
Pairplay is a rapidly growing startup with an application that helps people exercise in groups by allowing them to create and join sports clubs. I conducted user research, produced prototypes, and delivered high-fidelity designs to a cross-functional team including a senior designer, four engineers, and a project manager.
My ​Role
Design Team
UX Research
Prototyping
Hi-Fi Design
Suyeon Lee
Ashlee Woo
Date
Jan - May 2022


Problems
There was a decrease in the number of creating new clubs. On the other hand, the number of cancellations for joining clubs increased. This resulted in a 10% decrease in Monthly Active User (MAU) and a 12% decrease in retention rate.

Breakdown of current design
Solution
Clear experience that users can easily create and join new clubs and manage the clubs after that.
User Goal
Business Goal
Want more people to join the sports clubs that I created.
And hoped for no cancellations or no-shows.
Want users to find the process of creating and joining a sports club via Pairplay delightful, hence increasing the retention rate by 30% and more.
User Research
We sent out a preliminary survey to gain insight at a larger scale into how often our target users join and cancel the clubs.

Insight: Survey results revealed that many participants responded they have canceled the clubs occasionally and
they haven't opened clubs.
Data Analysis
To understand the cause of canceling clubs, we analysed user behaviour and discovered the following four insights.

Insight: We learned that fewer people clicked on the club details page and didn't look back at the club after that.
Field Research
I wanted to understand exactly how the users are experiencing in Pairplay. So I got on the app as a user, joined every Pairplay club I was interested in during my free time, and asked users several questions.

Questions:
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Tell us about your most enjoyable or worst experience working out at Pairplay.
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Which club type do you participate in the most?
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What time of day do you browse Pairplay clubs?
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Do you prefer long-term interactions with club members?
Insight: After gaining a sense of users' experience of hosting and joining the club, we used this data to scope our interview questions.
User Interview
We conducted 10 interviews with Pairplay users to obtain
in-depth qualitative responses.


Insight: We learned that users were not reading the club information carefully, easily cancel the club according to their mood, and need a club recommendation that fits for the user.
Key Insights

By determining users' wants, likes and dislikes, we prioritised certain needs that we would iterate our design and derived several insights:

Wireframes
I draw wireframes to get early feedback from leadership. Testing
was conducted on every single page and I iterated the design
over and over again.


Usability Testing

To see which part of the pages users are confused, we conducted usability testing by utilising ‘Think-Aloud Cognitive Testing’.
Task 1: Ask user to filter the clubs.
Task 2: Ask user to browse the clubs.
Task 3: Ask user to join the club.
Task 4: Ask user to check the club you’ve applied for.
Task 5: Ask user to add their club into calendar.
Task 6: Ask user to find their upcoming club.
Task 7: Ask user to check the time and date of the club.
Task 8: Ask user to go to my page.
Insight:​
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Many users lost their way after they get to join the club.
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Some users were using filter to sort the clubs they would like to see.
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Finding the time and date of the club still requires a couple of times for the user.
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Most of the users went to the bottom right to find my page.
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Most of the users went to my page to find their upcoming club.
Key Features
01. Club Listing Page


01. Highlight filter
Changed the filter design to be more visible for users to compare clubs easily.
02. Categorise clubs
Categorised clubs into 'Popular now' and 'New clubs' to help users better explore the clubs.
03. Green tag
Changed the color of the join tag into a delightful green.
04. Clear navigation bar
Redesigned navigation bar into accessible colours and icons.
02. Club Detail Page

01. Organise the format
Club details scattered on the page are now gathered at the top.
02. Show 'About' without scrolling
With smaller thumbnails, users can now see the 'About' section without scrolling down.
03. Highlight the cost and left spots
Cost and left Spots are realigned next to the 'Join' button to be more noticeable.
03. My Page

01. Add 'Profile' into My Page
Removed the 'My Profile Icon' and inserted a 'Profile Menu' on the top of My Page.
02. Make 'Upcoming Clubs' visible
Placed 'Upcoming Clubs' at the top so that users can notice the events better.
03. Add 'Calendar'
Added 'Calendar' and highlighted 'Date & Time' so that users can manage their clubs efficiently.
Prototype Of New Design

The Results
Throughout a number of ideations, rounds of plannings, and design sketches, we derived the following results:

In addition, we received user reviews saying that the updated design provides them with much better experiences.
“
It's an awesome app for those who have been interested in exercise but have no motivation to do it.
“
I met my wife through this app. We have the same hobby. More people should know about this app!!

“
It's good to find an app where I can spend my hobbies with people with similar interests.
“
I think it's the best app among the apps that allow you to get together have a social gathering and exercise.
Next Steps & Takeaways
1. Test accessibility
The next step is to test the accessibility of the updated colours. I will checked the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Then l could pull the colors into the digital accessibility checker and see how they work.
​
2. Redesign 'Forum' page
Based on the Google Analytics data, 'Forum' was the most visited page after 'Home'. So if I had more time, I would do additional research on users' experience at Forum and iterate the design based on user-centered thinking.
3. Collaboration is key
Through Agile process, Pairplay grew rapidly in 6 months. After the project ended, I realised that this was possible because of the great teamwork.