Basketball Jones aims to create social connections through the sport of basketball.
By establishing an online community for basketball, Basketball Jones will provide players the information, reviews and social connections they need for a better pickup game experience.
Basketball Jones is a passion project I created after reading Hooked by Nir Eyal and The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. With their philosophies in mind, I was inspired to build a product which aims to create social connections through the sport of basketball.
Basketball Jones was developed up to its first digital high-fidelity iterations and testing—There were no iterations developed thereafter.
Individual Project
5 Weeks:
Discovery—1 week
Ideation, Design and Iterations—3 weeks
Usability Testing and report—1 week
Pen and paper, posts-it, Real Time Board, Sketch, InVision Studio, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premier.
User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Competitive Research Analysis, User Journey Map, 2 x 2 Matrix, Minimum Viable Product planning document, Usability Testing.
“A basketball player wants to play a pickup game but lacks the resources and social connections to start one.”
verb
\ˈjōnz \
jonesed; jonesing; joneses
slang
: to have a strong desire or craving for something
To validate the initial assumptions of the problem and its key pain points, I conducted three user interviews. The research was also conducted to further examine if the term “Jonesing for basketball” is real and whether if users really need a product for this craving.
Two interviews occurred after a pickup game and one after a basketball league game. A Contextual Inquiry was carried out during and after the basketball games to directly observe the user's environment and behaviors.
“3/3 have experienced, at one point, of craving to play basketball, but couldn’t because either they don’t have access to a basketball rim or because they don’t have anybody to play with.”
Based on my research, Basketball “Jones” is real.
To further prove my point, the product itself is named after a song from Cheech and Chong’s 1974’s hit, Basketball Jones, which is all about fantasizing about basketball. You can listen to it here:
Both two basketball app’s User Profiles and groups are very un-engaging and empty, my assumption is that both apps provide a subpar user interface and lacks what Nir Eyal describes in his book, Hooked, as “Variable Reward”. The only variable rewards the users get from the mentioned apps are data from reviews, and networking from joining groups.
On the other hand, aside from providing an extensive amount of crowdsourced data, Yelp provides coupons and deals exclusively from the app and an excellent marketing tool for business owners. Thus, making it a viable and thriving product.
If Basketball Jones should differentiate itself from competitors, the product should focus on the user’s engagement to the app. The value of the product will depend on how motivated the users are in providing crowdsourced data.
I opt to compare two Basketball pickup mobile apps and Yelp for Feature Comparison.
Yelp is a local-search service powered by crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses, as well as online reservations. In a way, the other two basketball apps function very similar to Yelp due to their reliance on crowdsourcing data.
Infinite Hoops locates nearby pickup basketball games and groups. It also has a free website where users can use to connect with other users worldwide.
Courts of the World serves a similar purpose as the previous product. Where this application differs is, it emphasizes local court’s crowd-sourced reviews and ranks it.
Here are some feedback from Apple app store:
Next step: How might we get users to invest in their profiles and engage with other basketball players.
“By establishing an online community for basketball—driven by crowdsourced data, it will provide players the resources and social connections they need for a better pickup game experience.
We will know this to be true when users are fully invested in their online profiles and actively interacting with others”
While mapping the behavioral flow, one question I randomly asked myself is what problem Snapchat solving? Kids use the app to make goofy faces for six seconds. The answer I came up with is that Snapchat enhances an existing behavior: it’s a modern version of passing notes in class. Another example is Facebook’s news feed: which is a modern version of reading a newspaper.
There’s no new behavior—it’s only modified or enhanced.
From this perspective, I broke down how a conventional pick-up game is done:
Go to a park/gym/place
Recruit/Join other players
Play the game
For Basketball Jones, I mapped the behavioral flow for the app to be a modern version of picking teams to start a basketball pick-up game, which consists of modified conventional steps with another extra step further:
Gather information about a game/park/gym
Recruit/Join other players
Play the game
Provide post-game feedback*
By gathering post-game feedback, I can utilize the crowdsourced data feedback to build up the user’s profile and reputation in an online community. This should serve as a variable reward and investment, and should keep users engaged and motivated to interact with other users.
With the behavioral flow in mind, I synthesized an initial User Journey map using Nir Eyal’s “Hooked Model”.
Keeping Kyle and Fernando in mind, I mapped their user behavioral flow from browsing through pickup games to post-game feedback. Understanding their decision making and flow throughout the browsing experience allowed me to brainstorm the necessary features and opportunities required for the personas to successfully navigate through the app.
By analyzing the users journey map, I narrowed down the minimum variable product via 2x2 matrix. I then created a site map to organize the pages, information, and navigation for the app.
I used Google Material Theme Editor, a plugin for Sketch, as a style guide for my library. This helped maintain consistency and brand recognition throughout the app.
Images are much better at communicating value and use than a block of text. Thus, I’ve decided to create an image heavy layout.
I’ve constructed the main menu on a continuous scrolling pattern with an image heavy layout in mind.
To better convey the location of the games, I’ve opt to a map screen with horizontal scrolling cards.
My user research suggests that one of the user’s pain points in playing pick ups is finding the right match to play with. The solution I came up with is the same approach as the popular dating app, Tinder. To reduce steps and taps when browsing for players, I implemented card scrolls as well as the swipe & drag interactions.
Filter the qualifications then present the profiles as cards, which users can interact as if they are browsing through a deck of cards.
In making the User Profile, I used traditional basketball cards as inspiration, while taking cues from the basketball video game series, NBA 2k.
Based on my research interview, players are not only willing but are motivated to review other players. The problem is how can I quantify the player’s performance in a non-regulated pickup game.
My solution is the most common crowdsourced data rating system out there—the five-point Likert scale. I categorized the ratings into four: Offense, Defense, Hustle, and Integrity. And by adding qualitative data using comments and reviews, this can rate a player’s performance, at least, on a Yelp review standard.
When a user joins a league, league administrators can upload the user’s stats and accolades for more quantitative data.
Building up a player’s profile by playing more basketball and interacting with the app will serve as a variable reward and investment as they build up their reputation.
The problem with surveys is that people hate taking them. However, to establish a crowdsourced driven data app for players and courts, the app must get feedback from users. My research suggests that users are willing to review other players and courts, but not necessarily would like to take a long and tedious surveys after an exhausting game.
The challenge for this feature is how might we motivate the users to give feedback. Rather than a conventional survey form, the solution I came up with is using chatbot to converse with the user, much like a post-game interview. The strategy is to make the survey content as brief and engaging as possible.
By also implementing a reward system, it will motivate users to give extra feedback.
Mid-way through developing the post-game survey feature, I implemented a reward points system to motivate users to give feedback. Accumulated rewards can be claimed as coupons to potential sporting goods stores or free merchandise of the user’s preferred brand.
This system can also be used as a referral campaign. Much like what Dropbox did, advertising to other users through word of mouth is the best way to achieve exponential organic growth.
By giving sponsored rewards through coupons or free items, I later realize that it could be a way to advertise sponsored brands, and possibly be monetized later on.
Taking the usability testing into account, I’ve constructed a high-fidelity digital prototype using Invision Studio, which consists features and screens necessary to complete the primary User Journey flow.
*Due to the prototype’s animation, using Invision App in mobile could be really slow. I recommend testing the prototype via web.
Well this is awkward, it seems like I haven’t done this part yet.
But be patient, young grasshopper, it’ll be up soon.
For now, you can check out my other works here.
The Wallet Project
“The Wallet Project” is the secure wallet: a solution for people who always lose their wallets unattended.
