Research and Planning

The first step in the research process was to identify the target audience for the app. We conducted a survey of people in Ireland who were interested in sports and hiking to access the immmediate needs of our target audience.

We also conducted interviews with people who had used similar apps. We learned that the most important features of these apps were the ability to search for clubs and activities by location, the ability to filter results by sport and to read reviews from other users.

In addition to this research, we also had a preset group of users and stakeholders for our test group. This group included people from a variety of backgrounds, including sports enthusiasts, app users, and technology experts. The goal of this group was to provide feedback on the app's design and functionality.

Designing the Solution

Our team focused on understanding and catering to the needs of a single specific user persona: a member of the public.

By placing ourselves in their shoes, we aimed to design an intuitive and inclusive User Experience that addressed their unique challenges when using the app.

Investigation phase

During the investigation phase, we collaborated closely with test users and stakeholders to understand their needs and preferences. Through interviews, surveys, and usability testing, we uncovered several crucial workflows that would become the basis of the Sport Ireland Mobile App. These workflows included registration, onboarding, an advanced search and contact of sports facilities.

Wireframes

With the identified workflows in mind, our UX design team meticulously crafted wireframes to visualize the user journey and interface elements. By creating low-fidelity wireframes, we focused on the layout, content placement, and overall flow of the app. This allowed us to iterate quickly and gather valuable feedback from our test users and stakeholders before moving on to high-fidelity designs.

High-fidelity mockups

After refining the wireframes based on iterative feedback from our test users and stakeholders, we proceeded to the high-fidelity mockup stage of the Sport Ireland Mobile App. This stage involved adding visual elements, colors, typography, and realistic content to bring the wireframes to life. By incorporating a visually appealing and consistent design language, we aimed to create a polished and professional user interface that aligned with the brand.

Conclusion

Throughout its life-cycle, Sweet for ArcGIS has grown from £0 to £2.5M ARR, this has been in part because, as development team we focussed on User Experience as a core principle of the product.

If I could do this project again, there are a few things I would have done differently:

1. Perform more heuristic evaluations of the app throughthe product lifecycle.

2. Advocate for more usability testing of the existing product and workflows before adding new features.

In hindsight, I think there were opportunities where we could have made the case for us to shift our focus to UX research. Instead, we continued to design and iterate upon new features.