The Product

ArcaMate is a high-score tracking app for arcades. It strives to provide casual and competitive players with an enhanced arcade experience. It offers global, regional, and arcade-specific leaderboards; as well as "Clubs" to track and compare scores of specific users like friends or family, and an improved reward system.

Project duration

January 2023 to March 2023

My role and responsibilities

My role was to be the UX/UI designer designing the ArcaMate app from conception to delivery.

My responsibilities were conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs. 

Competitive Audit

I conducted a full competitive audit of the market we were entering, highlighting our competitors strengths and weaknesses, what we could learn from them and gaps to improve.

Personas

Meet our user personas! First, there's Nikola, a programmer an avid gamer that has a hybrid work routine and would like to bond with her colleagues by including them in her arcade trips. Then there's Nelson, a mechanical engineer, parent of two high-school kids who prioritizes his time off work by spending quality time with his family. By designing for both of these personas, we can ensure that our product meets the needs of a diverse range of users and provides a user-friendly experience for all.

User Journey Map

By doing the user journey map I was able to better understand the user's experience and identify pain points or areas for improvement, leading to a more user-friendly and satisfying product.

Starting the design process.

In this section, I made paper and digital wireframes, low-fidelity prototypes, and iterated based on unmoderated usability studies tests.

Low-fidelity design and prototype.

I started the wireframing process with the two most important pain points in mind - lack of tools to upload and track high-scores and lack of socialization features. Using the serial positioning effect, I placed the main CTA (submit a score) at the top, and the club feature at the bottom. After creating the paper and digital wireframes, I started the journey of doing a low-fidelity prototype for users to test.

Usability study findings

1- Users want to have tools to enhance their arcade experience.

2- Users want to socialize in the arcade.

3- Users want a straightforward way to upload, verify, and compare their scores against other players.

4- Users want a quick snapshot of the app purpose from the get-go.

5- Not all users are competitive or interested in leaderboards, therefore I switched the verifying feature to be optional.

6- Users were not completely satisfied with the minimalistic approach to certain parts of the flow. Therefore I added useful, engaging, and visually pleasing elements to the design.

Refining the design

To tackle the dislike of most users of minimalistic flow while not disturbing the straightforwardness of the flow, users have now their most played and most popular games easily accessible. This way, the user saves time by not having to type the game every time.

The second usability study revealed frustration with the score verification flow. to streamline this flow, I made the feature optional. This allows casual players to personally track their score without being added to the leaderboards while allowing the competitive players to climb the ladder on global, regional and arcade leaderboards.

Accessibility considerations

1 - Provided access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.

2- Used icons to help make navigation easier.

3- Colors are aligned with WCAG AAA’s standards for contrast and legibility.

High-Fidelity prototype

Refined high-fidelity prototype of the app's main flow after usability studies.

Takeaways

Impact: 

The app tackles key pain-points, discovered through research related to the arcade-going experience. 

One quote from peer feedback:

“For someone that really enjoys arcade games this would be a 10/10, essential so that they can satisfy their desire of having the highest scores.”

What I learned:

Iterations and research are a constant cycle that any healthy product needs. With new data, new usability studies and continuing to do competitive audits in a sensible time, the product will be in a constant growth path. 

Next steps

1- Completing the first fully done iteration of the club feature.

2- Further research on socialization features and options such as local events, on-line competitions and being open to our users' suggestions.

3- Develop the leaderboards in a way that are useful, enjoyable and accessible.

Let's connect!

Thank you for your time reviewing my work on the ArcaMate app! If you’d like to see more or get in touch, my contact information is provided below.

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-medinas-704691197/