Nerd Football iOS App
A Fun Challenge for the Football Enthusiast
Timeframe: April 2021 - Present
Role: Product Designer
Overview
The goal of this project was to design a mobile app that was simple and playful and also one that would intrigue a football fan. Since this was a passion project, the focus was on how to make sports trivia fun, challenging and cover a variety of football topics like teams, stadiums and rules and regulations.
Following traditional mobile game patterns and best practice, we carved out the main flow of the app and created low-fidelity wireframes so we had a general direction of how the app would look and feel.
Ideation
We found a group of other sports enthusiasts who were interested in testing the app out and found key areas of improvement in the UI of the app. Since this app was also made for iOS devices, there were some features(like the scoreboard) that were native to Swift and were screens we didn’t need to build in the app.
Validation & Analysis
Version 1
Version 2
Since launching the app in 2021, the app has been downloaded over 1,200 times. While we continue to support the app and add new game types and features, we have observed a steady increase in user engagement and positive feedback. The addition of new game types, has significantly enhanced the overall gameplay experience, resulting in longer user sessions and increased retention rates. The incorporation of advanced leaderboard systems and social sharing features has also fostered healthy competition among players, encouraging them to strive for higher scores and share their achievements with friends and fellow football enthusiasts. As a result, user reviews and ratings have consistently improved, indicating a growing user base and a high level of satisfaction with the app's updates and enhancements.
Takeaways
Building an app from scratch taught me a lot about project management, setting expectations and communications. Some of the biggest takeaways from this ongoing project are:
Make a plan to update. When building an app, make a plan to update the app over time. Think about new ways to innovate, design, and bring delight to your user base.
Rely on best practice. During the building phase, in the pursuit of creating something unlike anything seen before, we ran into issues with being able to build the app we were designing. A more simplistic, planned approach would have made iteration and launching easier to achieve.