explore adding more sports into the app, and potentially expanding to include private courts as well, to offer the most options possible to users.
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Our belief is everyone should be able to get outside, be active, and Play as much as they want! Now, there's no wasting precious time from getting out and Playing On!
Meet The Team
Nick Rotondi
Henry Olstein
