Checkpoint
Checkpoint aims to help people discover, learn, and connect with their friends and family through online gaming, with the coronavirus pandemic enforcing many to spend their time online gaming.
🏆 Top 10 out of 300 teams at the Adobe College + Activision Creative Jam
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TIMELINE
1 week
May 29 - Jun 5th, 2020 |
OVERVIEW
Carol and I made it to the finals of the Adobe Creative Jam competition, placing top 10 out of 300 teams, and got to present this prototype in front of judges, sponsors and fellow competitors! We collaborated remotely throughout the creative jam to conduct research and create wireframes, user flows, personas, and the visual design. Over the course of the two weeks, we collaborated on Adobe XD to create the design and interactions, while syncing up everyday to review progress.
The Process
From research, ideation, wire-framing, designing, to prototyping, here's the end-to-end design process my team followed.
Problem Discovery
As the coronavirus crisis persists and global citizens are self-isolating indoors, many are spending their time gaming. Verizon reported an increase
of gaming traffic up 75% since March 2020, and data from Streamlabs indicates a 20% surge in usage hours across streaming platforms. Surveys show that due to the loneliness of quarantine, folks of all ages are getting into gaming to stay connected and occupied. New gamers are overwhelmed with choices, and there is no single resource to help them discover games that are right for them and their current situation.
of gaming traffic up 75% since March 2020, and data from Streamlabs indicates a 20% surge in usage hours across streaming platforms. Surveys show that due to the loneliness of quarantine, folks of all ages are getting into gaming to stay connected and occupied. New gamers are overwhelmed with choices, and there is no single resource to help them discover games that are right for them and their current situation.
ACTIVISION
As a part of this competition, Activison Blizzard wanted to see how an interactive experience might get new gamers acquainted and integrated into the gaming community. For more than 40 years, Activision has been changing the way people play. In the process, we have built one of the largest portfolios of recognized brands and today we are one of the most valuable interactive entertainment companies in the world.
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Research
After researching the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on online gaming, we found that the coronavirus is causing many people to get into gaming to stay connected and occupied. More specifically,
We wanted to target a specific user group to help specify our problem area. When conducting research, we discovered the following possible user groups:
- Verizon reported an increase of gaming traffic up 75% since March 2020
- Data from Streamlabs indicates a 20% surge in usage hours across streaming platforms
- The Nintendo Switch, in particular, has attracted more women and a wider age range of customers than its console contemporaries
We wanted to target a specific user group to help specify our problem area. When conducting research, we discovered the following possible user groups:
CHALLENGE PROMPT
Create a proficiency-focused app experience to inform new gamers about video games based on age-appropriateness and skills such as reading, hand-eye coordination, fitness, personal accountability, multi-tasking, problem-solving, memory, attention, concentration, social skills and more.
Ideation
Quarantine is creating brand-new gamers, and people of all ages, skills, and backgrounds are taking their first steps into gaming. We recognize that there is a large culture around games and that it is important to ensure that the gaming community a safe and welcoming place. We want to create a curated gaming experience for users based on factors such as age-appropriateness and skills such as reading, hand-eye coordination, fitness, personal accountability, multi-tasking, problem-solving, memory, attention, concentration, social skills and more.
PERSONAS
After consolidating our findings from our user research, we narrowed our target user group down to specifically seniors & adults who want to discover games that fit their interests and to connect to friends and family. Our first persona is a retired senior who wants to stay connected with family during the pandemic and who wants to stay healthy. Our second persona is a young adult who wants to discover new family-friendly games and stay connected to her grandma in the retirement home.
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USER FLOW DIAGRAM
We build a user flow diagram that would help us create a narrative for our user. We mapped out the user's flow through the mobile experience, from onboarding, discovering your gaming dashboard, and exploring games. Based on the flow chart, we created wireframes, mockups and later the working prototype in Adobe XD.
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WIREFRAMING
Based on the flow chart, we created wireframes, mockups and later the working prototype in Adobe XD.
Visual Design
We decided that a dark mode app would help encapsulate the gaming feel and create a fun and trendy feel to the app. Taking into account our users as well, we decided to focus on the community aspect of gaming by creating family groups (checkpoints) where users can connect. With our wireframes, mood board, and style guide finished, we create our prototype and put everything together in Adobe XD.
Introducing the Checkpoint Mobile Experience
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An engaging login experience
Users are introduced to checkpoint through this simple yet engaging login / sign up interaction. Checkpoint aims to help users discover, learn, and connect with their friends and family through online gaming, and it all starts with a friendly sign up experience.
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An interactive user onboarding
A simple user experience for first time users when they create their user profile and describe their interests / skills. Taking into consideration their age, interests, and skill sets, the app will allow users to discover a variety of games catered towards them.
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Discover new games easily
Users can discover games catered towards their interests, from family favorites, to trending in your age group.
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Explore a game
Learn more about a game and its world, including trailers, descriptions, and featured fan art. Discover the
age-appropriateness, skills learned, and console for the game |
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Learn more about gaming
Users can access resources to learn more about the gaming community and how they can connect with others through gaming. Moreover, feeling this sense of community can help remind users that we’re all in this together.
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Reflection
KEY TAKEAWAY
In terms of this project, I learned the importance of not getting caught up in the aesthetic details during the ideation and prototyping phase. Since we had a relatively short timeline for this project, we couldn't afford to spend a lot of time on the initial wireframing and prototyping phase. This required us to quickly and iteratively test the usability and flow of the app, correct any issues, only then to move on to the aesthetics at the end.
Another main challenge that we faced during this project, on top of the time constraint, was the ambiguity that comes with the openness of the challenge prompt. We were given the prompt as a part of the design competition, and it was up to us to to explore and embrace the ambiguity in order to design a solution for Activision.
Another main challenge that we faced during this project, on top of the time constraint, was the ambiguity that comes with the openness of the challenge prompt. We were given the prompt as a part of the design competition, and it was up to us to to explore and embrace the ambiguity in order to design a solution for Activision.
WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY TODAY?
If I were to do pick up this project again today, I would want to conduct more user research by talking to more gamers of all ages (from young adults, to seniors), to get a much better understanding of the problem. I would also user-test the design with real users and iterate a couple times so that I could get more feedback early on and gain a better understanding of how this mobile experience imbeds itself into the users everyday life.
