CitySports
Your city. Your sport.
Discover
Sprint Introduction
As part of my UX/UI Bootcamp, we were challenged to develop a personal project from concept to prototype. I chose to design an app inspired by a tool I had previously used and valued, but was not currently available in Spain. Tackling this personal project in under 4 weeks was a challenge but it allowed me to explore how I could recreate and improve that experience for a local audience.
Problem Statement
Moving to a new city is never easy, and even harder is settling in to do things you were used to doing in your native city such as playing sports with friends. If you are someone who is new to the city and wants to play, it’s hard to find a way to simply just drop in and play a set, match, game without the hurdles of connecting with people first or having the information that a person who grew up here may have.
The problem is that people, particularly expats/newcomers, who want to play sports for fun don’t know where to go, meet up or don’t have the proper resources to play as a pastime.
Research Goal
To understand how expats/newcomers and even existing locals within cities currently find opportunities to play sports for fun, what challenges they face in connecting with others and accessing resources, and whether a mobile app could help them discover locations, communities, and casual sports activities.
Research Questions
Would people be interested in an app?
What are some different sports people are interested in playing?
Are people having a hard time finding places/people?
Are they ok connecting with strangers?
What apps currently exists for this or similar to this?
Survey
To gather more information I created a Google Form survey to further get quantitative data that would help explain users interests and specific needs when it comes to creating an app for playing sports within a new or existing city. A few questions included in the form were as follows:
Would you consider yourself new to sports or restarting sports after a break?
How do you usually find places or people to play sports with?
How easy is it for you to find people to play with in your city?
Have you ever wanted to play a sport but didn’t because you couldn’t find people or information?
What are your biggest challenges when looking for a sport to play?
Would you use an app that helps you find people and places to play sports?
Which features would be most useful to you? How often would you use this app?
Survey Insights
Despite a limited number of responses, the survey still revealed meaningful insights for the app’s development.
A large majority of respondents have moved to a new city or country, and a lot claiming to be either new to sports, returning, or currently active which helped validate an interest in sport players. Over half of users said they rely on social media, apps/websites, or admitted they don’t know where to look to find games, with exactly half of users finding it difficult or somewhat difficult to find people. Exactly 50% said they didn’t play a sport they wanted to because they couldn’t find people or information, often due to not having friends to play with or not knowing where to go.
Although a few feel uncomfortable joining groups, at least 75% would feel neutral or comfortable playing with strangers, specially if features such as verified profiles, organized events, skill-level matching, and group chats were included in the app.
While a majority of users don’t currently use sports apps, many responded that they would use one like this. And 100% of users who responded said they would use this app in some capacity whether that was weekly, monthly, or occasionally.
Discover Summary
The overall research indicates that frequent relocation is common among users, with most respondents having moved to a new city or country. Over half of users reported wanting to play a sport but giving up due to difficulty finding people, places, or clear information. A major barrier is the lack of centralized, accessible resources for discovering local sports opportunities.
The primary user group (ages 25–44) highlights a gap in support for adults seeking flexible, low-commitment sports participation after school or university. Existing options tend to cater to younger demographics or require long-term commitments, making them less appealing to working adults.
Social comfort also plays a role. While some users feel uncomfortable joining established groups, most are open to playing with strangers when supported by structured environments. Features such as organized events and verified profiles significantly increase user confidence and willingness to participate.
Overall, the findings suggest a strong need for a dedicated platform that centralizes sports opportunities, supports adult beginners and casual players, reduces social friction, and promotes safety and trust.
User research confirmed the initial assumption that newcomers and expats struggle to continue playing sports after moving to a new city. The study showed that many adults want to play casually but give up due to scattered information, difficulty finding people and places, lack of flexible options, and discomfort joining unfamiliar groups.
Define
Benchmark Analysis
Using insights from the user survey, along with conversations I had with individuals who shared personal experiences related to the topic, I identified a group of direct competitors. While these products offered some—sometimes many—of the features my app would include, none fully addressed all of the pain points highlighted by users.
While a few apps were reviewed and rated based on features that were compelling to users in the survey, the highest rated app for VOLO is only available within the US, whereas apps that were a bit more global lacked a variety of sports, skill level matching, chats or even verified user profiles.
User Persona
To better guide my app development I decided to create one user persona that would really capture the essence of the ideal user, along with two additional user stories that help create and showcase a diversity for the appetite of this app.
User Stories
Target
To set up what would need to be built I created a MVP/ MDP chart that would capture high-level what needs to be created.
Emotional Journey Map
Creating an emotional journey map for Alex, my user persona, helped me identify a few opportunities as well as frustrations that a user may go through in their personal life that would impact the decision making when looking for, downloading, and using this new app.
Information Architecture: Core Task Flow
Site Map
To provide further structure to my app, I created a site map that would allow me to focus on the areas I needed to build for my prototype
Ideate
Moodboard
I really wanted to have an app that was refreshing, exciting, clean and energetic to match the feeling of playing sports and having a community. That said, I gather the following inspiration into a moodboard to help me visualize it.
StyleGuide
Pulling from my moodboard helped me finalize the style direction for the app. I did struggle a little when it came to pattern creation and variations of the logos, but overall was content with the end result despite knowing all aspects were not incorporated.
Paper Wireframes
After my initial sketches, I did some refining and did the following paper wireframes.
Prototype
Validate
Usability Tests Introduction
Now that my prototype was created it was time to put it to a test, I wanted to answer a few questions like:
How easily can users complete the primary task: booking a sports event?
Do users know where to find their booked events after confirming?
Do users understand what happens after clicking the CTA, “Let’s Play”?
Is the confirmation feedback clear and reassuring?
Would users realistically use this app in their community?
What would motivate them to return?
What would stop them from using it?
Key Takeaways - Conclusion
After conducting five usability tests, it became really clear that the core idea resonates — especially with people who have recently moved to a new city. Several users connected with the problem the app is solving and even said they wished something like this existed when they relocated. That validated the concept of CitySports.
Many users commented that the visual design and icon system were described as clean, straightforward, and intuitive. Most people instinctively navigated through the icons on the homepage rather than reading heavily, which reinforced my decision to prioritize visual navigation.
Where friction showed up was mainly around clarity. Certain terms like “drop-in,” “free agent,” and definitely “upcoming” created confusion. Users also wanted more transparency before committing — things like pricing, cancellation policies, confirmation status, and who exactly would be playing.
Overall, the testing showed that the foundation of the app is strong and desirable, but simplifying language, clarifying navigation (especially the Upcoming tab), and increasing social transparency would significantly improve user confidence and usability.
Design Iterations
Summary
Considering this was my first personal project, I felt especially passionate about it because it solves something I’ve personally wished existed. I’ve used a similar app in the United States, but it isn’t available in other countries. Going into this project, I had to consciously separate my own experience from the research to see if this was actually a shared need or just my personal frustration.
Through user surveys, conversations with others and usability testing, it became clear that this challenge is very real — especially for adults who no longer have built-in social environments like school or university. The added layer of moving to a new city makes it even harder to find people to play sports with. That insight strongly validated the core concept behind CitySports.
One interesting discovery was that the definition of “sports” varied depending on a user’s background. I initially approached the idea thinking mostly about team sports involving a ball — like football, volleyball, or tennis — but some users associated sports more with activities like running, dancing, or solo fitness. That realization pushed me to broaden my thinking about what “playing sports” can mean.
Despite the limited timeframe to complete this project, I gained a lot more confidence in building a product from scratch. Using survey insights and usability testing to guide decisions made the process feel intentional rather than purely conceptual. Most importantly, I learned that no matter how polished something feels, there is always room for iteration. Testing revealed blind spots I wouldn’t have caught on my own, and that continuous refinement is what ultimately strengthens a product.
If you've made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read
this extremely extensive case study. I hope this means we will get to talk soon! 😃