Crowd Control

  • Timeline

    10 weeks

  • Role

    User researcher,
    UX/UI designer,
    Brand designer

  • Tools

    Adobe XD,
    Adobe Illustrator

Introduction

This was a conceptual design for a mobile app. Crowd Control is a way for users to manage information on game releases, content, and reviews.

Hypothesis:

Consumers are paying ($60-$120) for expensive games they end up not enjoying.

Consumers needs a way to organize and see real game play footage of a game they want to buy, because often times game trailers and commercials do not fully reflect on what is being sold therefore wasting money.

Solution:

I believe that creating an app for players to follow game news and share with others, we will achieve a better distribution of information and better inform the consumer of the game they are purchasing. We will know this to be true when we see users interact with each other and share their findings and a lower rate of returning a game.

User Interviews

I interviewed 5 people across United States for more information on their approach of buying games, playing games, experiences with buying a game they regret, and what they think makes a game good.

Key Findings:

  • Buys online to save time

  • Usually disappointed by game when it doesn’t live up to when the trailers and commercials (“in beta” or “not actual gameplay”)

  • Often times a game company will have false promises and never deliver when the game launches

  • Will do their own research of new/upcoming games through search engines (Google, YouTube) and trusted sources (Gamespot, Steam)

  • Best experience with buying games is when they watch YouTubers or Twitch streamers for actual gameplay

  • Plays games for the community: either will start a game with friends or plans on making friends in-game

  • Playing games with friends make a game more enjoyable

  • A good game has: good storyline, good graphics, interesting new concepts

“Why spend hours watching a Twitch stream or YouTube channel when you can just look up a quick 2-3 minute video on what you really want?”

— Crowd Control

Let’s Meet Our Persona, Marc!

As a college student, Marc wants to save as much money as he can while still living his best life. Between work, studying, homework, he doesn’t have a lot of time. So when he picks up 3 extra shifts to pay for a $60 game and ends up only playing it for 2 hours, Marc views that as a huge waste of time and money.

What Programs Does Marc Use?

Steam: Platform for purchasing/discovering/reviewing games.

Discord: A messaging app, it also shows what games his friends are currently playing, allows people to stream their game to their friends, and has an activity page with updates on games Marc plays plays.

What Programs are Achieving What Marc Needs?

Facebook: Has Events that lets users keep track of multiple events in their lives and in their area.

Google News: Has a feature that lets readers be caught up to breaking news and events

Medium: Great platform for reading articles

Crowd Control (Beta)

Features

Crowd Control is a hub that can have customizable Newsfeed and Timeline for the user to keep track of games they are interested in.

On the game page you can:

  • Follow the game to add news to your newsfeed

  • Add the release date of the game or downloadable content (DLCs)

  • Buy the game (if it is already released)

  • Watch shorts video clips of specific features on a game (videos that showcase good storyline, good graphics, a cool new fighting style, crafting, etc.)

  • Read reviews on the game

Friend feature allows you to:

  • See when they are online

  • What games your friends are currently playing

  • Watch their games live

  • Message your friends

  • Have a profile page to see what games they are following and their recommended games

  • Wireframes

    Here are the features I focused on first: Newsfeed, Friends, and Timeline

  • Pages to focus on next:

    Friend profile pages (their timelines, games they are following/playing)

    Friend messaging

    Game pages

    Search

Wait, Is This What Marc Wants?

Before I started turning my wireframes to high fidelity, I wanted to make sure it was going in a direction that Marc would want. Through a dot-voting exercise I was quickly able to see which features are most important to users. I asked a group of 7 participants to choose their top 5 features.

Learnings:

  • Game reviews and search results were not surprising

  • People were interested in a personalized timeline/calendar

  • Friends list, messaging, friend streams were not voted on

It was surprising to see none of the features with friends were not chosen since community and friends were a key part of the enjoyment of a game. I decided to not focus on the features for my next step, and instead flesh out the idea of creating a personalized timeline.

With these in mind, I started to fine-tune my wireframes into a high fidelity prototype.

But First, Branding.

The Name

I wanted the name to be something game-related, but also relevant to what the app was doing. Crowd control (also called CC) is a term used in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) and MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas) to refer to the ability to limit the number of mobs actively fighting during an encounter (source).

The Colors

I wanted to steer away from the masculine red and black theme in 95% (personal estimate) of the average gamer gear and the 5% (personal estimate) of the soft pink targeted towards women. The app is meant to be straight-forward, concise, and clean.

Logo Drafts

Welcome to Crowd Control

Final Logo and Icon

Colors and Type

  • Screens

  • Additional Screens

Let’s Test!

In the usability testings, I asked users to create an account, search for the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, look for a video that show cases “Story”, and add a game release date to their timeline.

With just two tests, there was already patterns to confusion and difficulties in the flow.

Here are two key struggles:

  • The “+” symbol was being mistaken for an add button, instead of an expand/more

  • The “Follow” button was being mistaken for following the game, instead of adding the release date to their timeline

After making a few small changes, the second two tests were smoother. The sessions became more of a conversation and users expressed what they would like more from this app.

“When’s it coming out? Cause I want it.”

— Nice user, during testing

Changes, Changes:

During the user testing phase, I found I was so focused on including all the different features in the app, that I did not flesh out the video feature as much as I wanted. Recognizing videos as a central component, I could have enhanced user experience by dedicating more time to refine aspects like robust video search, advanced sorting options, and video saving and sharing.

Next Steps

As I concluded this 10-week project, I reflected on potential enhancements I wished to incorporate into the prototype.

These features were not added due to time constraints or requested during the usability testing phase.

  • Content Creator Account: The ability to create a creator account, allowing the user to upload videos through verified process

  • Account Aesthetics Customization: Night mode, or color wheel to change the accent color of the app

  • In-Depth Search: Search results page, the possibility of no results, filters, search function for videos

  • Friends! Messaging, profiles, follows.

Even though the friends feature didn't make the initial cut during the feature prioritization phase, it was an unanimous user request throughout the user testing process. Once the primary features were fulfilled, the demand for the friends feature naturally followed suit.