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Results
Game screen
Results
Collection
1
Research
Initially, we outlined the questions that we needed to address for the current subject area.
1
What types of people are the most interested in chess? And why?
2
What are the current leading platforms missing?
3
How can web3 technologies improve chess?
We conducted surveys and interviews with current chess players to identify the issues inherent in popular chess platforms, as well as analyzed competitors that are currently successful among chess players.
Limited engagement
Platforms like chess.com offer very little beyond a monotonous, solitary, and repetitive gameplay experience, making the gameplay stale.
Want more features
Players are seeking out more collaborative, interactive, and refreshing experiences
76%
(26/34)
Lack of monetization
Chess enthusiasts have no way to monetize their skills except by becoming professionals. Talent goes unrewarded despite practice.
No income
Vast majority surveyed didn't make any money from the hobby
94%
(32/34)
No tight community
Platforms today lack community-oriented features that bring players closer together. Players want deeper connections and a shared gaming experience.
Lack of networking
Players want to unite, socialize, share, help out, and make friends!
91%
(31/34)
Trends forming for 2030
The global chess market will grow to $3.9B (currently $2.3B).
There will be more mobile players than computer players.
Chess will become a mainstream esports discipline with 250k+ viewers per month.
2
Concept generation
We created a series of user personas, all built around the main archetype. For us, this is the ideal user. They have an inherent interest and love for chess. They are advanced and knowledgeable about crypto. We aimed to thoroughly understand and address their pain points, preferences, and desires so that our designs would meet their needs.
Samuel
Johnson
“ Even when I am online, I want to spend time with my friends and socialize”
📌
Goals
👍 Make his own app someday
👍 To spend time playing online games
👍 Get better at chess
👍 Get friends to play chess or find new ones that do
👍 Make some money from chess
😡
Fustrations
👎 Not all his friends share his love for chess or want to use current platforms
👎 Can’t monetize his skills
👎 Current platforms are boring, no sense of progression
👎 Videogames are more fun than online chess
✨
Demographics
🚀
Age: 27 years old
🚀
ELO: 1,700
🚀
Family: Single
🚀
Occupation: Back End Developer
🚀
Education: Bachelors
🎉
Brief story
Samuel is a young tech specialist who likes to spend time with his friends, learn new things, and play chess. Despite his love for chess, he can't spend more time playing it due poor monetization opportunities and his friends’ unwillingness to try it with him
I created a User Journey to visualize how Samuel, our ideal user, moves from the desire to play chess to completion, in order to understand the highest and lowest emotional points of his journey. This visualization helped us optimize the user path, improving it by removing negative aspects and enhancing the positive ones.
Samuel Johnson
As a chess enthusiast, I want a platform where it's easy to find an opponent, where the experience is engaging, and where there are opportunities to monetize my time and skills.
Our next step was to create the information architecture and work on the user flows, taking into account our findings and conclusions made during the research phase.
3
Prototype and iterations
It was time to create the mockups. Starting with simple sketches on paper and quickly iterating, I was able to bring them to a level in just a few days where both the team and users were satisfied with the result!
4
Design decisions
We conducted usability tests with users to validate the design solution and make improvements where needed. At the same time, we launched a promo site to collect sign-ups for the waitlist to participate in the alpha testing.
Rating
3.9
4.7
4.7
Badma Chess design rating (vs chess.com's 3.9)
Waitlist
700+
Users signed up for the alpha waitlist
CSAT
4.5
User satisfaction score
Bugs
4
Issue frequency (per 100 sessions)
